Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Navigated Iso-C3D-based percutaneous osteoid osteoma resection: A preliminary clinical report

Minimally invasive osteoid osteoma resection under computer tomography (CT) guidance has yielded good results and has become a viable alternative to open surgical procedures. Limited visualization of the actual drill position under CT guidance can frequently result in inadequate and malpositioned drilling, especially at lesions located in less accessible anatomic regions. With the conventional CT-guided drilling technique, sterility and general operative management poorly correlate with standard operating room conditions, and are at risk of intra- and postoperative complications. The new Iso-C3D® imaging device provides intraoperative multiplanar reconstructions. Adequate image quality and implementation in navigation systems were described for numerous indications. On the basis of multiplanar reconstructions, minimally invasive navigated techniques under three-dimensional surgical tool control become possible, which is not the case under fluoroscopic or CT-based navigation. We report on our first three cases of navigated Iso-C3D® osteoid osteoma resection. A minimally invasive resection of the nidus was possible under permanent multiplanar image control. No complications were encountered and all patients reported successful outcomes. Minimally invasive-based navigation offered an effective and reproducible surgical approach. Dependence on CT imaging for proper positioning and complications associated with use away from the operating room environment can be avoided.
Collaboration Between Community Advocates and Academic Researchers: Scientific Advocacy or Political Research?

There is a growing interest on the part of community groups, academics and funders in developing collaborative research projects between researchers and community groups. The authors of this paper collaborated with a community-based advocacy group on a study that focused on home repair problems faced by low-income homeowners in Philadelphia, PA (the ‘Home Repair Study’). In this article, we provide a critical analysis of the collaborative process between social work advocates and academic social work researchers based on participatory observation and in-depth interviews with those advocates who participated directly in the planning and implementation of the Home Repair Study. Similar to accounts provided in previously published articles, our findings suggest that such collaborations will frequently encounter tensions resulting from the different roles that researchers and community-based advocates fulfil in the research field and in the political arena. However, we argue that these tensions are healthy; if managed effectively, they contribute to more comprehensive research and more effective policy advocacy.
AAV-Mediated Cone Rescue in a Naturally Occurring Mouse Model of CNGA3-Achromatopsia

Achromatopsia is a rare autosomal recessive disorder which shows color blindness, severely impaired visual acuity, and extreme sensitivity to bright light. Mutations in the alpha subunits of the cone cyclic nucleotide-gated channels (CNGA3) are responsible for about 1/4 of achromatopsia in the U.S. and Europe. Here, we test whether gene replacement therapy using an AAV5 vector could restore cone-mediated function and arrest cone degeneration in the cpfl5 mouse, a naturally occurring mouse model of achromatopsia with a CNGA3 mutation. We show that gene therapy leads to significant rescue of cone-mediated ERGs, normal visual acuities and contrast sensitivities. Normal expression and outer segment localization of both M- and S-opsins were maintained in treated retinas. The therapeutic effect of treatment lasted for at least 5 months post-injection. This study is the first demonstration of substantial, relatively long-term restoration of cone-mediated light responsiveness and visual behavior in a naturally occurring mouse model of CNGA3 achromatopsia. The results provide the foundation for development of an AAV5-based gene therapy trial for human CNGA3 achromatopsia.
Education quality in post‐apartheid South African policy: balancing equity, diversity, rights and participation

In spite of numerous definitions of quality, consensus on what constitutes quality is less clear and contested. Using South Africa as a case study, this paper explores the current conceptual thinking and debates about education quality. Specifically the paper reviews selected South African policy texts to identify how some of the global dimensions of quality map onto South African policy discourse. The paper begins by reviewing some of the conceptual work in the area and concentrates on identifying and exploring some of the dimensions of quality. This is followed by a brief contextualisation of policy development in South Africa leading to an analysis of key issues and debates in discourses about quality present in selected education policy texts. The concluding section identifies, through the South African experience, some of the global challenges and ways forward. The paper notes the many challenges present in South Africa's attempts to balance equity, diversity, right and participation in delivering good quality education. This experience resonates with that of many other contexts.
Developing task models from informal scenarios

The difficulties that designers and developers often have during the development of task models is a strong limitation to their use. Usually the main problem is to identify what is useful for the development of such task models from a lot of informal information. We propose a method, with a related tool, supporting the development of task models able to describe concurrent dynamic activities using an informal scenario as input.
Multiparadigm Voices of Doctoral Students: Shifting the Boundaries of Learning through a Collaborative Study Process.

Underlined by the belief that teachers' critical awareness of their actions is a vital issue in education, this study examines the insights that evolved from a long-term collaboration among seven doctoral students. To prepare for our comprehensive examinations, we collaborated as a study group for one and one-half years. Adopting the dual roles of listener-researcher and narrator-participant, we engaged in dialogue and narrative to convey to each other the meaning of our collaborative experiences. From grounded theory analysis, four elements of collaboration emerged: logistics, social dynamics, empowerment, and change. In order to convey the meaning of our experiences, we create a multiplicity of meanings based on our diverse and lived personal narratives. Finally, our collaborative process challenges academic administrations to examine how well their current policies encourage personal autonomy and cooperative learning approaches for students involved in preparing for their comprehensive examinations.
Adolescent Friendship Relations and Developmental Outcomes

The first aim of the present study was to examine associations between different aspects of adolescent friendship relations (i.e., frequency of contact with friends, trust in friends, and perceived friends' deviance) on one hand, and adolescent problem behavior and self-esteem on the other hand. The second aim was to determine whether the findings hold for adolescents from three different ethnic groups and for boys and girls. A sample of 508 Dutch, Turkish, and Moroccan adolescents living in the Netherlands filled in a battery of questionnaires at school. Having contact with deviant friends was the strongest contributor to both aggressive and delinquent problem behavior. Trust in friends was the strongest contributor to self-esteem. In general, gender differences were more pronounced than differences among the ethnic groups.
POSTER: MAPA: An Automatic Memory Access Pattern Analyzer for GPU Applications

Various existing optimization and memory consistency management techniques for GPU applications rely on memory access patterns of kernels. However, they suffer from poor practicality because they require explicit user interventions to extract kernel memory access patterns. This paper proposes an automatic memory-access-pattern analysis framework called MAPA. MAPA is based on a source-level analysis technique derived from traditional symbolic analyses and a run-time pattern selection technique. The experimental results show that MAPA properly analyzes 116 real-world OpenCL kernels from Rodinia and Parboil.
Global Discourse and Local Readings of Development

/ This article builds upon the definition of development as an ideological field to explore journalism as a site where global discourses of development meet locally grounded meanings to shape social understandings of modernization and progress in developing nations. The Puerto Rican experience during the promotion of Operation Bootstrap (1947—63) was selected as a case study to examine how the local press framed the process of industrialization as a news event of national and international relevance and thus mediated the definition of development as a public affair and redefined boundaries in the public and private spheres. Drawing on the notion of `mediated publicness', and its implications for the transformation of visibility and the organization of hegemony in modern societies, this research also discusses the ideological effects of such reporting in the particular context of colonialism and dependent development in Puerto Rico.
Task switching and across-trial distance priming are independent

The present study investigated the possible influence of stimulus–task associations in cued task switching designs using small numbers as stimuli. To this end, cued task switching was combined with across-trial distance priming. Across-trial distance priming is based on the organisation of numbers along a mental number line. In a series of three experiments it was observed that across-trial distance priming resulted in faster response repetitions and slower response alternations but that it did not influence the switch cost. These results indicated that stimulus–task associations are not generalised to adjacent numbers.
Spatial Modeling of PM10 and NO2 in the Continental United States, 1985–2000

Background Epidemiologic studies of air pollution have demonstrated a link between long-term air pollution exposures and mortality. However, many have been limited to city-specific average pollution measures or spatial or land-use regression exposure models in small geographic areas. Objectives Our objective was to develop nationwide models of annual exposure to particulate matter < 10 μm in diameter (PM10) and nitrogen dioxide during 1985–2000. Methods We used generalized additive models (GAMs) to predict annual levels of the pollutants using smooth spatial surfaces of available monitoring data and geographic information system–derived covariates. Model performance was determined using a cross-validation (CV) procedure with 10% of the data. We also compared the results of these models with a commonly used spatial interpolation, inverse distance weighting. Results For PM10, distance to road, elevation, proportion of low-intensity residential, high-intensity residential, and industrial, commercial, or transportation land use within 1 km were all statistically significant predictors of measured PM10 (model R2 = 0.49, CV R2 = 0.55). Distance to road, population density, elevation, land use, and distance to and emissions of the nearest nitrogen oxides–emitting power plant were all statistically significant predictors of measured NO2 (model R2 = 0.88, CV R2 = 0.90). The GAMs performed better overall than the inverse distance models, with higher CV R2 and higher precision. Conclusions These models provide reasonably accurate and unbiased estimates of annual exposures for PM10 and NO2. This approach provides the spatial and temporal variability necessary to describe exposure in studies assessing the health effects of chronic air pollution.
Network Analysis of Human Genes Influencing Susceptibility to Mycobacterial Infections

Tuberculosis and nontuberculous mycobacterial infections constitute a high burden of pulmonary disease in humans, resulting in over 1.5 million deaths per year. Building on the premise that genetic factors influence the instance, progression, and defense of infectious disease, we undertook a systems biology approach to investigate relationships among genetic factors that may play a role in increased susceptibility or control of mycobacterial infections. We combined literature and database mining with network analysis and pathway enrichment analysis to examine genes, pathways, and networks, involved in the human response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis and nontuberculous mycobacterial infections. This approach allowed us to examine functional relationships among reported genes, and to identify novel genes and enriched pathways that may play a role in mycobacterial susceptibility or control. Our findings suggest that the primary pathways and genes influencing mycobacterial infection control involve an interplay between innate and adaptive immune proteins and pathways. Signaling pathways involved in autoimmune disease were significantly enriched as revealed in our networks. Mycobacterial disease susceptibility networks were also examined within the context of gene-chemical relationships, in order to identify putative drugs and nutrients with potential beneficial immunomodulatory or anti-mycobacterial effects.
Response of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus to Increased Mutagenesis: Influence of Viral Load and Fitness in Loss of Infectivity

ABSTRACT Passage of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) in cell culture in the presence of the mutagenic base analog 5-fluorouracil or 5-azacytidine resulted in decreases of infectivity and occasional extinction of the virus. Low viral loads and low viral fitness enhanced the frequency of extinction events; this finding was shown with a number of closely related FMDV clones and populations differing by up to 106-fold in relative fitness in infections involving either single or multiple passages in the absence or presence of the chemical mutagens. The mutagenic treatments resulted in increases of 2- to 6.4-fold in mutation frequency and up to 3-fold in mutant spectrum complexity. The largest increase observed corresponded to the 3D (polymerase)-coding region, which is highly conserved in nonmutagenized FMDV populations. As a result, nucleotide sequence heterogeneity for the 3D-coding region became very similar to that for the variable VP1-coding region in FMDVs multiply passaged in the presence of chemical mutagens. The results suggest that strategies to combine reductions of viral load and viral fitness could be effectively associated with extinction mutagenesis as a potential new antiviral strategy.
MSeasy: unsupervised and untargeted GC-MS data processing

UNLABELLED MSeasy performs unsupervised data mining on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry data. It detects putative compounds within complex metabolic mixtures through the clustering of mass spectra. Retention times or retention indices are used after clustering, together with other validation criteria, for quality control of putative compounds. The package generates a fingerprinting or profiling matrix compatible with NIST mass spectral search program and ARISTO webtool (Automatic Reduction of Ion Spectra To Ontology) for molecule identification. Most commonly used file formats, NetCDF, mzXML and ASCII, are acceptable. A graphical and user-friendly interface, MSeasyTkGUI, is available for R novices. AVAILABILITY MSeasy and MSeasytkGUI are implemented as R packages available at http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/MSeasy/index.html and http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/MSeasyTkGUI/index.html.
Albedo and heat transport in 3-D model simulations of the early Archean climate

Abstract. At the beginning of the Archean eon (ca. 3.8 billion years ago), the Earth's climate state was significantly different from today due to the lower solar luminosity, smaller continental fraction, higher rotation rate and, presumably, significantly larger greenhouse gas concentrations. All these aspects play a role in solutions to the "faint young Sun paradox" which must explain why the ocean surface was not fully frozen at that time. Here, we present 3-D model simulations of climate states that are consistent with early Archean boundary conditions and have different CO2 concentrations, aiming at an understanding of the fundamental characteristics of the early Archean climate system. In order to do so, we have appropriately modified an intermediate complexity climate model that couples a statistical-dynamical atmosphere model (involving parameterizations of the dynamics) to an ocean general circulation model and a thermodynamic-dynamic sea-ice model. We focus on three states: one of them is ice-free, one has the same mean surface air temperature of 288 K as today's Earth and the third one is the coldest stable state in which there is still an area with liquid surface water (i.e. the critical state at the transition to a "snowball Earth"). We find a reduction in meridional heat transport compared to today, which leads to a steeper latitudinal temperature profile and has atmospheric as well as oceanic contributions. Ocean surface velocities are largely zonal, and the strength of the atmospheric meridional circulation is significantly reduced in all three states. These aspects contribute to the observed relation between global mean temperature and albedo, which we suggest as a parameterization of the ice-albedo feedback for 1-D model simulations of the early Archean and thus the faint young Sun problem.
Is impact of fatigue an independent factor associated with physical activity in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease?

To investigate the longitudinal association between fatigue and physical activity in Parkinson's disease (PD) and determine whether this association is distorted by potential confounders. Data from baseline, 3, 6, and 12 week assessments in a single blind randomized clinical trial with cross‐over design were used (N = 153). The Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI) was used to assess fatigue and an activity monitor to measure amount of physical activity (defined as % dynamic activity during each monitoring session). Time‐independent and time‐dependent factors were investigated for their possible univariate association with dynamic activity. Random coefficient analysis was applied. Candidate confounders were successively added to the longitudinal association model to determine if the association between dynamic activity and fatigue was distorted. A proportional change beyond 15% was considered to be significant. Fatigue was significantly associated with physical activity (β = −0.099, SE = 0.032, P = 0.002). This association was not significantly distorted by type of intervention, age, gender, social support, disease duration, disease severity, motor impairment, cognition, anxiety, or medication intake. Depression caused proportional change of 22.2% in the regression coefficient of MFI. After controlling for depression, a significant association between MFI and dynamic activity remained (β = −0.121, SE = 0.036, P = 0.000). The association found between fatigue and dynamic activity suggests that patients who experience higher levels of fatigue are less physically active. However, the total explained variance of dynamic activity by fatigue alone was small, suggesting that fatigue is only a minor factor in the complex of behavioral aspects that affect the amount of physical activity in patients with PD. © 2009 Movement Disorder Society
Campaign Effects and the Dynamics of Turnout Intention in Election 2000

Previous survey analyses examining campaign effects on turnout are somewhat unconvincing because they do not control for the fact that individuals may have decided they will vote independent of campaign activities (even before the campaign begins). Using a unique repeated measures data set of the 2000 presidential campaign, I estimate a Markov chain transition model to test the effects of campaign efforts on turnout intention conditional on precampaign turnout intention. I demonstrate that campaign efforts have a substantial influence on turnout intention, even taking initial turnout intention into account. More notably, I find that different campaign efforts are effective for intended nonvoters than for intended voters. A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls. —Dan Quayle A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls. —Dan Quayle
The Prediction of Household Recycling of Newspapers: The Role of Attitudes, Intentions, and Situational Factors1

The present study was designed to examine differences between respondents who recycled during a 2-week observation period and those who did not. Of interest was the ability of factors drawn from Ajzen and Madden's (1986) theory of planned behavior and situational factors such as perceptions of borough councils' recycling programs to predict who would recycle. It was found that, although attitudes and intentions to recycle household newspapers were significant predictors of recycling behavior, factors associated with the inconvenience of recycling and the programs provided by borough councils, as well as respondents' past recycling behavior, were also significant predictors.
SteatoNet: The First Integrated Human Metabolic Model with Multi-layered Regulation to Investigate Liver-Associated Pathologies

Current state-of-the-art mathematical models to investigate complex biological processes, in particular liver-associated pathologies, have limited expansiveness, flexibility, representation of integrated regulation and rely on the availability of detailed kinetic data. We generated the SteatoNet, a multi-pathway, multi-tissue model and in silico platform to investigate hepatic metabolism and its associated deregulations. SteatoNet is based on object-oriented modelling, an approach most commonly applied in automotive and process industries, whereby individual objects correspond to functional entities. Objects were compiled to feature two novel hepatic modelling aspects: the interaction of hepatic metabolic pathways with extra-hepatic tissues and the inclusion of transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation. SteatoNet identification at normalised steady state circumvents the need for constraining kinetic parameters. Validation and identification of flux disturbances that have been proven experimentally in liver patients and animal models highlights the ability of SteatoNet to effectively describe biological behaviour. SteatoNet identifies crucial pathway branches (transport of glucose, lipids and ketone bodies) where changes in flux distribution drive the healthy liver towards hepatic steatosis, the primary stage of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Cholesterol metabolism and its transcription regulators are highlighted as novel steatosis factors. SteatoNet thus serves as an intuitive in silico platform to identify systemic changes associated with complex hepatic metabolic disorders.
Individualism and Semantic Development

This paper takes issue with Tyler Burge's claim that intentional states are nonindividualistically individuated in cognitive psychology. A discussion of current models of children's acquisition of semantic knowledge is used to motivate a thought-experiment which shows that psychologists working in this area are not committed to describing the concepts children attach to words in terms of the concepts standardly attached to those words in the child's community. The content of the child's representational states are thus not individuated with reference to linguistic environment in the manner that Burge's nonindividualistic view requires. The paper concludes that the explanatory states of cognitive psychology are sometimes individualistically individuated.