Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Functional and oncologic outcomes after excision of the total femur in primary bone tumors: Results with a low cost total femur prosthesis

Background The extent of tumor may necessitate resection of the complete femur rarely to achieve adequate oncologic clearance in bone sarcomas. We present our experience with reconstruction in such cases using an indigenously manufactured, low-cost, total femoral prosthesis (TFP). We assessed the complications of the procedure, the oncologic and functional outcomes, and implant survival. Materials and Methods Eight patients (four males and four females) with a mean age of 32 years, operated between December 2003 and June 2009, had a TFP implanted. The diagnosis included osteogenic sarcoma (5), Ewing’s sarcoma (1), and chondrosarcoma (2). Mean followup was 33 months (9–72 months) for all and 40 months (24–72 months) in survivors. They were evaluated by Musculoskeletal Tumor Society score, implant survival as well as patient survival. Results There was one local recurrence and five of seven patients are currently alive at the time of last followup. The Musculoskeletal Tumor Society score for patients ranged from 21 to 25 with a mean of 24 (80%). The implant survival was 88% at 5 years with only one TFP needing removal because of infection. Conclusions A TFP in appropriately indicated patients with malignant bone tumors is oncologically safe. A locally manufactured, cost-effective implant provided consistent and predictable results after excision of the total femur with good functional outcomes.
Coming of Age in Seville: The Structuring of a Riteless Passage to Manhood

This paper describes and analyzes the riteless passage from childhood to manhood in Barrio Macarena, a working-class neighborhood of Seville, Spain. Beliefs about masculinity, the dependency of children, and the autonomy of men generate conflict between fathers and sons when the latter begin to proclaim their own manliness. This culturally induced conflict underlies the Sevillano view that the father-son relationship develops through three phases, characterized respectively by the strategies of cooperation, confrontation, and compromise. Which of these strategies a son chooses to adopt in coping with paternal opposition to his display of manly behavior during the second phase is considered by Sevillanos to be diagnostic of his character. The linkage between pesonality and family politics in Sevillano ethnopsychology is expressed in public personality attributions, which have the effect of modifying the behavior of status-seeking adolescents, thereby reducing variation in how the transition to manhood is accomplished. Finally, it is argued that the political, as opposed to ritual, conceptualization of the transition process encourages Sevillano adolescents to behave in a hypermasculine manner.
A Toolbox of Genetically Encoded FRET-Based Biosensors for Rapid l-Lysine Analysis

Background: The fast development of microbial production strains for basic and fine chemicals is increasingly carried out in small scale cultivation systems to allow for higher throughput. Such parallelized systems create a need for new rapid online detection systems to quantify the respective target compound. In this regard, biosensors, especially genetically encoded Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based biosensors, offer tremendous opportunities. As a proof-of-concept, we have created a toolbox of FRET-based biosensors for the ratiometric determination of l-lysine in fermentation broth. Methods: The sensor toolbox was constructed based on a sensor that consists of an optimized central lysine-/arginine-/ornithine-binding protein (LAO-BP) flanked by two fluorescent proteins (enhanced cyan fluorescent protein (ECFP), Citrine). Further sensor variants with altered affinity and sensitivity were obtained by circular permutation of the binding protein as well as the introduction of flexible and rigid linkers between the fluorescent proteins and the LAO-BP, respectively. Results: The sensor prototype was applied to monitor the extracellular l-lysine concentration of the l-lysine producing Corynebacterium glutamicum (C. glutamicum) strain DM1933 in a BioLector® microscale cultivation device. The results matched well with data obtained by HPLC analysis and the Ninhydrin assay, demonstrating the high potential of FRET-based biosensors for high-throughput microbial bioprocess optimization.
A hybrid system approach to formation reconfiguration in cluttered environments

This paper outlines a formation control strategy for maneuvering a team of nonholonomic robots within a mapped environment. The major contribution of this work is an exploration of when formation changes should occur. We approach this problem using a two step process. First, a hybrid controller is designed which can follow a set of waypoints while switching between a group of formations based on the clearance to obstacles. Next, we present an optimization based path planner that attempts to minimize the cost of travel. Essentially, this path planner ensures that the robots only switch to less desirable formations when doing so results in considerably reduced travel distance. Simulation results verify the validity of our approach.
Effect of in vitro preincubation of polymorphonuclear leukocytes on formylmethionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine-induced chemiluminescence

When polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNL) and soluble or particulate matter interact, the cells produce chemiluminescence. The chemotactic peptide formylmethionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine induced a two-peak chemiluminescence response in PMNL. The response was modified, both in magnitude and in the time course of the response, when PMNL were incubated at 22 degrees C for 15 to 120 min before the addition of stimulus. The cellular response to formylmethionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine was also changed by the addition of cell-free supernatants from stored PMNL suspensions to freshly prepared PMNL before the addition of formylmethionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine. This indicated that PMNL during storage released substances that changed the chemiluminescence response. A similar change could be obtained by addition of purified myeloperoxidase to freshly prepared PMNL before the addition of stimulus, indicating that the myeloperoxidase-hydrogen peroxide system can function as a modulator of the cellular response to chemotactic factors.
Instructional Changes Adopted for an Engineering Course: Cluster Analysis on Academic Failure

As first year students come from diverse backgrounds, basic skills should be accessible to everyone as soon as possible. Transferring such skills to these students is challenging, especially in highly technical courses. Ensuring that essential knowledge is acquired quickly promotes the student’s self-esteem and may positively influence failure rates. Metaphors can help do this. Metaphors are used to understand the unknown. This paper shows how we made a turn in student learning at the University of Almeria. Our hypothesis assumed that metaphors accelerate the acquisition of basic knowledge so that other skills built on that foundation are easily learned. With these goals in mind, we changed the way we teach by using metaphors and abstract concepts in a computer organization course, a technical course in the first year of an information technology engineering degree. Cluster analysis of the data on collective student performance after this methodological change clearly identified two distinct groups. These two groups perfectly matched the “before and after” scenarios of the use of metaphors. The study was conducted during 11 academic years (2002/2003 to 2012/2013). The 475 observations made during this period illustrate the usefulness of this change in teaching and learning, shifting from a propositional teaching/learning model to a more dynamic model based on metaphors and abstractions. Data covering the whole period showed favorable evolution of student achievement and reduced failure rates, not only in this course, but also in many of the following more advanced courses. The paper is structured in five sections. The first gives an introduction, the second describes the methodology. The third section describes the sample and the study carried out. The fourth section presents the results and, finally, the fifth section discusses the main conclusions.
Systematic review of the occurrence of infantile colic in the community

AIMS To assess the occurrence of infantile colic in the community and the need for professional help; and to study the influences of potential determinants of infantile colic. METHODS Surveys were identified by a systematic search in Medline (1966–98) and Embase (1988–98). Retrieved publications were checked for references. Studies selected were community based, prospective, and retrospective surveys on the occurrence of infantile colic published in English, German, French, or Dutch. Occurrence rates were calculated as percentages. Methodological quality of the surveys was assessed by two assessors independently with a standardised criteria list containing items on method of data gathering, definition of colic, and drop out rate. RESULTS Fifteen community based surveys were identified. The methodological quality varied considerably and was generally low. Even the two most methodologically sound prospective studies yielded widely varying cumulative incidence rates of 5–19%. Referral rates or the need to seek help because of crying were consistently lower than occurrence rates for prolonged crying as such. Gender, socioeconomic class, type of feeding, family history of atopy, and parental smoking were not shown to be associated with colic. CONCLUSION Occurrence rates of infantile colic vary greatly according to methodological quality. A considerable number of parents reporting prolonged crying do not seek or need professional help.
DedA Protein Relates to Action-Mechanism of Halicyclamine A, a Marine Spongean Macrocyclic Alkaloid, as an Anti-dormant Mycobacterial Substance

A macrocyclic alkaloid, halicyclamine A, was re-discovered from an Indonesian marine sponge of Haliclona sp. 05A08 as an anti-dormant mycobacterial substance. To clarify action-mechanism of halicyclamine A, halicyclamine A-resistant strains were screened from the transformants of Mycobacterium smegmatis with the genomic DNA library of M. bovis BCG, which were constructed in the multi-copy shuttle cosmid pYUB145. Sequencing analysis of the cosmids isolated from the halicyclamine A-resistant transformants revealed that the responsible gene was involved in the genome region between 2920.549 kb and 2933.210 kb. Further experiments using the transformants over-expressing individual gene contained in the responsible region were executed, and the transformant, which over-expressed BCG2664 gene assigned as dedA gene, was found to become halicyclamine A-resistant. This evidence strongly suggested that DedA protein correlates with the action-mechanism of halicyclamine A as an anti-dormant mycobacterial substance.
Plasma 25Hydroxyvitamin 25Hydroxyvitamin 25Hydroxyvitamin D and Risk of Colorectal Cancer after Adjusting for In fl ammatory Markers

Despite the substantial epidemiologic evidence on the inverse association between circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and colorectal cancer, it remains controversial whether this relationship is causal or due to confounding by inflammation.We reevaluated the association between plasma 25(OH)D and colorectal cancer risk by additionally accounting for inflammatory markers in a prospective case–control study nested within the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study (615 cases and 1,209 matched controls). Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of colorectal cancer in relation to quartiles of plasma 25(OH)D. Results were compared before and after adjusting for inflammatorymarkers in themultivariablemodel. Plasma 25(OH)Dwas associatedwith reduced risk of colorectal cancer (multivariable RR comparing extreme quartiles1⁄4 0.71; 95%CI, 0.52–0.97;Ptrend1⁄4 0.01). Additional adjustment for C-reactive protein, IL6, soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor 2, or a composite inflammatory scoredidnot change the results [multivariable (including inflammatory score)RR1⁄4 0.72; 95%CI, 0.53–0.98; Ptrend 1⁄4 0.02). Our findings suggest that confounding by inflammation, as reflected by circulating inflammatory markers, does not appear to account for the inverse association between plasma 25(OH)D and colorectal cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 23(10); 2175–80. 2014 AACR.
Core components of cardiac rehabilitation/secondary prevention programs: 2007 update: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association Exercise, Cardiac Rehabilitation, and Prevention Committee, the Council on Clinical Cardiology; the Councils on Cardiovascular Nursing, Epidemiology and Pr

The American Heart Association and the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation recognize that all cardiac rehabilitation/secondary prevention programs should contain specific core components that aim to optimize cardiovascular risk reduction, foster healthy behaviors and compliance to these behaviors, reduce disability, and promote an active lifestyle for patients with cardiovascular disease. This update to the previous statement presents current information on the evaluation, interventions, and expected outcomes in each of the core components of cardiac rehabilitation/secondary prevention programs, in agreement with the 2006 update of the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology Secondary Prevention Guidelines, including baseline patient assessment, nutritional counseling, risk factor management (lipids, blood pressure, weight, diabetes mellitus, and smoking), psychosocial interventions, and physical activity counseling and exercise training.
Automatic Threshold Calculation for the Categorical Distance Measure ConDist

The measurement of distances between objects described by categorical attributes is a key challenge in data mining. The unsupervised distance measure ConDist approaches this challenge based on the idea that categorical values within an attribute are similar if they occur with similar value distributions on correlated context attributes. An impact function controls the inuence of the correlated context attributes in ConDist's distance calculation process. ConDist requires a user-dened threshold to purge context attributes whose correlations are caused by noisy, non-representative or small data sets. In this work, we propose an automatic threshold calculation method for each pair of attributes based on their value distributions and the num- ber of objects in the data set. Further, these thresholds are also consid- ered when applying ConDist's impact function. Experiments show that this approach is competitive with respect to well selected user-dened thresholds and superior to poorly selected user-dened thresholds.
Transcontinental Crashes of Insect Populations?

1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University factors that may be operating within the populations. Beof California, Irvine, California 92697 cause our focus was on the drought, we also obtained 2. Department of Entomology, University of California, Davis, records of annual precipitation for the regions where California 95616-8584 each insect population occurs for the period 1978–1996. We located time-series data for 10 insect taxa, repreSubmitted December 4, 1997; Accepted March 17, 1998 senting a wide range of life histories, habitats, and geographic regions in North America (references in fig. 1 legend): gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar, Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) in Massachusetts; a multispecies complex of
Seasonality of Retinal Detachment Incidence and Its Associations With Climate: An 11-Year Nationwide Population-Based Study

This study aimed to examine the seasonal variability of retinal detachment (RD) in Taiwan by using an 11-yr nationwide population database. This study also investigated the association of weather conditions, i.e., ambient temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, monthly hours of sunshine, and atmospheric pressure, with RD. Data were retrospectively collected from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. The study sample included 23 718 RD hospitalizations between January 1999 and December 2009. The incidence rate of RD/100 000 people over the 132 months was computed according to sex and age groupings of <20, 20–39, 40–59, and ≥60 yrs. Then, the association between climatic factors and the monthly RD incidence rate was examined. The ARIMA (autoregressive integrated moving average) method was also employed to test the seasonality of RD incidence rates and their association with climatic factors. The annual RD incidence rates were between 7.8 and 10.8 cases/100 000 people during the study period. A fairly similar seasonal pattern of monthly RD incidence rates was apparent for males and females and males and females combined. Rates were highest August through October, decreasing in November, and lowest in February. After adjusting for time, trend, and month, the ARIMA regression models for the male, female, and males and females combined consistently revealed the monthly RD incidence rate was significantly and positively associated with ambient temperature, but negatively associated with atmospheric pressure. The authors conclude that the monthly RD incidence rates were significantly associated with seasonality. The monthly RD incidence rates were positively associated with ambient temperature and negatively associated with atmospheric pressure. (Author correspondence: henry11111@tmu.edu.tw)
Developing Symbolic Interpretation Through Literary Argumentation

Literature can be a powerful resource for adolescents’ psychosocial development, as it provides opportunities to experience the world through the perspectives of others and juxtapose these with one’s own experiences. However, gaining access to these perspectives requires going beyond literal words on the page to explore interpretive meanings. This mixed-methods case study addresses the need to better understand how adolescent students learn to interpret literary works. Specifically, 9th-grade students participated in a 5-week instructional module focused on symbolic interpretation and coming of age themes in texts with a variety of sources of complexity. The primary data sources were an intentional sample of classroom discussions and essays written before and after instruction. Analyses indicate that students learned to make interpretive claims around symbolism. Textual evidence to support these claims was evident in whole-class discussions but less so in the written essays. Students also struggled to reason about why evidence supported particular claims and how the interpretive claims were related to understanding the characters and their worlds. Discussion focuses on the value of symbolic interpretation as a starting point for engaging adolescents in interpretive practices but notes that developing facility with literary interpretation takes concerted effort over longer periods of time.
The impact of college student immersion service learning trips on coping with stress and vocational identity

This study examined the impact of service learning immersion trips on vocational identity and coping with stress among college students. Fifty-one students (15 males, 36 females) who participated in immersion trips and 76 students (25 males, 51 females) in a non-immersion control group completed a series of questionnaires directly before and immediately after both fall and spring break immersion trips, and during a four-month follow up. Results suggest that, after returning from an immersion trip, students report a greater ability to cope with stress and a somewhat stronger sense of vocational identity relative to students who do not participate in immersion trips.
A Verification of the Effectiveness of Alternatives Analysis and Public Involvement on the Quality of JICA Environmental and Social Consideration Reports

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) introduced guidelines for environmental and social considerations in April 2004. The guidelines could lead to an improvement in the quality of environmental and social consideration reports. The main reason for this may be the inclusion of alternatives analysis and public involvement. This study aimed to quantitatively verify the effectiveness of alternatives analysis and public involvement, and to propose concrete methods for improving the quality of reports based on the analytic result. The Lee-Colley review package was used to review the quality of the samples of 120 reports dating from 2001 to 2012. A path analysis with structural equation modeling was used to obtain a causal model. The rating scales from A to F (ordinal scales) were converted to rank scores and analyzed using a statistical technique. This paper acknowledges the effectiveness of alternatives analysis, public involvement, and the number of criteria for improving the quality of the reports. The effectiveness of those variables may be verified by the causal model. As a result of statistical analysis, the paper points out the effectiveness of alternatives analysis with a wide range of criteria and public involvement. Further research is needed to improve the causal model by attaining new knowledge, to find out what are the concrete benefits of public involvement to the quality of the reports, to verify the most suitable number of alternatives and criteria for alternatives analysis, and to prepare technical guidelines for the use of the quantitative technique of alternatives analysis in case studies.
Repositioning Risk and Resilience: Improving the Lives of Children and Adults with Mental Health Problems in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

ABSTRACT The repositioning of risk and resilience within the social work and mental health agenda is examined in this paper through a consideration of the social exclusion of vulnerable children and adults living in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA). There is a pressing need in this region for the development of better conceptions and cultural adaptations of risk and resilience models. An important task is spelling out the implications for effective prevention and intervention programs, and for practitioners and service users in terms of an inclusive, person-centred, and emancipatory practice. The societies of the EECA region may be understood as comprising a distinctive form of risk society, distinguished from Western counterparts by their adverse risk levels, and by their emancipatory potential. Strategies based on user inclusion and participatory action require to be fashioned, along with the development of the social work profession, to facilitate the empowerment of users in the EECA region.