Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CORE MUSCULATURE ENDURANCE AND STRENGTH BETWEEN SOCCER PLAYERS WITH AND WITHOUT LOWER EXTREMITY SPRAIN AND STRAIN INJURY

Background Lower extremity sprain and strain injury constitutes a large percentage of lower extremity injuries experienced by soccer players. Yet, very limited data exists on the association between core strength and endurance and this injury. Purpose The purpose of this study was to compare core muscle endurance and hip muscle strength between soccer players who experienced non-contact lower extremity sprain and/or strain injury during their season and those who did not. Additionally, the frequency of injury was correlated with core muscle endurance and hip strength, and endurance was used for predicting the risk for injury. Study design Prospective cohort. Methods Twenty-one (35.59%) athletes experienced non-contact lower extremity sprain and/or strain injury during the season. Fifty-nine male athletes (mean age 20.92 ± 4.08 years, mass 77.34 ± 12.02 kg and height 1.79 ± 0.06m) were tested. Prior to the start of the season, prone-bridge, side-bridge, trunk flexion and horizontal back extension hold times were recorded for endurance assessment and peak hip abductor and external rotator isokinetic torques for strength assessment. Results Prone-bridge and side-bridge hold times were significantly longer in the non-injured players when compared with the times of the injured players (p=0.043 & 0.008 for the prone-bridge and side-bridge, respectively). There were significant negative correlations between the frequency of injury and both prone-bridge (r=-0.324, p=0.007) and side-bridge (r=-0.385, p=0.003) hold times. Logistic regression analysis revealed that side-bridge hold time was a significant predictor of injury (OR=0.956, CI=0.925-0.989). Conclusion Soccer players with non-contact lower extremity sprain and/or strain have less core endurance than non-injured players. Reduced core endurance is associated with increased incidence of injury. Improving side-bridge hold time, specifically, may reduce the risk for injury. Level of evidence 1b.
Segmentation of the Herniated Intervertebral Discs

This paper presents two segmentation algorithms for MR spine image segmentation helping in on time diagnosis of the spine hernia and surgical intervention whenever required. One is level set segmentation and another one is watershed segmentation algorithm. Both of these methods have been widely used before (Aslan, Farag, Arnold and Xiang, 2011) (Pan, et al., 2013) (Silvia, España, Antonio, Estanislao , and David, 2015) (Erdil, Argunşah, Ünay and Çetin, 2013) (Claudia. Et al, 2007). In our approach we have used the concept of variational level set method along with a signed distance function and is compared with the watershed segmentation which we have already implemented before on a different dataset (Hashia, Mir, 2014). In order to check the efficacy of the algorithm it is again implemented in this paper on the sagittal T2weighted MR images of the spine. It can be seen that both these methods can become very much valuable to help the radiologists with the on time segmentation of the vertebral bodies as well as of the intervertebral disks with relatively much less effort. They both are later compared with the golden standard using dice and jaccard coefficients.
Differences in Small-Mammal and Stand Structures between Unburned and Burned Pine Stands Subjected to Two Different Post-Fire Silvicultural Management Practices

We examined the abundances of three small-mammal species, Korean field mice (Apodemus peninsulae), Korean red-backed voles (Myodes regulus), and striped field mice (A. agrarius), and a stand structure of unburned and burned stands resulting from two different post-fire silvicultural management practices within a pine forest in South Korea. The habitat structure changed dramatically depending on the post-fire silvicultural practices. Most measured variables of the stand structure and downed trees were significantly different among the differently-managed stands. We captured 776 animals of five species (1114 captures in total) in nine stands, each trapped during the two-year study period. The total abundances of captured small mammals did not differ significantly among the differently-managed stands. Mean Jolly—Seber estimates of the population density of M. regulus were 79%–291% higher in the post-burned untreated stand, whereas those of A. agrarius were 214%–491% higher in the post-burned Japanese red pine (Pinus densiflora) planted stand. The preferred stands for small mammal species were generated by forest fire and post-fire silvicultural practices. The values of understory vegetation, coarse woody debris, and downed trees were most strongly related to small-mammal abundance following post-fire silvicultural practices. Therefore, the effects of post-fire silvicultural practices on small-mammal populations should be considered in the post-fire management of a burned pine forest.
Methylphenidate Treatment of Cognitive Dysfunction in Adults After Mild to Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury: Rationale, Efficacy, and Neural Mechanisms

Positive effects of methylphenidate (MPH) on attention and cognitive processing speed have been reported in studies of patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Studies which have acquired functional brain imaging before and while using MPH have also found alteration of brain activation while performing a cognitive task; in some studies, this alteration of activation in selective brain regions was also related to improved performance on cognitive tests administered outside of the scanning environment. Enhanced cognitive performance has been reported after single doses of MPH and after daily treatment over durations of up to and exceeding 1 month. Preclinical research and both positron emission tomography and single photon emission tomography of humans have shown that MPH increases extracellular dopamine and norepinephrine; the dose effects of MPH have an inverted U-shaped function where high doses may cause insomnia, nervousness, and increased heart rate among other symptoms and impair cognitive performance, whereas too low a dose fails to improve cognitive performance. In the past 5 years, small clinical trials, and experimental pilot studies have found therapeutic effects of single and repeated low doses of MPH in patients with mild TBI who reported cognitive dysfunction. This literature also suggests that MPH may interact with concurrent cognitive interventions to enhance their effects. This focused review will critically evaluate the recent literature on MPH effects on cognitive dysfunction after mild to moderate TBI. To elucidate the neural mechanisms of MPH effects, this review will also include recent imaging research, preclinical, and experimental human studies.
On Exponential Stabilizability for a Class of Switched Nonlinear Systems with Mixed Time-Varying Delays

We study the exponential stabilizability for a class of switched nonlinear systems with mixed time-varying delays. By using a new technique developed for positive systems, we design the average dwell time switching under which the switched nonlinear system is exponentially stable for any bounded delays. Finally, numerical examples are worked out to illustrate the main theoretical result.
The effect of opportunistic behavior on trust: An experimental approach

Linking small farmers to global markets through contract farming has become an important policy recommendation aiming to increase farmers’ income and foster rural development. Nevertheless, some of the arrangements involving small farmers have been reported to loose participants or collapse over time. Trust is an informal institution that can discourage opportunism and facilitate the compliance of contracts in a setting with an expensive and weak legal system. Nevertheless, the study of trust has been addressed mostly in lab experiments, but in the agribusiness context it has been addressed only by a few authors in a rather descriptive way. We use a framed field experiment with prior signaling on a sample of 180 small broccoli farmers in the highlands of Ecuador to explore the effect of opportunistic behavior on small farmers´ trust. The results reveal that this group of farmers has lower than average trust towards unknown people. Furthermore, we use a signal that mimics the payment of a loan by the B partner as treatment in the predesigned trust game. Results show that a positive signal increases trust, but a negative signal has no effect on it. Reacting slowly to external negative signs can threaten individuals who will not protect themselves towards opportunism. If farmers do not react quickly enough, they might face larger losses and will not be able to stay in business. In addition, if informal norms include weak sanctions, contract farming will be less likely and individuals will prefer the spot market were only one-time exchanges take place.
A Lightweight API-Based Approach for Building Flexible Clinical NLP Systems

Natural language processing (NLP) has become essential for secondary use of clinical data. Over the last two decades, many clinical NLP systems were developed in both academia and industry. However, nearly all existing systems are restricted to specific clinical settings mainly because they were developed for and tested with specific datasets, and they often fail to scale up. Therefore, using existing NLP systems for one's own clinical purposes requires substantial resources and long-term time commitments for customization and testing. Moreover, the maintenance is also troublesome and time-consuming. This research presents a lightweight approach for building clinical NLP systems with limited resources. Following the design science research approach, we propose a lightweight architecture which is designed to be composable, extensible, and configurable. It takes NLP as an external component which can be accessed independently and orchestrated in a pipeline via web APIs. To validate its feasibility, we developed a web-based prototype for clinical concept extraction with six well-known NLP APIs and evaluated it on three clinical datasets. In comparison with available benchmarks for the datasets, three high F1 scores (0.861, 0.724, and 0.805) were obtained from the evaluation. It also gained a low F1 score (0.373) on one of the tests, which probably is due to the small size of the test dataset. The development and evaluation of the prototype demonstrates that our approach has a great potential for building effective clinical NLP systems with limited resources.
Optimal Maintenance Resources Allocation Using Automated Simulation-based Optimisation and Data Management

This paper introduces a Streamlined Modeling and Decision Support (StreaMod) approach in which input data management, simulation model generation/update and simulation-based optimization are synergistically integrated into a largely automated process. The aim of this automated process is to support decision making related to the optimal maintenance resources allocation that could improve the performance of production/logistic systems.
Tailoring the electronic properties of Ca 2 RuO 4 via epitaxial strain

We establish strain engineering of ruthenium oxides as a method to controllably induce phase transitions between electronic ground states with vastly different electrical and magnetic properties. Specifically, we show that the epitaxial strain acting on Ca2RuO4 thin films on NdCaAlO4 (110), LaAlO3 (100), and LaSrAlO4 (001) substrates induces a transition from the Mott-insulating phase of bulk Ca2RuO4 into a metallic phase. Magnetometry and spin-polarized neutron reflectometry reveal a low-temperature, small-moment ferromagnetic state in Ca2RuO4 films on LaAlO3 (100) and LaSrAlO4(001). Thin-film structures may open up new ways to investigate and utilize the electronic response of ruthenates to lattice modification.
Gender and Sexuality TROUBLING HUMANITY : TOWARDS A QUEER FEMINIST CRITICAL PSYCHOLOGY

This text is based on an appraisal of theoretical developments in queer feminisms and seeks to translate such concerns to a field of inquiry that we call queer feminist critical psychology. The text uses the concept of homonormativity as a specific apparatus of heteronormativity to tackle sexual politics and neoliberalism and applied to two interrelated domains: citizenship and the family. Such a perspective entails a critique of these notions in terms of the exclusionary assumptions they are based on and read as an example of the effects of homonormativity. Issues of representability are also discussed within this framework showing how these family and citizenship concepts are only intelligible within the scope of certain assumptions of gender, sexuality and political economy. The article also analyses issues of recognition of humanity that are always already derived from these norms. The construction of alternative forms of knowledge, specifically queer feminist critical psychology, implies taking into account these intersected spheres to produce knowledge that is situated and attentive to these norms, for the purposes of deconstruction.
Subunit Arrangement of a 2-Ketoisovalerate Ferredoxin Oxidoreductase from Thermococcus profundus Revealed by a Low Resolution X-Ray Analysis

2-ketoisovalerate ferredoxin oxidoreductase (VOR) is a key enzyme in hyperthermophiles catalyzing the coenzyme A-dependent oxidative decarboxylation of aliphatic amino acid-derived 2-keto acids. The enzyme purified under anaerobic conditions from a hyperthermophilic archaeon, Thermococcus profundus, is a hetero-octamer (αβγδ)2 consisting of four different subunits, α = 45 kDa, β = 31 kDa, γ = 22 kDa and δ = 13 kDa, respectively, and it has three [4Fe-4S] clusters per αβγδ-protomer, similar to other ferredoxin oxidoreductases. In the present study, the native enzyme was purified from this strain and crystallized to give rod-like crystals that were suitable for X-ray diffraction experiments. The crystals belonged to space group P41212, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 136.20 A, c = 221.07 A. Diffraction images were processed to a resolution of 3.0 A. The data collected so far indicate the approximate molecular boundaries and a partial main-chain trace of the enzyme.
Initial reduction of therapy prior to complete treatment discontinuation in chronic myeloid leukaemia: final results of the British DESTINY Study

BACKGROUND. All studies of treatment free remission (TFR) in chronic myeloid leukaemia have discontinued treatment abruptly, and have focussed on stable MR4 (BCR-ABL/ABL ratio <0.01%). Information is lacking on more gradual treatment withdrawal and whether TFR is feasible for less deep though stable remission. METHODS. The De-Escalation and Stopping Treatment with Imatinib, Nilotinib or sprYcel (DESTINY) study (NCT 01804985) recruited 174 adult first chronic phase patients, with all (≥3) BCR-ABL qPCR transcript levels < 0.1% (major molecular response; MMR) in the 12 months before entry. If all were also <0.01%, the patient was assigned to an ‘MR4 group’ (as in other studies); patients with result(s) between 0.1% and 0.01% were allocated to a novel ‘MMR group’. Treatment was de-escalated to half the standard dose for 12 months, then stopped for a further 24 months, with frequent PCR monitoring. Recurrence was defined as the first of 2 consecutive samples >0.1%; this required treatment recommencement at full dose. FINDINGS. entry was (16) or for a median years. free survival after 36 months on study was MR4 patients, CI 25-53%) the MMR group. both MMR the of patients MMR TKI cessation; the proportion of patients in confirmed MR4.5 (BCR-ABL ≤ 0.0032% IS with at least 31,623 ABL1 control transcripts) prior to being enrolled in the study. The following secondary endpoints have already been reported: Health Economic Assessment 12 , Quality of Life 12 and laboratory studies to identify subsets of patients who are more likely to relapse on de-escalation / cessation 18 .
Real Effective Exchange Rate and Standard of Living: Case of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

The aim of our study is to analyze the impact of the real effective exchange rate on the living standards of the Congolese population. Firstly when applied, the Dickey-Fuller test showed that all variables are stationary in first difference. The Johansen test showed that all the variables are cointegrated and that exists a long-term relationship between the variables. The error correction model (ECM) is applied, and we have seen that the Standard of Living and the real effective exchange rate adjust very slowly, since the convergence rate the Standard of living is about 22%. According to our analysis, the variation in the real effective exchange rate and the living standards of the Congolese population are inter-related, that is to say, in the DRC when the real effective exchange rate varies of 1%, the GDP per capita increases of 0,00068%. According to the statistical study we have treated, we can conclude that our model is generally satisfactory.
Rejection and Pain Sensitivity: Why Rejection Sometimes Hurts and Sometimes Numbs

REJECTION AND PAIN SENSITIVITY: WHY REJECTION SOMETIMES HURTS AND SOMETIMES NUMBS by Michael Jason Bernstein Some research indicates that social rejection leads to increased pain sensitivity, whereas other work indicates that rejection causes physical-pain numbing. This research sought to examine potential moderators and mediators of these effects. In Study 1, the paradigm used to manipulate social rejection was found to be a moderator of the social rejectionpain sensitivity relationship: Cyberball rejection led to pain hypersensitivity whereas future-life rejection led to pain numbing. The former was fully mediated by threats to belonging. In Study 2, I further examined why the rejection paradigm itself acts as a moderator. I speculated that future-life rejection may be a much more intense experience than is a Cyberball rejection and that more intense social rejection experiences might lead to numbing whereas less intense manipulations might lead to hypersensitivity. In Study 2, I subjected participants to either the standard future-life rejection manipulation or a newly-created less-intense version. Supporting my hypothesis, the standard (highly intense) future-life rejection led to physical pain numbing, whereas the less-intense future-life rejection resulted in hypersensitivity. Implications of these results for understanding the rejection-pain relation and other rejection effects are discussed. REJECTION AND PAIN SENSITIVITY: WHY REJECTION SOMETIMES HURTS AND SOMETIMES NUMBS
Multiplex PCR to Detect T. gondii Infection based on B1 Gene and 529 bp Repetitive Element

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) has made a significant improvement in the diagnosis of toxoplasmosis. Nevertheless, a wide variety of targets and primers has been evaluated in different independent assays, and only few comparative studies have been performed. Even when the B1 gene and the 529 repetitive element have been the most studied markers, there no concluding remarks respect the best. Objetive: The aim of the present study was to design a multiplex PCR assay to simultaneously detect these two markers in a single multiplex PCR to diagnose T. gondii infection. Methods: Specific PCR primers targeting the B1 gene and 529 repetitive element were evaluated. After a careful optimization of multiplex PCR process, analytical sensitivity and specificity were evaluated. The usefulness of multiplex assay was evaluated using DNA from 8 T. gondii reference strains, corresponding to the three principal genotypes, and 70 clinical samples (blood) from AIDS patients with and without Toxoplasmic encephalitis (TE). Results: Our preliminar results show that multiplex PCR assay is able to amplify both targets in using DNA from one parasite in the mix PCR reaction. Unspecific reactions for other microorganisms were not observed. The diagnostic sensitivity of multiplex assay in blood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) criteria, was 86.6% while the diagnostic specificity was 100%. Only one sample was positive to one marker (B1 gene) in the multiplex reaction. Conclusion: This multiplex PCR method is the first multiplex PCR evaluating the detection of T. gondii DNA in TE cases and it proved to be rapid, enough sensitive, highly specific and inexpensive respect to perform independent assays for each marker, real time PCR or nested PCR assays.
OXIDATIVE STRESS IS MARKEDLY REDUCED BY COMBINED VOLUNTARY EXERCISE AND TESTOSTERONE IN THE HEART OF DIABETIC RATS.

Objective Cardiovascular disorders in diabetes condition arise from increased oxidative stress. Both regular mild exercise and testosterone influence on body's antioxidant system in diabetes. In this study, we evaluated treatment of testosterone and voluntary exercise, alone or together on oxidative stress in the heart and blood of diabetic rats. Methods Type 1 diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal injection of 50 mg/kg of streptozotocin in rats. Sixty three rats have been divided into eight groups as follows: Diabetes, diabetes+ testosterone, diabetes+ exercise, diabetes+ testosterone+ exercise, diabetes+ castration, diabetes+ castration+ testosterone, Diabetes+ castration+ exercise, Diabetes+ castration+ exercise+ testosterone. Type 1 diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal injection of 50 mg/kg of streptozotocin in the male Wistar rats and after a week, castration was performed. After 42 days of treatment with testosterone (2 mg/kg/day) or voluntary exercise alone or in combination, SOD, GPX and CAT activities and MDA levels were measured in the blood and heart tissue samples in the groups of study. In the end of study, SOD, GPX and CAT activities and MDA levels were measured in blood and heart tissue samples in the groups of study. Results SOD, GPX and CAT activities significantly (p<0.05) increased in groups that treated either testosterone or exercise and MDA level significantly (p<0.01) decreased in the blood and heart tissue of diabetic and castrated diabetic rats. Simultaneously, treatment with testosterone and exercise had a synergistic effect on antioxidant enzymes level in diabetic and diabetic castrated rats. In the castrated animals with diabetes, SOD, GPX and CAT activities significantly decreased (p<0.05) and MDA levels significantly increased (p<0.05) in blood and heart tissue. Conclusion Voluntary exercise and testosterone alone or together heightened body's antioxidant system and were able to reduce the MDA levels in blood and heart of diabetic and castrated diabetic rats.