Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association between muscle function and low back pain in relation to pregnancy.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the association of muscle function and subgroups of low back pain (no low back pain, pelvic girdle pain, lumbar pain and combined pelvic girdle pain and lumbar pain) in relation to pregnancy. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SUBJECTS Consecutively enrolled pregnant women seen in gestational weeks 12-18 (n = 301) and 3 months postpartum (n = 262). METHODS Classification into subgroups by means of mechanical assessment of the lumbar spine, pelvic pain provocation tests, standard history and a pain drawing. Trunk muscle endurance, hip muscle strength (dynamometer) and gait speed were investigated. RESULTS In pregnancy 116 women had no low back pain, 33% (n = 99) had pelvic girdle pain, 11% (n = 32) had lumbar pain and 18% (n = 54) had combined pelvic girdle pain and lumbar pain. The prevalence of pelvic girdle pain/combined pelvic girdle pain and lumbar pain decreased postpartum, whereas the prevalence of lumbar pain remained stable. Women with pelvic girdle pain and/or combined pelvic girdle pain and lumbar pain had lower values for trunk muscle endurance, hip extension and gait speed as compared to women without low back pain in pregnancy and postpartum (p < 0.001-0.04). Women with pelvic girdle pain throughout the study had lower values of back flexor endurance compared with women without low back pain. CONCLUSION Muscle dysfunction was associated with pelvic girdle pain, which should be taken into consideration when developing treatment strategies and preventive measures.
Towards health exercise behavior change for teams using life-logging

Recent technological trends on mobile/wearable devices and sensors have been enabling increasing number of people to collect and store their “life-logs” easily in their daily lives. Beyond exercise behavior change of individual user, our research focus is on the behavior change of teams, based on life-logging technologies and information sharing. In this paper, we propose and evaluate six different types of information sharing model among team members for their exercise promotion, leveraging concepts of “competition” and “collaboration”. According to our experimental mobile web application for exercise promotion and extensive user study among 64 total users for three weeks, the model with “external competition” technique resulted the most effective performance for competitive teams such as sport teams.
Hippocampal mean diffusivity and memory in healthy elderly individuals

Background: The relationship between age-related memory decline and hippocampal anatomic changes is a matter of debate. Objectives: To investigate the relationship between age-related memory decline and MRI hippocampal anatomic changes in a cohort of healthy individuals. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 76 healthy individuals (44 male and 32 female), ranging in age from 20 to 80 years, were recruited from universities, community recreational centers, hospital personnel, and patients' relatives from 2005 to 2008. These individuals were submitted to a 3-T MRI protocol with a whole-brain T1-weighted and diffusion-weighted scanning and a neuropsychological assessment. For each subject, we calculated the volumes of the total brain (gray + white matter) and hippocampi. The segmented hippocampi defined the binary masks where mean values of mean diffusivity (MD) and fractional anisotropy (FA) were calculated. Neuropsychological evaluation included tests of verbal memory (15 minutes delayed recall of a 15-word list) and visuospatial memory (20 minutes delayed reproduction of Rey complex figure). Results: Hippocampal MD, but not hippocampal FA, hippocampal volume, or total brain volume, predicted performance of individuals beyond their 50s on tests of verbal and visuospatial memory. Conclusions: High mean diffusivity values in the hippocampal formation of healthy elderly individuals predict memory decline, as reflected by performance on tests of declarative verbal and visual-spatial memory.
Gamma-ray bursts and the history of star formation

Popular models for the origin of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) include short-lived massive stars as the progenitors of the fireballs. Hence the redshift distribution of GRBs should track the cosmic star formation rate of massive stars accurately. A significant proportion of high-mass star formation activity appears to occur in regions that are obscured from view in the optical waveband by interstellar dust. The amount of dust-enshrouded star formation activity taking place has been estimated by observing the thermal radiation from the dust that has been heated by young stars in the far-infrared and submillimetre wavebands. Here we discuss an alternative probe – the redshift distribution of GRBs. GRBs are detectable at the highest redshifts, and because gamma-rays are not absorbed by dust, the redshift distribution of GRBs should therefore be unaffected by dust extinction. At present the redshifts of GRBs can only be determined from the associated optical transient emission; however, useful information about the prevalence of dust-obscured star formation can also be obtained from the ratio of GRBs with and without an associated optical transient. Eight GRBs currently have spectroscopic redshifts. Once about a hundred redshifts are known, the population of GRBs will provide an important test of different models of the star formation history of the Universe.
When will people regard robots as morally competent social partners?

We propose that moral competence consists of five distinct but related elements: (1) having a system of norms; (2) mastering a moral vocabulary; (3) exhibiting moral cognition and affect; (4) exhibiting moral decision making and action; and (5) engaging in moral communication. We identify some of the likely triggers that may convince people to (justifiably) ascribe each of these elements of moral competence to robots. We suggest that humans will treat robots as moral agents (who have some rights, obligations, and are targets of blame) if they perceive them to have at least elements (1) and (2) and one or more of elements (3)-(5).
Pattern of deaths in medical wards of a rurally situated tertiary health institution, Ido-Ekiti, Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE To determine the basic demographic patterns and the frequency of medical causes of deaths in medical wards of a tertiary health center located in a rural community of Nigeria. MATERIALS AND METHODS A retrospective analysis of patients' records admitted into medical wards of the Federal Medical Centre Ido-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria between January 2009 and December 2011 was carried out. Analysis of data was carried out using the simple descriptive statistics with Statistical Packaging for Social Sciences (SPSS Inc. Chicago IL) SPSS version 16 software. RESULTS A total number of 1456 patients were admitted into the medical wards during the study period and 79 deaths were recorded. Male mortality was 94 (52.5%) while female mortality was 85 (47.5%) with male to female ratio 1.1:1.0. The age range was 18-100 years with the mean of 56.15 + 19.63 years. Deaths from non-communicable diseases (63.1%) were higher than those from communicable diseases (36.9%). CONCLUSION The most common cause of deaths in medical wards were non-communicable diseases, worse on the elderly especially males. Stroke and human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome were the principal contributors to medical mortality.
Unreliable mtDNA data due to nuclear insertions: a cautionary tale from analysis of humans and other great apes

Analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequence variation has been used extensively to study the evolutionary relationships of individuals and populations, both within and across species. So ubiquitous and easily acquired are mtDNA data that it has been suggested that such data could serve as a taxonomic ‘barcode’ for an objective species classification scheme. However, there are technical pitfalls associated with the acquisition of mtDNA data. One problem is the presence of translocated pieces of mtDNA in the nuclear genome of many taxa that may be mistaken for authentic organellar mtDNA. We assessed the extent to which such ‘numt’ sequences may pose an overlooked problem in analyses of mtDNA from humans and apes. Using long‐range polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we generated necessarily authentic mtDNA sequences for comparison with sequences obtained using typical methods for a segment of the mtDNA control region in humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans. Results revealed that gorillas are notable for having such a variety of numt sequences bearing high similarity to authentic mtDNA that any analysis of mtDNA using standard approaches is rendered impossible. Studies on humans, chimpanzees, bonobos or orangutans are apparently less problematic. One implication is that explicit measures need to be taken to authenticate mtDNA sequences in newly studied taxa or when any irregularities arise. Furthermore, some taxa may not be amenable to analysis of mtDNA variation at all.
Projection-based registration using a multi-view camera for indoor scene reconstruction

A registration method is proposed for 3D reconstruction of an indoor environment using a multi-view camera. In general, previous methods have a high computational complexity and are not robust for 3D point cloud with low precision. Thus, a projection-based registration is presented. First, depth are refined based on temporal property by excluding 3D points with a large variation, and spatial property by filling holes referring neighboring 3D points. Second, 3D point clouds acquired at two views are projected onto the same image plane, and two-step integer mapping enables the modified KLT to find correspondences. Then, fine registration is carried out by minimizing distance errors. Finally, a final color is evaluated using colors of corresponding points and an indoor environment is reconstructed by applying the above procedure to consecutive scenes. The proposed method reduces computational complexity by searching for correspondences within an image plane. It not only enables an effective registration even for 3D point cloud with low precision, but also need only a few views. The generated model can be adopted for interaction with as well as navigation in a virtual environment.
Learning in Strategic Alliances: A Vygotskian Perspective

Although organizational learning occurs through individuals, it would be a mistake to conclude that organizational learning is nothing but the cumulative result of their members' learning. Organizations do not have brains, but they have cognitive systems and memories. A device cited in this literature as an important tool for organizational learning is the “Strategic Alliance” – an important element of contemporary firms' competitive strategies. This paper attempts to look at the phenomenon of inter‐organizational learning through the socio‐cultural‐historical lens of Vygotsky and hopes to advance a theoretical framework, which is more eclectic and can therefore better explain the dynamics of learning in alliances.
Distributed Dynamic Hash Tables Using IBM LAPI

An asynchronous communication library for accessing and managing dynamic hash tables over a network of Symmetric Multiprocessors (SMP) is presented. A blocking factor is shown experimentally to reduce the variance of the wall clock time. It is also shown that remote accesses to a distributed hash table can be as effective and scalable as the one-sided operations of the low-level communication middleware on an IBM SP.
On the performance of distributed base stations in LTE public safety networks

Distributed base stations are studied in the framework of LTE public safety networks. In the proposed model, users are connected to remote radio heads deployed throughout the cell and connected to a central base station. In this paper, resource allocation for the purpose of real-time video transmission, in the uplink and downlink, is investigated, and the performance of several distributed base station deployment scenarios is compared. Simulation results show that significant throughput gains can be achieved with distributed base stations. In addition, results show that the quality of service for real-time video streaming can be largely enhanced due to the reduction of loss distortion.
The Renal Hemodynamic Effect of SGLT 2 Inhibition in Patients with Type 1 Diabetes

Dept of Medicine, Division of Nephrology; Dept of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Toronto General Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Boehringer Ingelheim Canada Ltd./Ltée, Burlington, Canada; Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Ridgefield, CT; Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co.KG, Ingelheim, Germany *contributed equally as primary co-authors; †contributed equally as senior co-authors
Prevention of Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury in a Rat Skin Flap Model: The Role of Mast Cells, Cromolyn Sodium, and Histamine Receptor Blockade

The objective of this study was to examine the role of mast cells and their principal product, histamine, in ischemia/reperfusion injury. Cromolyn sodium, diphenhydramine, and cimetidine were administered to ischemic flaps just before reperfusion and evaluated for flap survival, mast cell count, neutrophil count, and myeloperoxidase levels. Epigastric island skin flaps were elevated in 49 rats; they were rendered ischemic by clamping the artery for 10 hours. Thirty minutes before reperfusion, the rats were treated with intraperitoneal saline (n = 11), cimetidine (n = 11), diphenhydramine (n = 11), or cromolyn sodium (n = 10). Flap survival was evaluated at 7 days. Neutrophil counts, mast cell counts, and myeloperoxidase levels were evaluated 12 hours after reperfusion. Flap necrosis in the sham group of animals (n = 6) was 0.0 percent, as expected, whereas the control group (saline-treated animals) had 47.3 ± 33.4 percent necrosis. Animals treated with diphenhydramine and cimetidine demonstrated a significant decrease in flap necrosis to 17.7 ± 8.8 percent and 19.4 ± 14.7 percent, respectively. This protective effect was not seen with cromolyn sodium (44.3 ± 35.6 percent). Both neutrophil and mast cell counts were significantly decreased in flaps from antihistamine-treated and sham animals versus both saline- and cromolyn sodium–treated groups. The administration of diphenhydramine and cimetidine before reperfusion can significantly reduce the extent of flap necrosis and the neutrophil and mast cell counts caused by ischemia/reperfusion. This protective effect is not seen with cromolyn sodium. The protective effect of antihistamines on flap necrosis might be related to the decrease in neutrophils and, possibly, mast cells within the flap.
Approximation-Based Adaptive Neural Control Design for a Class of Nonlinear Systems

This paper focuses on approximation-based adaptive neural control of a class of nonlinear non-strict-feedback systems. Based on the structural characteristic and the monotonously increasing property of the system bounding functions, a variable separation method is first developed. By this method, an approximation-based adaptive backstepping approach is proposed for a class of nonlinear non-strict-feedback systems. It is shown that the proposed controller guarantees semi-global boundedness of all the signals in the closed-loop systems. Three examples are used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Microalgal Reactors: A Review of Enclosed System Designs and Performances

One major challenge to industrial microalgal culturing is to devise and develop technical apparata, cultivation procedures and algal strains susceptible of undergoing substantial increases in efficiency of use of solar energy and carbon dioxide. Despite several research efforts developed to date, there is no such thing as “the best reactor system”– defined, in an absolute fashion, as the one able to achieve maximum productivity with minimum operation costs, irrespective of the biological and chemical system at stake. In fact, choice of the most suitable system is situation‐dependent, as both the species of alga available and the final purpose intended will play a role. The need of accurate control impairs use of open‐system configurations, so current investigation has focused mostly on closed systems. In this review, several types of closed bioreactors described in the technical literature as able to support production of microalgae are comprehensively presented and duly discussed, using transport phenomenon and process engineering methodological approaches. The text is subdivided into subsections on: reactor design, which includes tubular reactors, flat plate reactors and fermenter‐type reactors; and processing parameters, which include gaseous transfer, medium mixing and light requirements.
Option Pricing with a General Marked Point Process

This paper examines the impact of a random number of price changes on the options valuation. The model introduces the structure of the general marked point processes MPP. This kind of model allows us to take account of more general distributions of interarrival times than usual jump-diffusion models. In particular, stock price variations can be correlated with the times of transactions. Thus, the investors can decide to trade according to the history of market values and the sizes of price variations can also depend on the past times of transactions. By using the special decomposition of predictable processes, with respect to a marked point process, the determination of all risk-neutral probabilities is detailed. Derivative prices are calculated in this context with different basic examples.
Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation and Cerebral Blood Flow Velocity in Children

Objective: To determine how extracorporeal membrane oxygenation affects cerebral blood flow velocity and to determine whether specific changes in cerebral blood flow velocity may be associated with neurologic injury. Design: Prospective, observational study. Setting: PICU in a tertiary care academic center. Patients: Children (age less than or equal to 18 yr) requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Eighteen patients (age 3.8 ± 7.2 years; venovenous neck, n = 5; venoarterial neck, n = 8; venoarterial chest, n = 5) requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation underwent daily transcranial Doppler ultrasound measurements of cerebral blood flow velocity in bilateral middle cerebral arteries. Cerebral blood flow velocity measurements were recorded as a percentage of age and gender normal value. On extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, cerebral blood flow velocities in patients not suffering clinically evident neurologic injury were decreased with systolic flow velocity (Vs) 54% ± 3% predicted and mean flow velocity (Vm) 52% ± 4% predicted. After decannulation, Vs and Vm were higher than while on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation at 73% ± 3% predicted (p = 0.0007 vs. value on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) and 64% ± 4% predicted (p = 0.01 vs. value on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation). Patients who developed clinically evident cerebral hemorrhage had higher Vs, diastolic flow velocity (Vd), and Vm compared with those who did not: 123% ± 8% predicted, 130% ± 18% predicted, 127% ± 9% predicted (p < compared to values in children not suffering neurological injury). Supranormal flow velocities were noted 2–6 days before clinical recognition of cerebral hemorrhage in all four patients. There were no significant differences in mean arterial blood pressure, circuit flow, or hematocrit between the children who suffered cerebral hemorrhage and those who did not. Partial pressure of carbon dioxide was lower in the group of patients who experienced cerebral hemorrhage than in those who did not (38 ± 2 vs. 44 ± 1 mm Hg, p = 0.03). Conclusion: In children who did not suffer clinically apparent neurologic injury, cerebral blood flow velocities were lower than normal while on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support and increased after decannulation. However, children who developed cerebral hemorrhage had higher than normal cerebral blood flow velocities noted for days prior to clinical recognition of bleeding. Cerebral blood flow velocity measurement may represent a portable, noninvasive way to predict cerebral complications of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and deserves further study.
Design and development of a clinical decision support system for diagnosing appendicitis

This paper presents a Genetic Algorithm based feature selection approach for clinical decision support system, which is designed to assist physicians with decision making tasks, as to discriminate healthy people from those with appendicitis disease. We have compared the performance of Genetic Algorithm with two feature ranking algorithms namely Information Gain and Chi-Square algorithm. The genetic algorithm that we propose is wrapper based scheme where the fitness of an individual is determined based on the ability of the selected features to classify the training dataset. To measure the performance of the feature selection algorithms, two different types of standard classification algorithms were implemented namely Bayesian Classifier and K-Nearest Neighbor (K-NN) Classifier. We determine which feature selection algorithm is best suited for clinical datasets under consideration. Experiments show that Genetic Algorithm would be the best choice for feature selection in appendicitis clinical dataset.
Hydroxymethylation of DNA: an epigenetic marker

DNA methylation, an epigenetic mechanism is claimed to play essential roles in development, aging and disease over the past few decades. Cytosines (C) were known to exist in two functional states: unmethylated or methylated (5mC) in the mammalian genome for a very long time. However, the mechanisms controlling 5mC dynamics remain undefined. Recent studies of genomic DNA on human and mouse brain, neurons and from mouse embryonic stem cells have shown that 2-oxoglutarate and Fe(II)-dependent oxygenases of the ten-eleven translocation (Tet) proteins can catalyze the oxidation of 5mC at cpG dinucleotides to form 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC). The exhilarating discovery of these novel 5-hmC has begun to focus on the dynamic nature of 5mC. The prevailing evidence has shown that Tet family proteins and 5-hmC are involved in the normal development as well as in many diseases. This review presents an overview of the role of Tet family proteins and 5-hmC. It also discusses their role as an epigenetic marker and the techniques used for their analysis.
Intersensorische Erleichterung: Auch visuelle Begleitreize können die Reaktionszeit verkürzen

Zusammenfassung. Reaktionen auf ein visuelles Reaktionssignal werden beschleunigt, wenn gleichzeitig ein auditiver Begleitreiz dargeboten wird. Umgekehrt werden Reaktionen auf ein auditives Reaktionssignal durch einen visuellen Begleitreiz nicht beschleunigt. In der Literatur wird dieser asymmetrische Effekt mit einer unterschiedlichen Verarbeitung von visuellen und auditiven Begleitreizen erklart (Arousal- und Vorbereitungshypothese). Wir untersuchten, ob diese Modalitatsasymmetrie auch dann auftritt, wenn Begleitreize ausreichend beachtet werden. In zwei Experimenten wurde durch eine Zusatzaufgabe sichergestellt, das visuelle und auditive Begleitreize gleichermasen beachtet werden. In Experiment 1 wurden neben der Reizmodalitat die Intensitat des Reaktionssignals und des Begleitreizes und in Experiment 2 der zeitliche Abstand zwischen Reaktionssignal und Begleitreiz variiert. Gemessen wurden Reaktionszeit und Reaktionskraft. In beiden Experimenten konnte ein Erleichterungseffekt fur visuelle und auditiv.