Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
First Clinical Experiences With a Direct Acoustic Cochlear Stimulator in Comparison to Preoperative Fitted Conventional Hearing Aids

Objective Patients with moderate-to-severe mixed hearing losses (MHLs) are hard to provide sufficient benefit with currently available conventional hearing aids. Here, the long-term safety of a direct acoustic cochlear stimulator (DACS) and the effectiveness compared with conventional “high-performance” hearing aids were investigated. Study Design Prospective, within patient reference, nonrandomized, interventional multicenter clinical study performed at these 3 centers: Medical University Hannover, University of Heidelberg, and Helios Hospital Krefeld. Patients and Intervention Ten otosclerosis patients with severe-to-profound MHL were preoperatively fitted with state-of-the-art conventional hearing aids (HA). After 2 months of testing conventional HA, 9 of the patients decided to be implanted with a DACS. Main Outcome Measures Air conduction (AC) and bone conduction (BC) aided and unaided thresholds, speech discrimination before and after implantation and at 3, 6, and 12 months after activation. The subjective benefit was assessed by the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB). Results Preoperative hearing thresholds were preserved over the 12 month observation time after activation. Average functional gain (0.5–4 kHz) achieved with conventional HA was 47 dB compared with 56 dB with the DACS. Speech-in-noise tests revealed a lower SNR for DACS (3.1 dB) than for the HA (6.6 dB) and patients were more satisfied with the DACS. Conclusion The DACS significantly improved hearing, speech intelligibility, and satisfaction in patients with a severe-to-profound mixed hearing loss and can be considered a safe and useful alternative to conventional hearing aids.
Phagocytosis of neuronal or glial debris by microglial cells: Upregulation of MHC class II expression and multinuclear giant cell formation in vitro

Most CNS pathologies are accompanied by the occurrence of activated, phagocytic microglial cells. We intended to investigate whether (1) isolated microglial cells removed from the CNS cytokine network sustain their capacity to acquire an activated phenotype when challenged with cellular or noncellular debris; and (2) different substrates lead to different patterns of microglial activation. It was observed that although removed from their usual surroundings microglial cells preserve their ability to transform to an amoeboid morphology, form multinucleated giant cells, and enhance their expression of MHC class II when exposed to membranes of neuronal or glial origin. Furthermore, cellular substrates derived from primary hippocampal neuronal cultures, neuroblastic cells (B50), or glial cells were all able to induce similar morphological changes and enhanced expression of MHC class II. In contrast, phagocytosis of Latex beads induced an amoeboid morphology but no increase in the expression of immunologically relevant molecules. Interferon‐β (IFN‐β), a substance clinically used in the treatment of the relapsing‐remitting form of multiple sclerosis, was shown to inhibit the phagocytosis‐induced upregulation of MHC‐class II. In summary, phagocytic microglial cells are independent from the CNS cytokine network in their transition from a resting to an activated phenotype; and different cellular substrates, regardless whether they are of neuronal, glial, or even malignant origin, result in similar morphological and functional changes. GLIA 31:262–266, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Selected Crowdsourced Translation Practices

This paper contains research related to workflow and design patterns. It briefly discusses the suitability of industry tools for crowdsourcing processes in terms of workflow pattern support. After listing a number of practices identified by analysing crowdsourced translation workflow models, the paper discusses four of the practices and presents two recommendations based on the scenarios of real crowdsourced translation projects.
A new in vivo termination function for DNA polymerase I of Escherichia coli K12

Escherichia coli deleted for the tus gene are viable. Thus there must be at least one other mechanism for terminating chromosome synthesis. The tus deletion strain yielded a small fraction of cells that overproduce DNA, as determined by flow cytometry after run‐out chromosome replication in the presence of rifampicin and cephalexin. A plasmid, paraBAD tus+, prevented the excess DNA replication only when arabinose was added to the medium to induce the synthesis of the Tus protein. Transduction studies were done to test whether or not additional chromosomal deletions could enhance the excess chromosome replication in the tus deletion strain. A strain containing a second deletion in metE udp overproduced DNA at a high level during run‐out replication. Further studies demonstrated that a spontaneous unknown mutation had occurred during the transduction. This mutation was mapped and sequenced. It is polA(G544D). Transduction of polA(G544D) alone into the tus deletion strain produced the high DNA overproduction phenotype. The polA(G544D) and six other polA alleles were then tested in wild‐type and in tus deletion backgrounds. The two alleles with low levels of 5′→3′ exonuclease (exo) overproduced DNA while those with either high or normal exo overproduce much less DNA in run‐out assays in the wild‐type background. In contrast, all seven mutant polA alleles caused the high DNA overproduction phenotype in a tus deletion background. To explain these results we propose a new in vivo function for wild‐type DNA polymerase I in chromosome termination at site(s) not yet identified.
Familial hypobetalipoproteinemia.

Familial hypobetalipoproteinemia (FHBL) is a disorder that impairs the body's ability to absorb and transport fats. This condition is characterized by low levels of a fatlike substance called cholesterol in the blood. The severity of signs and symptoms experienced by people with FHBL vary widely. The most mildly affected individuals have few problems with absorbing fats from the diet and no related signs and symptoms. Many individuals with FHBL develop an abnormal buildup of fats in the liver called hepatic steatosis or fatty liver. In more severely affected individuals, fatty liver may progress to chronic liver disease (cirrhosis). Individuals with severe FHBL have greater difficulty absorbing fats as well as fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin E and vitamin A. This difficulty in fat absorption leads to excess fat in the feces (steatorrhea). In childhood, these digestive problems can result in an inability to grow or gain weight at the expected rate (failure to thrive).
Can cardioplegia management influence cytokine responses during clinical cardiopulmonary bypass?

BACKGROUND Cytokines play an important role in the inflammatory response associated with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and may contribute to postoperative complications. Although it has been shown that the production of tumor necrosis factor a (TNF-a) and interleukin (IL)-6 were higher following normothermic CPB than hypothermic CPB, whether different cardioplegic management could influence the release of cytokines remains unknown. METHODS We compared the blood concentrations of four cytokines (TNF-a, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-10) in two groups of patients undergoing complete revascularization with CPB in the same study period. Seventeen patients received cold crystalloid cardioplegia at a Belgian center (group-CC), while 21 patients received warm blood cardioplegia at a center in Hong Kong (group-WB). Blood samples were collected before and after surgery in each patient. RESULTS There were no differences between the 2 groups in terms of age, sex ratio, number of grafts, duration of CPB and aortic crossclamping. All patients survived their hospital stay. The levels of TNF-a, IL-6 and IL-8 after surgery were higher in group-CC than in group-WB. However, IL-10 levels were significantly lower at the end of surgery in group-CC than in group-WB. CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that the use of warm blood cardioplegia, rather than cold crystalloid cardioplegia, may reduce the inflammatory response to CPB. This observation warrants future randomized investigation to determine its clinical relevance.
Effects of loading factor in operating time on dielectric characteristics of transformer oil

Aging of transformer occurs as the transformer operates. Dielectric characteristics testing of oil insulation in transformers is needed to estimate the condition of transformers due to aging. Insulating materials in long-term operations will degrade gradually and cause the change of its properties. In this paper, a database of result for dielectric characteristics was analyzed statistically using linear regression method. Specifically the database consists of 219 dielectric characteristics and transformer age in the range of 0–30 years old with rated voltage 150/20kV and 150.70kV. Correlation analysis between dielectric characteristics and transformer age was discussed. Color, IFT (interfacial tension) and acidity were correlated to transformer age with correlation coefficient 0.502, 0.463 and 0.348 respectively. The secondary database consists of trend acidity and color in several years was carried out from operating transformers with the same capacity and rated voltage but various loading factor. The loading factor varies from 9–80% years. Transformer with higher loading factor experiences aging faster than the lower one. Higher loading factor also causes the level of acidity and color increase rapidly.
Parametric and non‐parametric confidence intervals of the probability of identifying early disease stage given sensitivity to full disease and specificity with three ordinal diagnostic groups

In practice, there exist many disease processes with three ordinal disease classes, that is, the non‐diseased stage, the early disease stage, and the fully diseased stage. Because early disease stage is likely the best time window for treatment interventions, it is important to have diagnostic tests that have good diagnostic ability to discriminate the early disease stage from the other two stages. In this paper, we present both parametric and non‐parametric approaches for confidence interval estimation of probability of detecting early disease stage given the true classification rates for non‐diseased group and diseased group, namely, the specificity and the sensitivity to full disease. We analyze a data set on the clinical diagnosis of early‐stage Alzheimer's disease from the neuropsychological database at the Washington University Alzheimer's Disease Research Center using the proposed approaches. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cycle Helmets and Road Casualties in the UK

Objectives: Bicycle helmets have been advocated as a means of reducing injury among cyclists. This assertion, derived from a number of case controlled studies carried out in hospitals, conflicts with results from population level studies. In the Western countries where these case control studies have been performed, it appears that cycling morbidity is dominated by sports and leisure users. The generalizability of studies on helmet effectiveness in relation to utilitarian transport cycling is not clear. This study therefore considers population level data for reported road traffic injuries of cyclists and pedestrians. Methods: Generalized linear and generalized additive models were used to investigate patterns of pedestrian and cyclist injury in the UK based on the police reported “Stats 19” data. Comparisons have been made with survey data on helmet wearing rates to examine evidence for the effectiveness of cycle helmets on overall reported road casualties. While it must be acknowledged that police casualty reports are prone to under-reporting, particularly of incidents involving lower severity casualties the attractive feature of these data are that by definition they only concern road casualties. Results: There is little evidence in UK from the subset of road collisions recorded by the police corresponding to the overall benefits that have been predicted by the results of a number of published case controlled studies. In particular, no association could be found between differing patterns of helmet wearing rates and casualty rates for adults and children. Conclusions: There is no evidence that cycle helmets reduce the overall cyclist injury burden at the population level in the UK when data on road casualties is examined. This finding, supported by research elsewhere could simply be due to cycle helmets having little potential to reduce the overall transport-related cycle injury burden. Equally, it could be a manifestation of the “ecological fallacy” where it could be conceived that the existence of various sub-groups of cyclists, with different risk profiles, may need to be accounted for in understanding the difference between predicted and realised casualty patterns.
Peripheral T Cells Become Sensitive to Glucocorticoid- and Stress-Induced Apoptosis in Transgenic Mice Overexpressing SRG31

Immature double-positive thymocytes are sensitive to glucocorticoid (GC)-induced apoptosis, whereas mature single-positive T cells are relatively resistant. Thymocytes seem to acquire resistance to GCs during differentiation into mature single-positive thymocytes. However, detailed knowledge concerning what determines the sensitivity of thymocytes to GCs and how GC sensitivity is regulated in thymocytes during development is lacking. We have previously reported that the murine SRG3 gene (for SWI3-related gene) is required for GC-induced apoptosis in a thymoma cell line. Herein, we provide results suggesting that the expression level of SRG3 protein determines the GC sensitivity of T cells in mice. SRG3 associates with the GC receptor in the thymus, but rarely in the periphery. Transgenic overexpression of the SRG3 protein in peripheral T cells induces the formation of the complex and renders the cells sensitive to GC-induced apoptosis. Our results also show that blocking the formation of the SRG3-GC receptor complex with a dominant negative mutant form of SRG3 decreases GC sensitivity in thymoma cells. In addition, mice overexpressing the SRG3 protein appear to be much more susceptible to stress-induced deletion of peripheral T cells than normal mice, which may result in an immunosuppressive state in an animal.
Protein 61K, encoded by a gene (PRPF31) linked to autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa, is required for U4/U6·U5 tri‐snRNP formation and pre‐mRNA splicing

In each round of nuclear pre‐mRNA splicing, the U4/U6·U5 tri‐snRNP must be assembled from U4/U6 and U5 snRNPs, a reaction that is at present poorly understood. We have characterized a 61 kDa protein (61K) found in human U4/U6·U5 tri‐snRNPs, which is homologous to yeast Prp31p, and show that it is required for this step. Immunodepletion of protein 61K from HeLa nuclear extracts inhibits tri‐snRNP formation and subsequent spliceosome assembly and pre‐mRNA splicing. Significantly, complementation with recombinant 61K protein restores each of these steps. Protein 61K is operationally defined as U4/U6 snRNP‐specific as it remains bound to this particle at salt concentrations where the tri‐snRNP dissociates. However, as shown by two‐hybrid analysis and biochemical assays, protein 61K also interacts specifically with the U5 snRNP‐associated 102K protein, indicating that it physically tethers U4/U6 to the U5 snRNP to yield the tri‐snRNP. Interestingly, protein 61K is encoded by a gene (PRPF31) that has been shown to be linked to autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa. Thus, our studies suggest that disruptions in tri‐snRNP formation and function resulting from mutations in the 61K protein may contribute to the manifestation of this disease.
Exploring the MPI tool information interface: features and capabilities

The latest version of the MPI Standard, MPI 3.0, includes a new interface, the MPI Tools Information Interface (MPI_T), which provides tools with access to MPI internal performance and configuration information. In combination with the complementary and widely used profiling interface, PMPI, it gives tools access to a wide range of information in an MPI implementation independent way. In this paper, we focus on the new functionality offered by MPI_T and present two new tools to exploit this new interface by providing users with new insights about the execution behavior of their code: Varlist allows users to query and document the MPI environment and Gyan provides profiling information using internal MPI performance variables. Together, these tools provide users with new capabilities in a highly portable way that previously required in-depth knowledge of individual MPI implementations, and demonstrate the advantages of MPI_T. In our case studies, we demonstrate how MPI_T enables both MPI library and application developers to study the impact of an MPI library’s runtime settings and implementation specific behaviors on the performance of applications.
Finite temperature dilaton gravity.

The dilaton free energy density in an external static gravitational field is found. We use the real time formulation of the finite temperature field theory and the free energy density is computed to the first order of the string parameter [alpha][prime]. We obtain the thermal corrections to the [alpha][prime] modified Einstein gravity action.
Employing SWOT Analysis and Normal Cloud Model for Water Resource Sustainable Utilization Assessment and Strategy Development

Water Resource Sustainable Utilization (WRSU) is becoming increasingly important, given growing water resource shortages and widening gaps between water supply and demand. Most existing studies have focused on WRSU levels without a dedicated strategy-oriented framework. In addition, uncertainties occur in the process of indicator quantification and grading, leading to a lack of accuracy in the assessment results. Therefore, in this study, stemming from water resource, societal, economic, and environmental dimensions, an indicator system with qualitative description was introduced by Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis to enable development and selection of sustainable water use strategies. A normal cloud model that is capable of addressing uncertainties was used to determine WRSU levels. The comprehensive evaluation results can both reflect the WRSU levels and select the most suitable strategy. The model’s utility was demonstrated by applying it to the case of Shandong province in China. Based on the results, most areas of Shandong province appear to be facing serious unsustainable issues. Appropriate development strategies based on the WRSU levels were provided for improving sustainable use of water resources. The proposed method offers an efficient means for WRSU assessment and strategy development. Moreover, it has the potential to be applied to other water resource issues.
Epileptogenic Channelopathies: Experimental Models of Human Pathologies

Summary: The discovery of genetically determined epileptic syndromes associated with specific mutations of genes codifying for subunits of voltage or ligand‐activated ion channels highlights the role of ion channels in epileptogenesis. In vitro and in vivo models of channel pathology have been used to define the functional consequence of the mutations identified in human epilepsies. The evaluation of gene‐channel mutations based on molecular and physiological techniques have provided significant knowledge on the cellular mechanisms leading to inherited human epilepsies, and possibly to nongenetic human epilepsies due to “acquired” channel pathologies. We review some of the studies that have explored human epileptic disorders through experimental manipulations of these channels, highlighting some of the difficulties that have arisen using “in vitro” preparations or rodent models. These findings underscore the need for further studies to address the mechanisms involved in mutated‐channel dysfunctions.
Vertically oriented MoS2 nanoflakes coated on 3D carbon nanotubes for next generation Li-ion batteries

The advent of advanced electrode materials has led to performance enhancement of traditional lithium ion batteries (LIBs). We present novel binder-free MoS2 coated three-dimensional carbon nanotubes (3D CNTs) as an anode in LIBs. Scanning transmission electron microscopy analysis shows that vertically oriented MoS2 nanoflakes are strongly bonded to CNTs, which provide a high surface area and active electrochemical sites, and enhanced ion conductivity at the interface. The electrochemical performance shows a very high areal capacity of ~1.65 mAh cm−2 with an areal density of ~0.35 mg cm−2 at 0.5 C rate and coulombic efficiency of ~99% up to 50 cycles. The unique architecture of 3D CNTs–MoS2 is indicative to be a promising anode for next generation Li-ion batteries with high capacity and long cycle life.
Maximum lightning overvoltage along a cable protected by surge arresters

This paper presents a procedure for calculating the maximum lightning overvoltage along a cable which is protected by arresters at both ends. It is shown that the most severe cable overvoltages that can occur (close back-flashover) will appear at a distance from the remote cable end which is in the order of some hundred meters. The maximum voltage is calculated by adding the peak value of the voltage wave in the forward direction and the peak value of the voltage wave in the backward direction. The location of the maximum voltage is obtained by considering the difference in time instants at which the peak value occurs at the remote end. This procedure only requires one to calculate the voltage at the cable ends and the surge arrester current. The forward and backward waves can then be calculated by simple expressions. The procedure is demonstrated for a 300 kV system, for different cable lengths.
Effects of heterogeneity on the drag force in random arrays of spheres

The modelling of the gas-solid interaction is a prerequisite in order to accurately predict fluidized bed behaviour using models such as the Discrete Particle Model (DPM) or the Two Fluid Model (TFM). Currently, the drag force is usually modelled purely based on porosity and slip velocity, which are averaged with respect to the grid size used to solve the model equations. Interfaces at heterogenous structures such as bubbles or free board are not accounted for. As recently pointed out by Xu et al. (2007), sub-grid information for the particle position is available in DPM simulations, thus the local porosity is known and can be used when calculating the drag. Direct Numerical Simulation of flow in particulate systems were done using the lattice Boltzmann method. These simulations were carried out with random arrays of spheres which only have a slight degree of heterogeneity and the gas-solid interaction force on each particle was measured. First we compared these results, which can be considered as the “true drag force, with the drag force one would predict from a correlation typically used in larger scale models (such as the relation of van der Hoef et al. (2005)). Even for the random arrays, the drag on some individual particles differed considerably (up to 40%) from the predicted drag. Then we evaluate the effectiveness of improved drag models, that use information on local porosity