Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Can Laminoplasty Maintain the Cervical Alignment Even When the C2 Lamina Is Contained?

Study Design. Retrospective case-controlled study of cervical laminoplasty. Objective. To evaluate the alignment and clinical result by laminoplasty when the C2 lamina is contained or retained. Summary of Background Data. Resection of the C2 lamina was reported to progress to kyphosis after laminectomy. Laminoplasty was reported to inhibit kyphosis. But no study has ever shown if the alignment is retained when laminoplasty also included the C2 lamina. Methods. Seventy-two patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy undergoing laminoplasty were analyzed. Follow-up averaged 4.0 years. The outcome was assessed by the Cobb angle between C2 and C7, and the motor function scores of the upper and lower extremities for cervical myelopathy were made by the Japanese Orthopedic Association. Patients were stratified into three groups depending on the handling of the C2 lamina: fully split (S group; n = 17), C2 dome-like laminotomy (D group; n = 19), and intact (I group; n = 36). Change of the C2–C7 angle was compared by the analysis of variance and post hoc test. The association between the alignment and the motor scores was analyzed. Results. Upper/lower score increased from 2.4/2.0 to 3.4/2.9, respectively. The C2–C7 angle decreased in S group: −8.3°, D group: −5.2°, and I group: −1.5°. The cervical alignment deteriorated significantly in S group compared with the I group (P < 0.01). The C2–C7 angle change or postoperative C2–C7 angle had no significant correlation with the postoperative upper and lower m-JOA scores or score change. Conclusions. Subaxial laminoplasty maintained the alignment. But if laminoplasty included the C2 lamina, the alignment worsened.
Association of a missense mutation of the laminin α2 gene with tuberculoid type of leprosy in Indonesian patients

Leprosy, an infection caused by Mycobacterium leprae, has a specific tropism for the myelinating Schwann cells of peripheral nerves. Recently, the G domain of laminin α2 has been shown to be a mediator for M. leprae to bind to α‐dystroglycan in Schwann cells. In order to analyse the association of leprosy with the mediator, three genetic polymorphisms encoding the G domain of the laminin α2 chain were analysed by direct sequencing in 53 leprosy patients and 58 healthy contact individuals from Indonesia. There was no significant difference in the incidence of the polymorphisms between patients and non‐patients. Remarkably, it was found that a missense mutation (T7809C) substituting valine with alanine (V2587A) was found to be more frequent in the tuberculoid type than in the lepromatous type leprosy. It is supposed that this missense mutation is one of the determinant factors in the early onset of peripheral nerve damage in Indonesian tuberculoid leprosy patients.
A 3.6mW 90 nm CMOS 2.4 GHz receiver front-end design for IEEE 802.15.4 WSNs

In this paper a low-power design of an integrated RF receiver for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) in 90nm CMOS technology is proposed. The receiver is IEEE 802.15. 4 physical specifications compliant. It is designed to operate in ISM band at 2.45 GHz center frequency. Target devices for this kind of transceiver are low-cost battery powered smart embedded devices and sensors. The receiver is designed to reduce the count of external components in the final system, integrating on silicon the balun for single-ended to differential conversion. The receiver is composed of an inductorless Low Noise Amplifier (LNA), a buffer stage, I and Q passive mixers and Variable Gain Amplifiers (VGAs) that also act as second order filters. A novel integration of balun into the LNA is described. The system is designed to have direct conversion from RF to 6MHz low-IF. Voltage supply is 1.2V with a current consumption of 3mA including necessary biasing networks, and the total power consumption is 3.6mW. The complete voltage gain is more than 41.5 dB with a Noise Figure (NF) of 12.6 dB. The receiver layout exhibits an area of only 0.12mm2. Simulations are provided, including mismatch scenarios.
Hydrology and Best Practices for Managing Water Resources in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands in Kenya

This chapter provides a critical analysis and evaluation of the water issues relevant to Kenya's ASALs. This has particularly been centered on the current resource development and management, future resource demand, as well as extent of its vulnerability to climate variability and change. The water development policy interventions have also been evaluated. The analysis has revealed that water resources are being utilized to satisfy a myriad of demands and that in fact a water shortage already exists in these ASALs. A number of factors including population pressure, poor resource use and management, and other socio-economic activities have been noted to increase the vulnerability of the available water to the impacts of climate change. Recommendations for purposes of ensuring the sustainable utilization of the vital water resource have been proposed.
Bioavailability of magnesium contained in purple laver (Asakusa-Nori) by rats with scarce magnesium, being evaluated from serum magnesium, kidney calcification, and bone magnesium contents.

An experiment was designed to evaluate the bioavailability of purple laver (Asakusa-Nori, Porphyra tenera Kjellman) magnesium (Mg) in Mg-scarcity Fischer 344 male rats from serum Mg level, kidney calcification and bone Mg contents. Male rats of 4 weeks of age were divided into four groups of six rats. The four groups were control (20SC), Mg-restricted (-Mg20SC), -Mg20SC plus purple laver (-Mg20SCP), and 20SC plus purple laver (20SCP) group respectively. To -Mg20SC, 1/10 Mg of the 20SC diet was added. -Mg20SCP diet purple laver as a Mg source. 20SCP diet was designed to contain double amount of Mg. After a 3-week experimental period, rats were decapitated. Blood serum, right kidney, and right femur were collected and Mg, calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P) were determined. Serum Mg concentration of the -Mg20SC was 1/3 of the 20SC, indicating apparent hypomagnesemia. Serum P also showed lowered concentration. On the other hand, the serum Ca indicated higher value than the other groups, indicating hypercalcemia. Addition of purple laver to -Mg20SC diet resulted in a normal serum Mg, Ca, and P level. The Mg-scarcity (-Mg20SC) rats accumulated much amount of kidney Ca. Whereas, there was no significant difference in kidney Ca between control (20SC) group and purple laver-supplemented (-Mg20SCP) rat group. The -Mg20SC rats showed lowered ash content and reduced Mg and P concentrations in the femur. Purple laver supplementation increased the ash, Mg, and P. All of the results indicated that the purple laver Mg was used as a Mg source. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Effects of Thyroid Hormone on α‐Actin and Myosin Heavy Chain Gene Expression in Cardiac and Skeletal Muscles of the Rat: Measurement of mRNA Content Using Synthetic Oligonucleotide Probes

Effects of thyroid hormone on α-actin and myosin heavy chain gene expression were compared in ventricle, soleus, and extensor digitorum longus muscles of hypothyroid rats. Changes in mRNA content were analyzed using synthetic oligonucleotide probes complementary to the unique 3′ untranslated regions of four striated myosin heavy chain mRNAs and cardiac and skeletal muscle α-actin mRNAs. The results indicate that daily treatment with 3,5,3′-triiodo-L-thyronine (2 μg/100 g body weight) increased α-myosin heavy chain mRNA content in heart muscle by 500% and decreased β-myosin heavy chain mRNA by 65% within 48 hours. β-mRNA in extensor digitorum longus was decreased by 60% at 48 hours while in soleus, β-mRNA levels were not affected by 9 weeks of treatment. Fast Ha mRNA was present in small amounts in hypothyroid soleus and increased by 150% and 200% after 7 and 9 weeks of thyroid hormone administration, respectively. Fast lib mRNA also was found in hypothyroid soleus and a small increase (60%) was observed after 1 day of treatment. In extensor digitorum longus, Fast IIb mRNA increased by 200% and Fast IIa mRNA decreased by 50% after 1 week of treatment. When larger daily doses of thyroid hormone (15 μg/100 g body weight) were administered, similar changes in mRNA levels were observed, except that β-mRNA content of soleus muscle was decreased slightly (25%). Expression of the cardiac form of α-actin was induced transiently in ventricle, but the skeletal form of α-actin mRNA in soleus and extensor digitorum longus did not change significantly after thyroid hormone treatment. Skeletal α-actin mRNA was not found in ventricle, and cardiac α-actin mRNA was not detected In skeletal muscles. Thus, cardiac α-actin mRNA levels are transiently stimulated in ventricle by thyroid hormone treatment while all of the myosin heavy chain genes expressed in adult striated muscles are affected in a complex, tissue-specific manner.
The robustness of some scale-spaces

There are several methods for forming a scale-space and they may be classified as being based on diffusion or morphology. However it is rare for the methods to be compared. Here we outline a method for such a comparison based on robustness and give results for linear diffusion, the most widely studied method, and a sieve (a new morphological method). We find that the standard diffusion-based systems are not as insensitive to noise and occlusion as one might wish.
Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis: A 10 year study

Abstract Sixty cases of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis in both children and adults treated over a 10 year period were reviewed. An unexpected finding was that nine of the 60 patients (15 per cent) had symptoms by two months of age; an earlier onset than previously described. The control rate was 66 per cent for paediatric onset patients and 44 per cent with adult onset; the former required more operations. No anaesthetic deaths or complications were encountered. Glottic webs were the only surgical complication. The findings confirm that there is no relationship between puberty and the rate of control of recurrence. The necessity for precise and comprehensive endoscopic examination of the upper aerodigestive tract using a range of endoscopes and rigid telescopes under general anaesthetic is emphasized.
Technology and Strategy: Conceptual Models and Diagnostics

recent research and real-life examples. Managing Innovation and Entrepreneurship in TechnologyBased Firms largely succeeds in capturing the essence of these difficult and complex issues. Its particular strength lies in the author’s ability to provide just the right amount of depth to go with the extensive breadth of these topics. Throughout, he makes good use of practical examples and case discussions. On the other hand, as an update o f his 1984 work, this book is likely to frustrate some academic readers due to its uneven and sometimes dated references. For example, Chapter Ten, which kicks off the discussion of entrepreneurship, contains 43 references. Yet with all that has been written in recent years on this topic, only six of those references are less than a decade old. Other chapters are similar in that their references are predominantly older and only sparsely scattered with more current cites. In spite of these concerns, Managing Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Technology-Based Firms is an important work and a pleasurable reading experience. Practitioners in particular will find the author’s writing style pragmatic and accessible. Further, he disdains a purely academicltheoretical approach to this material, grounding his major points in comprehensive examples that cannot fail to drive his points home. This book will be particularly welcome in high-technology firms, especially those currently wrestling with the problems of coordinating the activities of “technology-averse’’ managers with “management-averse” technologists. Reprinted from IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, vol. 43, no. 2, p. 218, 1996.
Risk clinicopathological factors for lymph node metastasis in poorly differentiated early gastric cancer and their impact on laparoscopic wedge resection.

AIM To investigate the predictive factors of lymph node metastasis (LNM) in poorly differentiated early gastric cancer (EGC), and enlarge the possibility of using laparoscopic wedge resection (LWR). METHODS We retrospectively analyzed 85 patients with poorly differentiated EGC who underwent surgical resection between January 1992 and December 2010. The association between the clinicopathological factors and the presence of LNM was retrospectively analyzed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Odds ratios (OR) with 95%CI were calculated. We further examined the relationship between the positive number of the three significant predictive factors and the LNM rate. RESULTS In the univariate analysis, tumor size (P = 0.011), depth of invasion (P = 0.007) and lymphatic vessel involvement (P < 0.001) were significantly associated with a higher rate of LNM. In the multivariate model, tumor size (OR = 7.125, 95%CI: 1.251-38.218, P = 0.041), depth of invasion (OR = 16.624, 95%CI: 1.571-82.134, P = 0.036) and lymphatic vessel involvement (OR = 39.112, 95%CI: 1.745-123.671, P = 0.011) were found to be independently risk clinicopathological factors for LNM. Of the 85 patients diagnosed with poorly differentiated EGC, 12 (14.1%) had LNM. The LNM rates were 5.7%, 42.9% and 57.1%, respectively in cases with one, two and three of the risk factors respectively in poorly differentiated EGC. There was no LNM in 29 patients without the three risk clinicopathological factors. CONCLUSION LWR alone may be sufficient treatment for intramucosal poorly differentiated EGC if the tumor is less than or equal to 2.0 cm in size, and when lymphatic vessel involvement is absent at postoperative histological examination.
A SVM approach to UWB-IR based positioning under NLOS conditions

This paper presents a machine learning approach, namely the Support Vector Machine (SVM), to solve a particular localization problem. The problem is to ascertain whether an object carrying a localization tag is inside or outside a particular area. As the area becomes smaller and as the object approaches the boundaries of the area, even minute errors can result in a completely wrong estimation. SVM was chosen for this problem due to its generalization capability in handling noisy data. Training and test data for the SVM were obtained from an experimental setup of the test scenario. The results obtained proved that SVM was a suitable tool for this application, due to its ability in handling the noisy data caused by the NLOS condition.
Dissociation in aging Holocaust survivors.

OBJECTIVE This study explored relationships among dissociation, trauma, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in elderly Holocaust survivors with and without PTSD and in a demographically comparable group of nontraumatized subjects. METHOD Holocaust survivors with PTSD (N = 35) and without PTSD (N = 25) who had been recruited from the community and a comparison group (N = 16) were studied. Dissociation was evaluated with the Dissociative Experiences Scale. Past cumulative trauma and recent stress were evaluated with the Antonovsky Life Crises Scale and the Elderly Care Research Center Recent Life Events Scale, respectively. PTSD symptoms were assessed with the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale. RESULTS The Holocaust survivors with PTSD showed significantly higher levels of current dissociative experiences than did the other groups. However, the extent of dissociation was substantially less than that which has been observed in other trauma survivors with PTSD. Dissociative Experiences Scale scores were significantly associated with PTSD symptom severity, but the relation between Dissociative Experiences Scale scores and exposure to trauma was not significant. CONCLUSIONS Possible explanations for this finding include the age of the survivors, the length of time since the traumatic event, and possible unique features of the Holocaust survivor population. Nevertheless, the findings call into question the current notion that PTSD and dissociative experiences represent the same phenomenon. The findings suggest that the relationships among dissociation, trauma, and PTSD can be further clarified by longitudinal studies of trauma survivors.
A real-time realization of geometrical valid view synthesis or tele-conferencing with viewpoint adaptation

In this paper we propose a real-time view synthesis implementation with valid geometry for a teleconference application with viewpoint adaptation capability, from which a wide range of realistic views can be reconstructed. The whole process is decomposed into two backward mapping steps and two 1D processing steps for enabling parallelism. We show that the proposed algorithm can provide high quality virtual views that are comparable with the real perceived view. Theoretical motivation and implementation issues of the view synthesis algorithm are discussed. Experiments show that, due to the decomposition, a real-time implementation is feasible. It is further argued that this view synthesis approach can be integrated seamlessly with other parts of the teleconference system, speeding up the virtual view reconstruction even more.
Synthesis of highly functionalized bicyclo[m.n.1]alkanones via a cationic reaction cascade.

[reaction: see text] The acid-mediated Prins/pinacol and the triple domino reactions Diels-Alder/Prins/pinacol were used to construct highly functionalized bicyclo[m.n. 1]alkanones 19-29 and 33a-c possessing various ring sizes from ketals 8-18 and 31a-c in 44-96% yields. This approach proves to be highly efficient and reliable to generate high molecular complexity in a single step.
A Load-Balanced Deterministic Runtime for Pipeline Parallelism

Most existing deterministic multithreading systems are costly on pipeline parallel programs due to load imbalance. In this letter, we propose a Load-Balanced Deterministic Runtime (LBDR) for pipeline parallelism. LBDR deterministically takes some tokens from nonsynchronization-intensive threads to synchronization-intensive threads. Experimental results show that LBDR outperforms the state-of-the-art design by an average of 22.5%. key words: deterministic runtime, pipeline parallelism, round-robin scheduling, load balance
Evidence-Based Guidelines for Cardiovascular Risk Reduction: The Safety and Efficacy of High-Dose Statin Therapy

Current clinical guidelines for management of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) have evolved to reflect the findings of numerous randomized clinical trials and represent an important opportunity to effectively improve the cardiovascular (CV) risk profile of a wide range of patients. Implementation of guideline-recommended LDL-C management strategies facilitates the appropriate use of all available treatments, including lifestyle and dietary changes and pharmacotherapy. Where intensive lowering of LDL-C is required, suboptimal use of statins is a major contributor to the significant number of patients who remain at an unnecessarily increased risk of CV disease as a consequence of failing to reach their guideline-recommended LDL-C goals. This underuse may be explained by concerns over the safety and efficacy of high-dose statin regimens in certain populations. These issues are explored in the context of current, evidence-based clinical guidelines for LDL-C management and, through 3 hypothetical case studies, selection of appropriate starting doses of statins, and titration to a higher dose or switching to a more potent statin, to ensure that patients reach their individual LDL-C goals and reduce their overall CV risk, is also examined.
A Support Vector Machine Based Model for Heparin-Binding Proteins Using XB Patterns as Features

Heparin is a highly sulphated and negatively charged polysaccharides belonging to the glycosaminoglycans(GAGs) family, used in medical treatments as an anticoagulant. Although many heparin-binding proteins have been identified, there are still many proteins needing to be classified as heparin-binding or not. Many studies have been aimed at prediction of heparin binding patterns in the primary structure of proteins, however, still no model has emerged which reasonably predicts proteins as heparin-binding or not. The main objective of this study is to predict heparin-binding proteins from their amino acid sequence information. A supervised learning algorithm based on support vector machine (SVM) is applied to two data sets; one training set used to create the model and one testing set used to validate and test accuracy of the model. For the testing set, the model achieves 75.36% accuracy in predicting heparin-binding proteins. The current model uses 66 XB patterns as features.
Poor outcome of myeloablative conditioned allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for myelofibrosis.

OBJECTIVE This study retrospectively analyzed clinical outcomes of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) for myelofibrosis (MF) in a single institution. METHODS During the past 20 years, 6 patients with MF have undergone allo-HSCT in our institution. We investigated the clinical characteristics and follow-up course of these patients. PATIENTS Median age was 47 years (range, 40-52 years). The median interval between diagnosis and allo-HSCT was 12.5 months (range, 5-97 months). RESULTS Among these 6 patients, 4 patients were categorized in the high-risk group according to the International Prognostic Scoring System. All 6 patients received myeloablative conditioning regimens, but most of them eventually died of relapse. CONCLUSION In this small series, allo-HSCT resulted in dismal outcomes. Our experience clearly indicates the need for studies with a larger series of patients to evaluate the efficacy of this modality.
mdm2 Is Critical for Inhibition of p53 during Lymphopoiesis and the Response to Ionizing Irradiation

ABSTRACT The function of the p53 tumor suppressor protein must be highly regulated because p53 can cause cell death and prevent tumorigenesis. In cultured cells, the p90MDM2 protein blocks the transcriptional activation domain of p53 and also stimulates the degradation of p53. Here we provide the first conclusive demonstration that p90MDM2 constitutively regulates p53 activity in homeostatic tissues. Mice with a hypomorphic allele of mdm2 revealed a heretofore unknown role for mdm2 in lymphopoiesis and epithelial cell survival. Phenotypic analyses revealed that both the transcriptional activation and apoptotic functions of p53 were increased in these mice. However, the level of p53 protein was not coordinately increased, suggesting that p90MDM2 can inhibit the transcriptional activation and apoptotic functions of p53 in a manner independent of degradation. Cre-mediated deletion of mdm2 caused a greater accumulation of p53, demonstrating that p90MDM2 constitutively regulates both the activity and the level of p53 in homeostatic tissues. The observation that only a subset of tissues with activated p53 underwent apoptosis indicates that factors other than p90MDM2 determine the physiological consequences of p53 activation. Furthermore, reduction of mdm2 in vivo resulted in radiosensitivity, highlighting the importance of mdm2 as a potential target for adjuvant cancer therapies.