Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low‐magnitude high‐frequency vibration accelerates callus formation, mineralization, and fracture healing in rats

Fracture healing is a biological regenerative process that follows a well‐orchestrated sequence. Most healing is uneventful and enhancement of normal fracture healing is not commonly done, although it is clinically important in the recovery and regain of functions after fracture. This study investigated the osteogenic effect of low‐magnitude high‐frequency vibration (LMHFV, 35 Hz, 0.3 g) on the enhancement of fracture healing in rats with closed femoral shaft fracture by comparing with sham‐treated control. Assessments with plain radiography, micro‐CT as well as histomorphometry showed that the amount of callus was significantly larger (p = 0.001 for callus area, 2 weeks posttreatment); the remodeling of the callus into mature bone was significantly faster (p = 0.039, 4 weeks posttreatment) in the treatment group. The mechanical strength of the healed fracture in the treatment group at 4 weeks was significantly greater (p < 0.001). The results showed the acceleration of callus formation, mineralization, and fracture healing in the treatment group. It is concluded that LMHFV enhances healing in the closed femoral shaft fracture in rats. The potential clinical advantages shall be confirmed in the subsequent clinical trials. © 2008 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 27: 458–465, 2009
VMP: A MAC Protocol for EPON-Based Video-Dominated FiWi Access Networks

Optical and wireless network technologies are expected to converge in the near to midterm, giving rise to bimodal fiber-wireless (FiWi) broadband access networks. In triple-play (voice, video, and data) service scenarios for such FiWi access networks, video traffic will likely dominate due to the widely predicted increase in video network services and the high traffic volume of compressed video compared to voice and data services. In this paper, we introduce and evaluate a comprehensive video MAC protocol (VMP) to efficiently deliver prerecorded video downstream to wireless consumers over a FiWi network in the presence of voice and data upstream and downstream traffic. VMP consists of three main novel components: (i) frame fragmentation in conjunction with hierarchical frame aggregation for efficient MAC frame transport over the integrated optical and wireless network segments, (ii) multi-polling medium access control for upstream voice and data packets and acknowledgements for downstream video packets, and (iii) prefetching of video frames over the optical and wireless network segments in conjunction with hybrid reservation/contention-based medium access. Our simulation results indicate that VMP achieves significant improvements in throughput-delay performance for all three traffic types as well as reductions in the playback starvation probability for video traffic compared to existing state-of-the-art MAC mechanisms.
Porcine Models of Biofilm Infections with Focus on Pathomorphology

Bacterial biofilm formation is one of the main reasons for a negative treatment outcome and a high recurrence rate for many chronic infections in humans. The optimal way to study both the biofilm forming bacteria and the host response simultaneously is by using discriminative, reliable, and reproducible animal models of the infections. In this review, the advantages of in vivo studies are compared to in vitro studies of biofilm formation in infectious diseases. The pig is the animal of choice when developing and applying large animal models of infectious diseases due to its similarity of anatomy, physiology, and immune system to humans. Furthermore, conventional pigs spontaneously develop many of the same chronic bacterial infections as seen in humans. Therefore, in this review porcine models of five different infectious diseases all associated with biofilm formation and chronicity in humans are described. The infectious diseases are: chronic wounds, endocarditis, pyelonephritis, hematogenous osteomyelitis, and implant-associated osteomyelitis (IAO).
Decision Traps and Competence Dynamics in Changeable Spaces

There are many parameters in challenging decision problems, including the alternatives, the criteria, resources, the perception of decision problems, decision makers and their psychological states, information inputs from the environment, and self-suggestion, etc. At any moment of time, some of these parameters can catch our attention, called alerted parameters; some cannot, called unalerted parameters. Some parameters are visible, some are invisible. In addition, the parameters themselves can vary over certain ranges or domains. All of these make challenging decision problems very complex. We call this kind of problems as decision problems with changeable spaces (parameters). We may focus on certain parameters with certain assumed values to find an "optimal" solution, which may lead to solve wrong problem with bad solution. Quite often, our focus may be just a small part of what we know, or just a part of what we are most familiar with. We may often neglect what we are not familiar with, and pay no attention to what we do not know. As a consequence, we may see just a small part of the problem domain (including all parameters and their possible variations over time). The portion (of the problem domain) that we cannot see is our decision blind. Suppose our alerted domain (those parameters and their variations that are currently under our consideration) to be fixed in only a small part of the problem domains. Then very likely we could end up with a serious mistake. This situation is known as decision trap.In this article, we will introduce a systematic scheme, based on habitual domain theory, to help us reduce decision blinds and avoid decision traps so that we could make decision with good quality. Then we will also introduce the concept of competence set analysis to help us cope with challenging decision problems. This including: (i) how to effectively expand our competence (resources, skill, know-how, information, ideas, effort, etc.) as to solve a given problem effectively; and (ii) given a set of competence, how to maximize its value by solving a set of value added problems. Furthermore, we will introduce innovation dynamics which describe the dynamics of how to solve a set of problems with our existent or acquired competence (to relieve the pains or frustrations of "certain customers or decision makers" at certain situations) as to create value, and how to distribute this created value so that we can continuously expand out competence set to solve more challenging problems and create more value.
Decrypting the structure of major histocompatibility complex class I- restricted cytotoxic T lymphocyte epitopes with complex peptide libraries

Complex synthetic peptide libraries with defined amino acids in one or more positions of the H-2Kb-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes SIINFEKL and RGYVYQGL and mixtures of 19 amino acids in the remaining positions were used to analyze the structural requirements of peptide binding to MHC class I molecules and antigen recognition by CTLs. This approach provides means to assess semiquantitatively the contribution of every amino acid to the binding of peptides to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules without biases introduced by naturally processed peptides. Primary and secondary anchor residues were defined for their major contribution to the binding efficiency of the peptides. In contrast to primary anchors, secondary anchor amino acids vary greatly in their side chains and position in the sequences. All amino acids in the octapeptide sequences were found to exhibit positive or negative influences on binding to the MHC molecules and on recognition of the resulting complexes by CTLs. Strong interdependence of the effects of the individual residues in the epitope sequences was demonstrated. CTL responses to peptide libraries were suppressed when residues were introduced; however, they were augmented when the critical residues for T cell recognition were fixed, suggesting a potential use of the peptide libraries for defining epitope sequences in general.
MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND MOTOR ABILITIES OF BOYS FOLLOWING DIFFERENT SECONDARY-SCHOOL PROGRAMMES

Measurement data relating to three morphological characteristics and eight motor abilities were analysed; the sample of measured subjects included 18,374 secondary-school students who in the 2004/2005 academic year followed three different types of educational programmes: grammar school, professional/technical and vocational. The data were collected within a framework of annual measurements for the data collection Sports Education Chart, which is compulsory for all Slovenian schools. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to calculate the differences between the groups of students, defined by the type of programme and age of the measured subjects. For the entire set of variables the test was characteristic for both main factors (programme, age), although there was no significant interaction between the two of them. The factor programme is nearly twice as important as the factor age in explaining the entire set of dependent variables. Univariate tests showed similar results as the entire model and both main factors (programme, age) are highly significant, however, their interaction is not significant. The factor age better explains the differences between the morphological variables, whereas the factor programme better explains the difference between the motor variables. Together, these two factors explain the largest proportion of variance (7% to 9%) for the tests sit-ups, hand tapping and standing broad jump. It can be assumed that the differences seen in the morphological and motor status are the result of interpersonal factors as well as social factors and the effects of environmental factors. Secondary-school students from different educational programmes come from diverse socio-economic backgrounds, which is reflected in the quality of nutrition, along with the frequency and type of free-time sports activities. Presumably, the differences are also a result of a smaller number of physical education classes in the curriculum of vocational schools.
Real Time Water Quality Monitoring Boat

In today’s third world countries such as Pakistan, there is an ever increasing strain regarding the provision of clean, consumable water. This problem especially arises in rural areas due to the ineffectiveness of the governments and the increasing population in the country. Therefore, this particular project aims to detect and display real-time physiochemical quality of the water in a much more cost effective manner, as opposed to the current methods which involves sampling and laboratory methods, through its wireless, multi-sensor network. It takes into consideration multiple factors and presents this real-time quality through the display of its electrical conductivity, pH, total dissolved solids TDS, turbidity, as well as temperature of water that is being tested. Additionally, this remote control system is specially designed for lakes, reservoir, rivers etc. where we cannot monitor water quality in such complicated scale water environment by just using a stationary system because water parameter vary at every single location. To avoid this, we manufactured a boat which can float and move on the water simply by user controller. This structure is designed as a hull shape which minimize the resistivity of water flow and this shape also maintained the stability of water. This water quality monitoring boat includes an embedded global positioning system GPS which gives the location of the point wherever water quality is varying and radio frequency module for wireless communication. All the results is generated and displayed with their readings and their graphical analogue meters through the graphical user interface GUI technique, along with water’s impurities limitation points and its hazardous level notification. It is proven through various tests conducted in reservoirs, lakes and personal water storage tanks that this project is successfully capable of demonstrating these physiochemical parameters as well as display these readings effectively.
Fault-tolerant quantum error detection

We show the fault-tolerant encoding, measurement, and operation of a logical qubit via quantum error detection. Quantum computers will eventually reach a size at which quantum error correction becomes imperative. Quantum information can be protected from qubit imperfections and flawed control operations by encoding a single logical qubit in multiple physical qubits. This redundancy allows the extraction of error syndromes and the subsequent detection or correction of errors without destroying the logical state itself through direct measurement. We show the encoding and syndrome measurement of a fault-tolerantly prepared logical qubit via an error detection protocol on four physical qubits, represented by trapped atomic ions. This demonstrates the robustness of a logical qubit to imperfections in the very operations used to encode it. The advantage persists in the face of large added error rates and experimental calibration errors.
Forecasting the Intermittent Demand for Slow-Moving Items

Organizations with large-scale inventory systems typically have a large proportion of items for which demand is intermittent and low volume. We examine different approaches to forecasting for such products, paying particular attention to the need for inventory planning over a multi-period lead-time when the underlying process may be nonstationary. This emphasis leads to consideration of prediction distributions for processes with time-dependent parameters. A wide range of possible distributions could be considered but we focus upon the Poisson (as a widely used benchmark), the negative binomial (as a popular extension of the Poisson) and a hurdle shifted Poisson (which retains Croston’s notion of a Bernoulli process for times between orders). We also develop performance measures related to the entire predictive distribution, rather than focusing exclusively upon point predictions. The three models are compared using data on the monthly demand for 1,046 automobile parts, provided by a US automobile manufacturer. We conclude that inventory planning should be based upon dynamic models using distributions that are more flexible than the traditional Poisson scheme.
Late post-myocardial infarction induces a tetrodotoxin-resistant Na(+)Current in rat cardiomyocytes.

Left ventricular remodeling after myocardial infarction is accompanied by electrical abnormalities that might predispose to rhythm disturbances. To get insight into the ionic mechanisms involved, we studied myocytes isolated from four different regions of the rat ventricles, 4-6 months after ligation of the left coronary artery. Using the whole-cell patch-clamp technique, we never observed T-type Ca(2+)current in both diseased and control hearts. In contrast, in 41 out of 78 cells isolated from 16 post-myocardial infarcted rats, analysed in the presence of 30 m m Na(+)ions, we found a tetrodotoxin (TTX)-resistant Na(+)current with quite variable amplitude in every investigated region. Albeit being resistant to 100 microM TTX, this Na(+)-dependent current was highly sensitive to lidocaine since 3 microM lidocaine induced about 65% tonic block. It was also inhibited by 5 microM nifedipine and 2 m m Co(2+), but was insensitive to 100 microM Ni(2+). The TTX-resistant Na(+)channel availability was shifted rightward by 25-30 mV with respect to TTX-sensitive Na(+)current; therefore, a large "window current" might flow in the voltage range from -70 to -20 mV. In conclusion, in late post-myocardial infarction, a Na(+)current with specific kinetics and pharmacology may provide inward charges in a critical range of membrane voltages that are able to alter action potential time course and trigger ventricular arrhythmia. These apparent new characteristics of the Na(+)channel might result in part from environmental changes during heart remodeling.
Gi-Mediated Activation of the Syk Kinase by the Receptor Mimetic Basic Secretagogues of Mast Cells: Role in Mediating Arachidonic Acid/Metabolites Release1

Syk kinase is essential for FcεRI-mediated signaling and release of inflammatory mediators from mast cells. We now show that activation of rat peritoneal mast cells by the nonimmunological, Gi-mediated pathway also results in the activation of Syk. We show that compound 48/80 (c48/80), a receptor analogue that activates directly G proteins, activates Syk in a pertussis toxin-sensitive fashion. We further show that Syk activation by c48/80 is blocked by the protein kinase C inhibitor GF109203X, by the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitors, wortmannin and LY294002, by EGTA, and by the selective src-like kinase inhibitor PP1. These results suggest that in the nonimmunological, Gi-mediated pathway, Syk is located downstream from phospholipase C and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase. However, in common with the FcεRI-mediated pathway, activation of Syk by c48/80 is dependent on a src-like protein tyrosine kinase. Finally, we show that in the nonimmunological pathway, Syk plays a central role in the release of arachidonic acid/eicosanoid metabolites, but not in the release of prestored mediators such as histamine.
Post-traumatic stress disorder screening test performance in civilian primary care.

PURPOSE we determined the test performance characteristics of four brief post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) screening tests in a civilian primary care setting. METHODS this was a cross-sectional cohort study of adults attending a family medicine residency training clinic in the southeastern USA. Four hundred and eleven participants completed a structured telephone interview that followed an index clinic visit. Screening tests included: PTSD Symptom Checklist-Civilian Version (17 items), SPAN (four items), Breslau's scale (seven items) and Primary Care PTSD screen (PC-PTSD) (four items). A modified Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale was used to determine past month PTSD for comparison. Receiver operating characteristic analysis based on area under the curve (AUC) was used to assess diagnostic efficiency (>0.80 desired). Cut-off scores were selected to yield optimal sensitivity and specificity (>80%). RESULTS past month PTSD was substantial (women = 35.8% and men = 20.0%; P < 0.01). AUC values were PTSD Symptom Checklist (PCL) (0.897), SPAN (0.806), Breslau's scale (0.886) and PC-PTSD (0.885). Optimal cut-scores yielded the following sensitivities and specificities: PCL (80.0% and 80.7%; cut-off = 43), SPAN (75.9% and 71.6%; cut-off = 3), Breslau's scale (84.5% and 76.4%; cut-off = 4) and PC-PTSD (85.1% and 82.0%; cut-off = 3). Overall and gender-specific screening test performances were explored. CONCLUSIONS results confirm: (i) PTSD was common, especially among women; (ii) all four PTSD screening tests were diagnostically adequate; (iii) Two of four PTSD screening tests showed adequate sensitivity and specificity (>80%) and (iv) The PC-PTSD screening test (four items) appeared to be the best single screening test. There are few studies to establish the utility of PTSD screening tests within civilian primary care.
RFID sensors for food safety centre by identifying the physical factors that affecting the food

The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system is combination of a tag and reader. The RFID tag provides a cost effective solution to identify the object. The object may be any living and non living. The RFID system is used many applications such as healthcare, sales supply chain, luggage identification and security enabled keys, etc. These applications were discussed in various research papers, but till now, no one introduced the food safety centre enabled RFID system. That is the physical factors affecting the food to get into contaminated need to be identified and remedy need to be taken for the same. This RFID system needs to be integrated with the Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) Enabled Architecture. So this system is called as RFID Sensor. This research paper also presents three various methodologies to identify the physical affect that affecting the food. At the end of this paper, discuss about how the RFID Sensor is going to be introduce in the Food Safety Centre in Indian Ration Shops.
Development , Evaluation and Automatic Segmentation of Slovenian Broadcast News Speech Database

The paper reviews the development of a new Slovenian broadcast news speech database. The database consists of audio, video and annotation transcripts of about 34 hours of television daily news program captured from the public TV station RTVSLO. The paper addresses issues concerning transcription and annotation of the collected data, provides information on content analysis and basic statistics of the collected material and compares different methods of automatic segmentation.
PEDOT Nanowires for Energy Storage: Synthesis and Property

PEDOT nanowires of different size and morphology were successfully synthesized in aqueous solution via lithographically patterned nanowire electrodeposition (LPNE) in order to establish a direct relationship between the synthesis conditions and the properties. Optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) are utilized to characterize the size, morphology and electrochemical properties of the resulting PEDOT nanowires. Optical microscopy and AFM show that the various electrodeposition parameters (deposition methods, deposition voltage, deposition time, template size, etc.) have a great impact on the materials properties of the prepared nanowires. EIS measurement demonstrates that those nanowires exhibit exceptional capacitive property compared to that of commercial capacitors and polymer dispersion capacitors.
Effect of smoking cessation on major histologic types of lung cancer.

STUDY OBJECTIVES It is well-recognized that the risk of lung cancer declines after smoking cessation. However, the degree of decline in different histologic types of lung cancer is not well understood. We conducted a meta-analysis of peer-reviewed studies to assess the effect of smoking cessation on rates of major histologic types of lung cancer. DESIGN Studies published in English between 1970 and 1999 were identified through searches of computerized databases (ie, MEDLINE and CANCERLIT). Combined estimates of relative risk and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for 27 studies using fixed and random effects models. Separate analyses were conducted for men and women. RESULTS Smoking cessation was associated with a reduction in the risk of all the major histologic types of lung cancer. The highest reduction was in small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SQC), and the lowest reduction was seen in large cell cancer and adenocarcinoma. In women, the combined risks for SQC and SCLC were higher than those in men. The dose-response curve for intensity of smoking was steeper in women. CONCLUSION The findings of this study suggest that smoking cessation results in the greatest reductions for SCLC and SQC. This effect is most marked in heavy smokers, particularly among women.