Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sleep disorders in children and adolescents

A recent telephone survey of 1125 adolescents aged 15-18 from France, Great Britain, Germany, and Italy found that about 20% were sleepy in the daytime, 25% had insomnia symptoms, and 4% met established criteria for an insomnia disorder.1 2 Sleep-wake disorders are common and have an important impact on the quality of life of children, but if they are promptly recognised and treated the outcome is favourable. Alertness is the inherent ability of the brain to sustain attention and wakefulness with little or no external stimulation;3 sleepiness results from impaired daytime alertness. To review issues pertaining to childhood sleep-wake function, we selected Cochrane reviews and key original articles pertaining to sleep neurobiology and childhood sleep-wake disorders, and used our own clinical experience in writing this review. Whether a person is awake or asleep at any given time depends on the net balance between the circadian drive, which facilitates wakefulness, and the homeostatic drive, which facilitates sleep.4–6 The suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus is the circadian timekeeper (biological clock); it receives photic input from the retina and regulates the timing and length of sleep. The hypocretin (orexin) neurons located in the dorsolateral hypothalamus, and their projections to the ventral forebrain and brainstem, serve as the major wakefulness promoting system. Serum levels of melatonin, a sleep inducing hormone produced by the pineal gland, rise just before sleep onset. Around adolescence, the timing of release of melatonin shifts to a later time at night, rendering teenagers incapable of falling asleep before about 10 30 pm. As a general rule in a school age child, habitually falling asleep while travelling in a car or train for less than 30 minutes or while reading or watching television, or regularly napping on return home from school in the afternoon should raise …
The Palau early psychosis study: Distribution of cases by level of genetic risk

The Palau Early Psychosis Study (PEPS) was designed to examine the pathogenesis of early psychosis in a high‐risk population isolate. This paper describes the characteristics of our community‐based, non‐help seeking sample of 404 Palauan adolescents and quantifies the presence of early psychosis by level of genetic risk. The sample included 53 offspring of a schizophrenic parent designated as “Genetically Highest Risk” (GHR+) and 68 nieces/nephews of sib‐pairs/trios, designated as “Genetically High Risk” (GHR). The remaining subjects were recruited through a high school survey that identified 62 “Genetically Moderate Risk” (GMR) adolescents with an affected second or third degree relative and 221 “Genetically Low Risk” (GLR) subjects with no close affected relatives. The GLR adolescents included 117 symptomatic or “Clinically High Risk” (CHR) adolescents and 104 asymptomatic normal controls. Based on a modified K‐SADS‐PL assessment, we identified 221 adolescents with early psychosis, 62 or 28% of whom had already transitioned to a psychotic disorder. Together, the two highest risk groups contributed 31% of the adolescent‐onset psychosis cases and 27% of the prodromals. More than half of the early psychosis cases (53%) were GLR adolescents. The mean age of onset for DSM‐IV psychosis was 12.9 years, and males transitioned at an earlier age than females. Our results indicate that Palauan adolescents, even GLR adolescents with no close affected relatives, have elevated rates of early psychosis. These young subjects can contribute valuable information about the familial transmission of schizophrenia, the developmental course of the illness, and rates of transition to frank psychosis. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Exploring the validity of assessment in anatomy: Do images influence cognitive processes used in answering extended matching questions?

Assessment is an important aspect of medical education because it tests students' competence and motivates them to study. Various assessment methods, with and without images, are used in the study of anatomy. In this study, we investigated the use of extended matching questions (EMQs). To gain insight into the influence of images on the validity of test items, we focused on students' cognitive processes while they answered questions with and without images. Seventeen first‐year medical students answered EMQs about gross anatomy, combined with either labeled images or answer lists, while thinking aloud. The participants' verbal reports were transcribed verbatim and then coded. Initial codes were based on a task analysis and were adapted into final codes during the coding process. Results showed that students used more cues from EMQs with images and visualized more often in EMQs with answer lists. Ready knowledge and verbal reasoning were used equally often in both conditions. In conclusion, EMQs with and without images elicit different results in this think aloud experiment, indicating different cognitive processes. They seem to measure different skills, making them valid for different testing purposes. The take‐home message for anatomy teachers is that questions without images seem to test the quality of students' mental images while questions with images test their ability to interpret visual information. It makes sense to use both response formats in tests. Using images from clinical practice instead of anatomical drawings will help to improve test validity. Anat Sci Educ 7: 107–116. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.
Hand vein recognition based on multi-scale LBP and wavelet

This paper proposes a novel approach to extract multi-scale LBP features of hand vein images. Local Binary Patterns (LBP) is a simple but efficient texture operator for hand vein images. However there are two big limitations of LBP. One is that it only covers a small neighborhood area and gets very limited local information. The other is some non-uniform information will be lost as uniform patterns is adopted. To solve these problems, the hand vein image is decomposed with two-level wavelet, and gets 8 coefficient matrices: A<inf>1</inf>, H<inf>1</inf>, V<inf>1</inf>, D<inf>1</inf>, A<inf>2</inf>, H<inf>2</inf>, V<inf>2</inf> and D<inf>2</inf>. In order to obtain the weight of each sub-band, the recognition accuracy of each sub-band is calculated by original LBP based on Euclidean Distance. In consideration of the direction of hand vein images, two diagonal high frequency components, D<inf>1</inf> and D<inf>2</inf>, are abandoned. Meanwhile, A<inf>1</inf>, H<inf>1</inf>, V<inf>1</inf>, A<inf>2</inf>, H<inf>2</inf>, V<inf>2</inf> and the original image are chosen as multi-scale components. Finally all LBP features of components are fused. Experimental results on a database of 2040 images show that the proposed method outperforms original LBP and traditional multi-scale LBP.
Contact modelling of human skin: What value to use for the modulus of elasticity?

In modelling and understanding the contact and friction behaviour of human skin, the elastic modulus of the skin is an important input parameter. For the development of design rules for the engineering of surfaces in contact with the skin an expression that describes the relation between the elastic modulus of the skin and the size of the contact is essential. Although an exact description of the mechanical behaviour of the skin requires an anisotropic, nonlinear, viscoelastic model, in this study it was found that for contact modelling involving relatively small deformations, the mechanical behaviour seems to be accurately described by a single parameter: the effective elastic modulus. The effective elastic modulus is shown to decrease several orders of magnitude when the length scale increases, which is the consequence of the rather complex anatomy of the skin. At an indentation depth of 10 µm, the effective elastic modulus was shown to decrease from 0.15 to 0.015 MPa when the radius of curvature of the indenter increases from 10 µm to 10 mm. The variation of the elasticity is explained by the variation in the composition and properties of the different skin layers. This study shows that for the contact modelling of human skin, a closed-form expression based on the anatomy of the skin exists, which yields the magnitude of the effective elastic modulus of the skin as a function of the length scale of the contact depending on variables such as age, gender and environmental conditions.
Suppression of numerical anisotropy and dispersion with optimized finite-difference time-domain methods

To reduce numerical dispersion in finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) methods, large computational stencils are often used. This paper proposes an optimized two-dimensional method by weighting the (2,4) stencil and the "neighborhood" stencil. After obtaining the amplification factor and the numerical dispersion relation, the optimal value of the weight parameter is obtained to minimize the numerical dispersion at a designated frequency. The anisotropy, dispersion error and the accumulated phase errors are greatly reduced over a broad bandwidth. Both the maximum anisotropy and the maximum dispersion error are 8.9/spl times/10/sup -5/, and the accumulated phase error is 0.002367/spl deg/ per cell, respectively, for a broad band of frequencies if optimized at 10 cells per wavelength. Numerical experiments are performed which show very good agreement with theoretical analysis. The time step size bound is the same as for Yee's FDTD.
Quantitative Assessment of the Risk of Lung Cancer Associated with Occupational Exposure to Refractory Ceramic Fibers

We present the results of a quantitative assessment of the lung cancer risk associated with occupational exposure to refractory ceramic fibers (RCF). The primary sources of data for our risk assessment were two long-term oncogenicity studies in male Fischer rats conducted to assess the potential pathogenic effects associated with prolonged inhalation of RCF. An interesting feature of the data was the availability of the temporal profile of fiber burden in the lungs of experimental animals. Because of this information, we were able to conduct both exposure–response and dose–response analyses. Our risk assessment was conducted within the framework of a biologically based model for carcinogenesis, the two-stage clonal expansion model, which allows for the explicit incorporation of the concepts of initiation and promotion in the analyses. We found that a model positing that RCF was an initiator had the highest likelihood. We proposed an approach based on biological considerations for the extrapolation of risk to humans. This approach requires estimation of human lung burdens for specific exposure scenarios, which we did by using an extension of a model due to Yu. Our approach acknowledges that the risk associated with exposure to RCF depends on exposure to other lung carcinogens. We present estimates of risk in two populations: (1) a population of nonsmokers and (2) an occupational cohort of steelworkers not exposed to coke oven emissions, a mixed population that includes both smokers and nonsmokers.
New concept motor that uses Compound Magnet Motive Forces for EV application

This paper describes the characteristics of a new concept motor which uses combined magnet motive forces for an application of Electric Vehicles. The motor is a surface type PMSM and two kinds of magnet motive forces which are called a Compound Magnet Motive Forces (CMMF) can be used by the special magnet arrangement. By adding the current to match each of the magnet motive forces, this machine can utilize three characteristics. This new method can realize a variable characteristic. This paper shows the experimental result of the back-EMF of the CMMF, output torque under the current control, and changeable speed-torque (N-T) characteristics. The characteristics of the motor are verified by the experimental results and simulation results.
Radiological Assessment of Osteo-Arthrosis

In a previous study (Kellgren and Bier, 1956), three sets of x rays of the hands were used to assess interand intra-observer differences in interpreting changes of rheumatoid arthritis. Wide disagreement between observers was found, and it was concluded that, to ensure maximum uniformity in grading x rays in field surveys and therapeutic trials, all readings should be made by the same observer, preferably at a single session. The advisability of having a set of standard reference films was also considered.
A novel k‐space trajectory measurement technique

A new k‐space trajectory measurement technique is proposed and demonstrated. This technique measures the k‐space trajectory, in seconds, using only a few readout lines, using phase values of acquired MR signals. As a result of the technique's efficiency, k‐space trajectory measurement using patient data becomes possible. The utility of this techniques is demonstrated in phantom and human studies at 4.1 T.
Configuration of technology networks in the wind turbine industry. A comparative study of technology management models in European and Chinese lead firms

Through a comparative analysis of technology management at the component level by wind turbine manufacturers from Europe and China, this article compares strategies of internalisation of core technology components by European and Chinese lead firms and outlines how different internalisation strategies impact the networks established by the two types of lead firms. Building on the concept of governance developed by the global value chain literature, the article identifies two different types of networks: European lead firms internalise core technology components and keep strong captive or relational ties with key component suppliers, whereas Chinese lead firms modularise and externalise core technology components, hence adopting a more flexible approach to technology management. The latter model mirrors a strategy of overcoming technological barriers by tapping into knowledge through global innovation networks. The article contributes to the network governance literature by introducing scales of component technology complexity and lead firm capabilities for understanding network constructs.
Role of FlgM in sigma D-dependent gene expression in Bacillus subtilis

The alternative sigma factor sigma D directs transcription of a number of genes involved in chemotaxis, motility, and autolysis in Bacillus subtilis (sigmaD regulon). The activity of SigD is probably in contrast to that of FlgM, which acts as an antisigma factor and is responsible for the coupling of late flagellar gene expression to the assembly of the hook-basal body complex. We have characterized the effects of an in-frame deletion mutation of flgM. By transcriptional fusions to lacZ, we have shown that in FlgM-depleted strains there is a 10-fold increase in transcription from three different sigmaD-dependent promoters, i.e., Phag, PmotAB, and PfliDST. The number of flagellar filaments was only slightly increased by the flgM mutation. Overexpression of FlgM from a multicopy plasmid under control of the isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside-inducible spac promoter drastically reduced the level of transcription from the hag promoter. On the basis of these results, we conclude that, as in Salmonella typhimurium, FlgM inhibits the activity of SigD, but an additional element is involved in determining the number of flagellar filaments.
A simple DNA gate motif for synthesizing large-scale circuits

The prospects of programming molecular systems to perform complex autonomous tasks have motivated research into the design of synthetic biochemical circuits. Of particular interest to us are cell-free nucleic acid systems that exploit non-covalent hybridization and strand displacement reactions to create cascades that implement digital and analogue circuits. To date, circuits involving at most tens of gates have been demonstrated experimentally. Here, we propose a simple DNA gate architecture that appears suitable for practical synthesis of large-scale circuits involving possibly thousands of gates.
Repeat liver surgery by laparoscopy for a malignant recurrence after previous open or laparoscopic resection

Aim: This paper reported the experience of one center on repeat laparoscopic liver surgery for metastasis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with a review of the literature. Methods: This retrospective study included 24 patients who underwent laparoscopic re-intervention (hepatic resection and radiofrequency ablation) for recurrent HCC in cirrhosis ( n = 17) and for recurrent malignant metastases ( n = 7) after a previous open or laparoscopic procedure. Patients were divided into two groups according to the first surgical approach. Group 1 underwent open resection and laparoscopic procedure (7 patients), and Group 2 underwent laparoscopic resection and laparoscopic procedure (17 patients). Results: Mean operative time for re-intervention was significantly longer for Group 1 (220.14 ± 80.06 min) than for Group 2 (150 ± 56.18 min; P = 0.001), whereas the mean blood loss and mean hospital stay were comparable in both groups. According to Dindo-Clavien classification, overall morbidity ranged between Grade I and IIIa and was similar in both groups. Conclusion: This study suggests that repeat laparoscopic surgery for recurrent hepatic malignant diseases in selected patients is a feasible and safe procedure with good short-term outcomes, but further prospective studies are needed to support these results.
Theoretically speaking: use of a communities of practice framework to describe and evaluate interprofessional education

This article uses Wenger's () theory of communities of practice, and in particular his learning design framework, to describe and evaluate the pedagogy of one interprofessional continuing professional development (CPD) programme for health, education and social care professionals. The article presents findings from 27 post-intervention interviews conducted 12 months after the CPD. Key pedagogic features of small group working, action planning, facilitation, continued independent learning and ‘safe’ learning environment were found to provide facilities for ‘engagement’, ‘imagination’ and ‘alignment’ (Wenger, ), with the use of task-focused small group work particularly appreciated by participants. Problems of falling attendance and marginalisation are discussed using Wenger's concept of ‘identification/negotiability’. It is suggested that careful selection of delegates and provision of sufficient organisational support may mitigate such problems.
Optimization of LDPC Codes over the Underwater Acoustic Channel

To combat severe intersymbol interference incurred by multipath propagation of sound waves in the underwater acoustic environment, we introduce an iterative equalization and decoding scheme by iteratively exchanging soft information between a low-density parity check (LDPC) decoder and a decision feedback equalizer. We apply extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) charts to analyze performance of LDPC codes over the acoustic multipath channel. Furthermore, using differential evolution technique, we develop an EXIT-aided method to optimize LDPC codes for the underwater acoustic channel. Design examples are presented for two different realizations of the underwater acoustic channel that are generated by an acoustic ray tracing model. Computer simulations show that the optimized LDPC codes outperform its regular counterpart or Turbo codes under the same coding rate and block length, with gains of 1.0 and 0.8 dB, respectively, at the bit error rate of 10−5.
Microarray technology and gene expression analysis for the study of angiogenesis

Angiogenesis plays a major role in multiple disease processes including cancer, and new agents that modulate angiogenesis are rapidly entering clinical trials. The understanding of the biological mechanisms and downstream effects for many of these agents is poorly understood. It is therefore important that methods evolve to understand how an agent regulates angiogenesis, in order to promote a higher percentage of successful drug candidates. With the emergence of microarray technology for the evaluation of gene expression, researchers have a powerful tool for dissecting the biological mechanisms of angiogenesis. However, huge data sets and complex statistics pose a hurdle for the investigator to obtain useful and meaningful data. To eliminate problems in data analysis, proper design and planning prior to performing a microarray experiment is crucial to making valid conclusions. This review will discuss the critical factors in designing, performing and analysing microarray experiments, and the utility of various models of angiogenesis for microarray analysis.
Myocardial function in rat genetic models of low and high aerobic running capacity

[PDF] [Full Text] [Abstract] , August 1, 2002; 40 (2): 130-135. Hypertension J. C. Barbato, P. J. Mulrow, J. I. Shapiro and R. Franco-Saenz Rapid Effects of Aldosterone and Spironolactone in the Isolated Working Rat Heart [PDF] [Full Text] [Abstract] , April 1, 2004; 127 (4): 1041-1050. J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. Rosengart M. A. Retuerto, P. Schalch, G. Patejunas, J. Carbray, N. Liu, K. Esser, R. G. Crystal and T. K. fetal cardiomyocyte implantation Angiogenic pretreatment improves the efficacy of cellular cardiomyoplasty performed with [PDF] [Full Text] [Abstract] , August 1, 2005; 289 (2): H801-H812. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol F. S. Korte, T. J. Herron, M. J. Rovetto and K. S. McDonald working hearts Power output is linearly related to MyHC content in rat skinned myocytes and isolated [PDF] [Full Text] [Abstract] , September 21, 2005; 23 (1): 62-71. Physiol Genomics L. G. Koch and G. T. Cicila S. J. Lee, J. A. Ways, J. C. Barbato, D. Essig, K. Pettee, S. J. DeRaedt, S. Yang, D. A. Weaver, capacity Gene expression profiling of the left ventricles in a rat model of intrinsic aerobic running [PDF] [Full Text] [Abstract] , December 1, 2006; 291 (6): C1183-C1192. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol N. E. Schlick, M. I. Jensen-Seaman, K. Orlebeke, A. E. Kwitek, H. J. Jacob and J. Lazar strains Sequence analysis of the complete mitochondrial DNA in 10 commonly used inbred rat
Contribution of Th1 and Th2 Cells to Protection and Pathology in Experimental Models of Granulomatous Lung Disease1

Mice that had received adoptive transfer of DO11.10 TCR transgenic T cells polarized toward a Th1 or a Th2 phenotype were challenged with Ag-coated beads or with recombinant Mycobacterium tuberculosis expressing the OVA determinant. The resulting bead-induced pulmonary granulomas reflected the phenotype of the adoptively transferred T cells, with the Th2 cells promoting a fibrotic reaction. Mice receiving Th1 cells mounted an epitope-specific protective response to challenge with recombinant M. tuberculosis. Th2 recipients were characterized by enhanced weight loss and lung fibrosis during acute high-dose infection. The combination of TCR transgenic T cells and epitope-tagged mycobacteria provides a novel experimental model for investigation of the pathogenesis of tuberculosis.