Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Memória prospectiva em pacientes com epilepsia no lobo frontal

Introduction: Patients with Frontal Lobe Epilepsy (FLE), although they generally show a good performance in traditional memory tests, they are very forgetful in daily life, which affects their academic, professional and social life. Such forgetfulness is related to Prospective Memory (PM), which consists in recalling, at the appropriate time, an intention to be performed in the future. Objective: This study investigated PM in patients with frontal epilepsy, analyzing the interference of the lesion, laterality and location of the epileptogenic focus in PM performance, as well as its correlation with other memory and executive function tests. Methodology: We conducted a case-control study to evaluate the PM, being comprised of 27 adult patients with frontal lobe epilepsy, confirmed by EEG (electroencephalography), VEEG (video electroencephalography), or MRI (cerebral magnetic resonance imaging). Out of this group, 16 showed lesion on the frontal region and 11 did not show any lesion. A group of 16 adults with no epilepsy formed the control group. All subjects underwent a neuropsychological evaluation, consisting of manual dominance tests, IQ (intelligence quotient) estimated test, verbal memory tests, (immediate and delayed) visual test, PM test, attention, verbal fluency and other executive function tests. They also answered a questionnaire for memory selfevaluation and a scale to identify psychiatric comorbidities. PM was assessed by a test that simulates daily life tasks. Results: The case group (10.3±4.2) showed a significantly lower mean than the control group (15.7±2.1) in the PM test. When comparing the group with lesion to the group with no lesion, they were not significantly different in PM performance. Regarding the lateralization of the epileptogenic focus, the group with bilateral focus had a worse performance in the PM than the group with the focus on the right, though it did not differ significantly from the group with the focus on the left. Conclusion: Patients with frontal lobe epilepsy had a worse prospective memory performance than the control group. The presence or absence of injury did not affect PM performance. Patients with bilateral focus had the worst PM performance. Regarding focus laterality (right or left), there was no difference in PM. PM performance was connected to attention and delayed visual memory.
Inner-Iteration Krylov Subspace Methods for Least Squares Problems

Stationary inner iterations in combination with Krylov subspace methods are proposed for overdetermined least squares problems. The inner iterations are efficient in terms of computational work and memory and also serve as powerful preconditioners for ill-conditioned and rank-deficient problems. Theoretical justifications for using the inner iterations as preconditioners are presented. Numerical experiments on overdetermined sparse least squares problems show that the proposed methods outperform previous methods, especially for ill-conditioned and rank-deficient problems.
Demystifying the Barriers to Transport Infrastructure Project Development in Fast Developing Regions: The Case of China

Transport infrastructure (TI) has become one of the primary drivers for sustainable economic growth and social progress. However, a wider take-up is currently inhibited in fast developing regions (FDRs) by many barriers, which have not been explored explicitly in previous studies. In this study, a three-dimensional framework (i.e., macro environment, local environment, and the construction process) is proposed to structure the barriers in a reasonable way. Professionals’ opinions on the importance of the barriers are collected through questionnaire survey. The survey results were analyzed by the ranking analysis technique. It is found that the top five barriers are “difficulty in survey and design during the construction process”, “weak support from economy”, “insufficient funding”, “harsh regional climate”, and “cost overrun”. Further analysis, based on a factor analysis, indicates that these critical barriers could be grouped into three clusters: “administration on transport infrastructure”, “construction technology and cost management”, and “geographical and economic conditions”. The research findings demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed framework, and the implication is that a barriers-based checklist favors stakeholders to improve the efficiency and sustainability of TI development in FDRs. Although the study is situated in China, it sheds light on the subject in other developing countries.
Out of Sight but Not Out of Mind: Memory Scanning is Attuned to Threatening Faces

Working memory (WM) theoretically affords the ability to privilege social threats and opportunities over other more mundane information, but few experiments have sought support for this contention. Using a functional logic, we predicted that threatening faces are likely to elicit encoding benefits in WM. Critically, however, threat depends on both the capacities and inclinations of the potential aggressor and the possible responses available to the perceiver. Two experiments demonstrate that participants more efficiently scan memory for angry facial expressions, but only when the faces also bear other cues that are heuristically associated with threat: masculinity in Study 1 and outgroup status in Study 2. Moreover, male participants showed robust speed and accuracy benefits, whereas female participants showed somewhat weaker effects, and only when threat was clearly expressed. Overall results indicate that working memory for faces depends on the accessibility of self-protective goals and on the functional relevance of other social attributes of the face.
Effects of Exogenous Heme on Renal Function: Role of Heme Oxygenase and Cyclooxygenase

Abstract—We examined the effects of heme administration (15 mg/kg IV) on indexes of renal carbon monoxide production and contrasted the renal functional response to heme in anesthetized rats pretreated and not pretreated with stannous mesoporphyrin (40 &mgr;mol/kg IV) to inhibit heme oxygenase or sodium meclofenamate (5 mg/kg IV plus infusion at 10 &mgr;g/kg per minute) to inhibit cyclooxygenase. In rats without drug pretreatment, heme administration decreased renal vascular resistance and increased renal blood flow, urine volume, and sodium excretion associated with augmented urinary excretion of 6-keto-PGF1&agr; and enhanced concentration of carbon monoxide in the renal cortical microdialysate. Pretreatment with stannous mesoporphyrin did not prevent heme from producing renal vasodilation and increasing renal blood flow but abolished the diuretic and natriuretic responses. Conversely, pretreatment with sodium meclofenamate blunted the renal vasodilatory effect of heme but affected neither the diuretic nor the natriuretic effect. We conclude that heme-induced renal vasodilation is a cyclooxygenase-dependent response involving increased synthesis of PGI2, whereas heme-induced diuresis and natriuresis are heme oxygenase-dependent responses involving inhibition of tubular reabsorption of sodium and water through undefined mechanisms.
Aldose Reductase Inhibitor Ameliorates Renal Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Expression in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

Purpose The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression of podocyte is one of the well-known major factors in development of diabetic nephropathy. In this study, we investigated the effects of aldose reductase inhibitor, fidarestat on diabetic nephropathy, and renal VEGF expression in a type 1 diabetic rat model. Materials and Methods Twenty four Sprague-Dawley male rats which were performed intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin and normal six rats were divided into four groups including a normal control group, untreated diabetic control group, aldose reductase (AR) inhibitor (fidarestat, 16 mg · kg-1 · day-1) treated diabetic group, and angiotensin receptor blocker (losartan, 20 mg · kg-1 · day-1) treated diabetic group. We checked body weights and blood glucose levels monthly and measured urine albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR) at 8 and 32 weeks. We extracted the kidney to examine the renal morphology and VEGF expressions. Results The ACR decreased in fidarestat and losartan treated diabetic rat groups than in untreated diabetic group (24.79 ± 11.12, 16.11 ± 9.95, and 84.85 ± 91.19, p < 0.05). The renal VEGF messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein expression were significantly decreased in the fidarestat and losartan treated diabetic rat groups than in the diabetic control group. Conclusion We suggested that aldose reductase inhibitor may have preventive effect on diabetic nephropathy by reducing renal VEGF overexpression.
Finding Improved Wire-Antenna Geometries withGenetic

| A remote monitoring system's performance is measured largely by its associated antennas' eecacy. Improving antenna performance is not a straightforward process , as many (sometimes connicting) design trade-oos must be considered. An alternative approach speciies desired antenna properties and then searches for antenna geometries producing those properties. We implement this approach of designing a wire antenna having optimal performance under user-deened adverse conditions by using a genetic algorithm , where tness of promising designs is analyzed using the Numerical Electromagnetics Code (NEC) Version 4.1. Two versions of an integrated GA-NEC code are implemented; both produce geometries showing improvement over current designs. Results for both versions are presented, compared, and discussed.
Tackling cyberbullying: Review of empirical evidence

The present literature review summarizes current knowledge on successful responses to cyberbullying. We differentiate between three different response domains: reducing risks, combatting the problem, and buffering negative impact. A systematic literature search was conducted yielding 36 relevant studies. Most of these report findings regarding general prevention strategies (e.g., anti-bullying policies or cybersafety strategies) and the use of coping strategies such as seeking support, reactions towards cyberbullies (retaliation or confronting), technical solutions and avoidant and emotion-focused strategies. Whilst a few studies reported on perceived success, very few studies measure the success of the strategies in relation to cyberbullying, its risks and outcomes. In summary, although there are a number of studies investigating responses to cyberbullying, there is a clear lack of evidence concerning the question “what are successful responses”?
FERRORESONANCE IN THREE-PHASE POWER DISTRIBUTION TRANSFORMERS: SOURCES, CONSEQUENCES AND PREVENTION

Ferroresonance is a phenomenon that involves high distorted levels of overvoltage and overcurrents. During the last decades, the three-phase ferroresonance research has suffered several changes due to the continuously changing equipment and network. This paper analyses every main factor that is somehow related with the origin, consequences and the preventive decisions that may lead us to avoid the three-phase ferroresonance to appear. Besides this, it gives the opportunity to get a quick identification of such a complex phenomenon.
Muscle as an endocrine organ: focus on muscle-derived interleukin-6.

Skeletal muscle has recently been identified as an endocrine organ. It has, therefore, been suggested that cytokines and other peptides that are produced, expressed, and released by muscle fibers and exert paracrine, autocrine, or endocrine effects should be classified as "myokines. " Recent research demonstrates that skeletal muscles can produce and express cytokines belonging to distinctly different families. However, the first identified and most studied myokine is the gp130 receptor cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6). IL-6 was discovered as a myokine because of the observation that it increases up to 100-fold in the circulation during physical exercise. Identification of IL-6 production by skeletal muscle during physical activity generated renewed interest in the metabolic role of IL-6 because it created a paradox. On one hand, IL-6 is markedly produced and released in the postexercise period when insulin action is enhanced but, on the other hand, IL-6 has been associated with obesity and reduced insulin action. This review focuses on the myokine IL-6, its regulation by exercise, its signaling pathways in skeletal muscle, and its role in metabolism in both health and disease.
Transmission of Ebola Viruses: What We Know and What We Do Not Know

ABSTRACT Available evidence demonstrates that direct patient contact and contact with infectious body fluids are the primary modes for Ebola virus transmission, but this is based on a limited number of studies. Key areas requiring further study include (i) the role of aerosol transmission (either via large droplets or small particles in the vicinity of source patients), (ii) the role of environmental contamination and fomite transmission, (iii) the degree to which minimally or mildly ill persons transmit infection, (iv) how long clinically relevant infectiousness persists, (v) the role that “superspreading events” may play in driving transmission dynamics, (vi) whether strain differences or repeated serial passage in outbreak settings can impact virus transmission, and (vii) what role sylvatic or domestic animals could play in outbreak propagation, particularly during major epidemics such as the 2013–2015 West Africa situation. In this review, we address what we know and what we do not know about Ebola virus transmission. We also hypothesize that Ebola viruses have the potential to be respiratory pathogens with primary respiratory spread.
Stemming of Amharic Words for Information Retrieval

This paper presents a stemmer for processing document and query words to facilitate searching databases of Amharic text. An iterative stemmer has been developed that involves the removal of both prefixes and suffixes and that also takes account of letter inconsistency and reiterative verb forms. Application of the stemmer to a test file of 1221 words suggested that appropriate stems were generated for ca. 95 per cent of them, with only limited overstemming and understemming.
High-resolution Impedance Manometry Criteria in the Sitting Position Indicative of Incomplete Bolus Clearance

Background/Aims We used high-resolution impedance manometry (HRIM) to determine the length of breaks on the isobaric contour which would predict incomplete bolus clearance in patients in the sitting position. Methods In total, 651 swallows in 71 patients with esophageal symptoms were studied using a solid-state HRIM system in the sitting position. Each swallow was classified as complete or incomplete bolus clearance by impedance criteria and peristaltic integrity was evaluated using 20- and 30-mmHg pressure topography isobaric contours. Correlations between the lengths of the breaks for 20- and 30-mmHg were analyzed. Results Complete bolus clearance was observed in 83.3% (542/651) of swallows. Breaks of 3 and 7 cm or less were associated with a bolus clearance of 96.8% on the 20-mmHg and 94.7% on the 30-mmHg isobaric contour, respectively (P < 0.001). The areas under the ROC curves for the 20 and 30 mmHg isobaric contours were 0.900 and 0.950, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity for complete bolus clearance were 75.6% and 89.3% for breaks 3 cm or less on the 20-mmHg isobaric contour and 87.9% and 78.7% for breaks 7 cm or less on the 30-mmHg contour (P < 0.001). Conclusions Breaks of < 3 cm in the 20-mmHg isobaric contour or < 7 cm in the 30-mmHg isobaric contour were associated with com -plete bolus clearance. The threshold for breaks in the sitting position was greater than previous reports using the supine position and longer breaks predicted incomplete bolus clearance.
Toward real-time in-home activity recognition using indoor positioning sensor and power meters

Automatic recognition of activities of daily living (ADL) can be applied to realize services to support user life such as elderly monitoring, energy-saving home appliance control, and health support. In particular, “real-time” ADL recognition is essential to realize such a service that the system needs to know the user's current activity. There are many studies on ADL recognition. However, none of these studies address all of the following problems: (1) privacy intrusion due to the utilization of high privacy-invasive devices such as cameras and microphones; (2) limited number of recognizable activities; (3) low recognition accuracy; (4) high deployment and maintenance costs due to many sensors used; and (5) long recognition time. In our prior work, we proposed a system which solves the problems (1)– (4) to some extent by using user's position data and power consumption data of home electric appliances. In this paper, aiming to solve all the above problems including (5), we propose a new system by extending our prior work. To realize “real-time” ADL recognition while keeping good recognition accuracy, we developed new power meters with higher sensing frequency and introduced new techniques such as adding new features, selecting the best subset of the features, and selecting the best training dataset used for machine learning. We collected the sensor data in our smart home facility for 11 days, and applied the proposed method to these sensor data. As a result, the proposed method achieved accuracy of 79.393% in recognizing 10 types of ADLs.
Polypeptide requirements for assembly of functional Sindbis virus replication complexes: a model for the temporal regulation of minus‐ and plus‐strand RNA synthesis.

Proteolytic processing of the Sindbis virus non‐structural polyproteins (P123 and P1234) and synthesis of minus‐ and plus‐strand RNAs are highly regulated during virus infection. Although their precise roles have not been defined, these polyproteins, processing intermediates or mature cleavage products (nsP1‐4) are believed to be essential components of viral replication and transcription complexes. In this study, we have shown that nsP4 can function as the polymerase for both minus‐ and plus‐strand RNA synthesis. Mutations inactivating the nsP2 proteinase, resulting in uncleaved P123, led to enhanced accumulation of minus‐strand RNAs and reduced accumulation of genomic and subgenomic plus‐strand RNAs. In contrast, no RNA synthesis was observed with a mutation which increased the efficiency of P123 processing. Inclusion of this mutation in a P123 polyprotein with cleavage sites 1/2 and 2/3 blocked allowed synthesis of both minus‐ and plus‐strand RNAs. We conclude that nsP4 and uncleaved P123 normally function as the minus‐strand replication complex, and propose that processing of P123 switches the template preference of the complex to minus‐strands, resulting in efficient synthesis of plus‐strand genomic and subgenomic RNAs and shut‐off of minus‐strand RNA synthesis.
Efficient Small-signal Circuit Analysis And Sensitivity Computations With The Pvl Algorithm

We describe the application of the PVL algorithm to the small-signal analysis of circuits, including sensitivity computations. The PVL algorithm is based on the efficient computation of the Pade´ approximation of the network transfer function via the Lanczos process. The numerical stability of the algorithm permits the accurate computation of the Pade´ approximation over any given frequency range. We extend the algorithm to compute sensitivities of network transfer functions, their poles, and zeros, with respect to arbitrary circuit parameters, with minimal additional computational cost, and we present numerical examples.
Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of Extraplanar Dust Structures in the Edge-On Spiral NGC 4217

We present high-resolution (∼ 0.″1) B, V, and I images of the edge-on Sb galaxy NGC 4217 obtained with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) on-board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). We make use of these images to study extraplanar (z > 0.4 kpc) dust structures visible in absorption against the background stellar light of the galaxy, similar to those observed previously in NGC 891 and other spiral galaxies by Howk & Savage. The HST images of NGC 4217 reveal extensive high-z dust to both sides of its midplane. The dust structures have a range of morphologies, and some of the more tenuous features are traceable to heights ∼2 kpc from the midplane. We investigate the physical properties of 12 individual features. We measure the apparent optical extinctions of the features and use these to infer the hydrogen column densities and masses of the structures. The extraplanar dust structures in NGC 4217 typically have NH ≳ 4 × 1020 cm-2, with associated gas masses estimated to be ≳2 × 105 M⊙, assuming Milky Way gas-to-dust relationships apply to this spiral galaxy. The energy requirements for the expulsion of such massive structures into the lower halo are large; the gravitational potential energies of similar individual structures in NGC 891 (>1052 ergs) represent the energy input of at least tens of supernovae. The morphologies of some of the extraplanar dust structures in NGC 4217 suggest supernova-driven galactic fountain or chimney phenomena may be responsible for their production. Other features at high-z are not readily linked to energetic processes in the disk.
Fighting the Taboo Cycle: Google Map Protests and Buraku Human Rights Activism in Historical Perspective

This article explores the historical significance of an incident reported in the international media in 2009 when Burakumin groups raised concerns about privacy and possible human rights abuses in relation to a new map service offered by Google. Reportage at the time indicated that historical maps containing references to outcaste settlements could be laid over contemporary maps to disclose the exact location of contemporary Buraku districts. A thorough examination of the incident, however, reveals a more complicated story. On the one hand the incident is clearly an example of ‘human rights activism’, an ongoing political strategy within the Buraku liberation movement to achieve permanent legal recognition of their status in the face of a state that has long resisted such demands. At the same time, however, the main features of this incident – silence, revelation, protest, and erasure – are also reoccurring themes within modern Buraku history that comprise what is described in the article as a taboo cycle. In their struggles for liberation, Burakumin have developed numerous strategies to combat the cycle as well as use it to their advantage.
Treatment of pelvic endometriosis with etonogestrel subdermal implant (Implanon®)

Backgound Endometriosis is one of the commonest benign gynaecological disorders and has a peak incidence between 30 and 45 years of age. Treatment options are medical or surgical, depending on the location and extent of the disease and the woman's childbearing aspirations or need for contraception. Over the past five decades several formulations of progestogen have been used to treat endometriosis. Methods Our study was not planned research but a series of case studies of women with severe symptoms of endometriosis treated in an innovative way with a new long-acting progestogen contraceptive system (etonogestrel subdermal implant) which could reasonably have been expected to have a favourable effect on their disease and its symptoms. Results Five women with severe pelvic endometriosis were treated. Two of them were nulliparous and wished to become pregnant in due course; the other three had completed their childbearing and were contemplating hysterectomy. One of the five women had relief of pelvic pain but requested removal of the implant after 3 months because of side effects; the other four remained very satisfied with their treatment for the symptoms of pelvic endometriosis. Two of the four very satisfied women have had their implant replaced and the other two are expected to have their implant replaced when necessary. Conclusion Etonogestrel subdermal implants are an additional treatment option in women with symptoms related to pelvic endometriosis.