Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dental archforms in dentoalveolar Class I, II and III.

OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that no differences exist in dental arch dimensions between dentoalveolar Classes I, II, and III, and between male and female subjects, as measured on virtual three-dimensional (3D) models. MATERIALS AND METHODS Samples included randomly selected plaster dental casts of 137 white patients (43 Class I, 50 Class II, and 44 Class III) from the Department of Orthodontics, School of Dental Medicine, University of Zagreb, Croatia. Dental models were scanned and digitized using ATOS II SO ("Small Objects") scanning technology (GOM mbH, Braunschweig, Germany). Eight linear and two proportional measurements were calculated for both upper and lower dental arches. RESULTS In men, a significant difference in the upper dental arch was present in the incisor region, and in the lower dental arch, differences were found in intercanine and intermolar widths (P < .05). Significant differences were noted between male groups in the upper molar depth dimension (P = .022) and in the lower molar and canine depth dimensions (P < .05). Class III males had the greatest lower molar and canine width/depth ratios and the smallest lower canine depth/molar depth ratio. Class III women had wider and shorter mandibular arches when compared with Class I and Class II females. CONCLUSION The hypothesis was rejected. The dimensions of the dental arches are related to gender and to dentoalveolar class. Class I and II subjects have similar dimensions of maxillary dental arch, but Class II subjects have a transverse deficit in the mandible. In Class III subjects, the maxillary dental arch is insufficient in transverse and sagittal dimensions, and the mandibular arch dominates in the transverse but not in the sagittal dimension.
Developmental Changes in Pain and Spinal Immune Gene Expression after Radicular Trauma in the Rat

Neuropathic pain is chronic pain that develops after nerve injury and is less frequent in infants and children than in adults. Likewise, in animal models of neuropathic pain, allodynia and hyperalgesia are non-existent or attenuated in the infant, with a “switch” during development by which acute nerve injury transitions to chronic pain. Concomitant with the delay in neuropathic pain, there is a parallel delay in the ability of nerve injury to activate the immune system. Models of neuropathic pain in the infant have used various ligation methods and find that neuropathic pain does not occur under after postnatal days 21–28 (PN21–PN28), linked to activation of immune processes and developmental regulation of anti-inflammatory cytokines. We applied a model of neuropathic pain in the adult using a transient compression of the cervical nerve or nerve root in infant rats (injured at 10, 14, 21, or 28 days of age) to define transition periods during which injury results in no change in thermal and mechanical pain sensitivity or in short-term changes in pain. There was little to no hyperalgesia when the injury was imposed at PN10, but significant thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia 1 day after compression injury when performed at PN14, 21, or 28. Thermal withdrawal latencies returned to near baseline by 7 days postsurgery when the injuries were at PN14, and lasted up to 14 days when the injury was imposed at PN28. There was mechanical allodynia following injury at 1 day postinjury and at 14 days after injury at PN14. Measurements of mRNA from spinal cord at 1, 7, and 14 days postinjury at PN14, 21, and 28 showed that both the magnitude and duration of elevated immune markers and chemokines/cytokines were greater in the older animals, corresponding to the development of hyperalgesia. Thus, we confirm the late onset of neuropathic pain but found no evidence of emergent hyperalgesia if the injury was before PN21. This may be due to the use of a transient, and not sustained, compression ligation model.
Shades of Culture and Institutions-in International Mergers

This article explores merger integration processes in the international context and the way in which the merged companies cope with difficulties emanating from firm-specific and nation-specific differences. The first part of the article discusses the consolidation process in general. Four factors are identified that define the significance of this process: (1) the degree of compatibility of adminis trative practices, management styles, organizational structures or organizational cultures; (2) the kind and degree of post-merger consolidation; (3) the extent to which parties value and want to retain their organizational integrity; (4) the nature of the relationship between the two organizations. In order to create a viable new organization it is argued that leadership, the symbolic reconstruction of a new identity, superordinate goals, and introducing multigroup memberships may reinforce integration. To illustrate the discussion, three case studies of large Dutch-German mergers are examined in the second part of the article. These cases show that leadership, an appropriate organizational structure, and compatibility of merger motives may be important facilitators in the merging process.
Attitude of Physicians Towards Automatic Alerting in Computerized Physician Order Entry Systems

Summary Objectives: To analyze the attitude of physicians towards alerting in CPOE systems in different hospitals in different countries, addressing various organizational and technical settings and the view of physicians not currently using a CPOE. Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative and qualitative questionnaire survey. We invited 2,600 physicians in eleven hospitals from nine countries to participate. Eight of the hospitals had different CPOE systems in use, and three of the participating hospitals were not using a CPOE system. Results: 1,018 physicians participated. The general attitude of the physicians towards CPOE alerting is positive and is found to be mostly independent of the country, the specific organizational settings in the hospitals and their personal experience with CPOE systems. Both quantitative and qualitative results show that the majority of the physicians, both CPOE-users and non-users, appreciate the benefits of alerting in CPOE systems on medication safety. However, alerting should be better adapted to the clinical context and make use of more sophisticated ways to present alert information. The vast majority of physicians agree that additional information regarding interactions is useful on demand. Around half of the respondents see possible alert overload as a major problem; in this regard, physicians in hospitals with sophisticated alerting strategies show partly better attitude scores. Conclusions: Our results indicate that the way alerting information is presented to the physicians may play a role in their general attitude towards alerting, and that hospitals with a sophisticated alerting strategy with less interruptive alerts tend towards more positive attitudes. This aspect needs to be further investigated in future studies.
Expression of transforming acidic coiled‐coil containing protein 3 is a novel independent prognostic marker in non‐small cell lung cancer

Transforming acidic coiled‐coil containing protein 3 (TACC3) is known to be involved in the control of normal cell growth and differentiation and in mechanisms of unregulated growth leading to tumorigenesis. The aim of the present paper was to determine the rate of TACC3 expression in a non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) collection and to clarify its correlation with clinicopathological parameters. A total of 163 NSCLC were analyzed immunohistochemically using a polyclonal TACC3 antibody and monoclonal p53 and Ki‐67 antibodies on NSCLC tissue microarrays. A high level of TACC3 expression was observed in 14.8% of cases, preferentially squamous cell carcinomas. Patients whose tumors had a high TACC3 expression had a significantly shorter median survival time. In the Cox regression‐based multivariate analysis, TACC3 expression proved to be an independent prognostic parameter (P = 0.031). TACC3 expression was correlated with p53 expression, and patient whose tumors highly expressed TACC3 and p53 had a significantly poorer prognosis than patients whose tumors had low‐level expression for both immunostainings (P = 0.006). It is suggested that increase in TACC3 may impart a proliferative advantage to NSCLC and contribute to tumor progression, and that TACC3 expression is a strong prognostic indicator of clinical outcome in NSCLC.
School science, citizenship and the public understanding of science

Quantitative and qualitative studies of the public understanding of science have been conducted in many countries. They provide important insights into the extent to which lay citizens understand a number of important scientific concepts, and into the ways in which they seek and use scientific knowledge. This paper draws upon the outcomes of these studies to identify some of the dimensions of 'citizen science', and to examine their implications for the form and content of school science education.
Beamforming in Short Time Fractional Fourier Domain (FRFD)

This study aims to generate a model for the problem of beamforming in fractional Fourier domain, through which a general solution for obtaining weighted beamforming in fractional Fourier domain for different criteria might be delivered. In order to generate this model, a description of fractional delay concept is presented, through which the string vector in fractional Fourier domain is calculated and a model for beamforming in fractional Fourier domain is generated which is similar to that used for obtaining weighted beamforming in time domain for narrow-band signals. To complement our solution, a method for obtaining the optimal fractional domain as well as direction of arrival in optimal fractional Fourier domain. ordinary Fourier Transform (FT). Therefore, replacing the FT with the FrFT should improve the performance considerably. In this study, a novel Beamforming algorithm of wideband LFM signals based on the FrFT is proposed which can be applied to linear array. Implementations of the proposed algorithm are also developed, which are based on the spectral peak searching. At the end of the study, numerical examples and simulations are presented followed by a discussion of the results.
Recursive Nested Neural Network for Sentiment Analysis

Early sentiment prediction systems use semantic vector representation of words to express longer phrases and sentences. These methods proved to have a poor performance, since they are not considering the compositionality in language. Recently many richer models has been proposed to understand the compositionality in natural language for better sentiment predictions. Most of these algorithms are using phrase-tree-based Recursive Neural Networks (RNNs) architectures. In this project we first reproduce the results of state-of-the-art algorithms for sentiment predictions and then propose a different model called Recursive Nested Neural Networks (RN3) with a higher sentiment prediction accuracy.
Meta-analysis on effectiveness of hydroxyurea to treat transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia

Abstract Objective To determine the efficacy of hydroxyurea therapy on transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia patients. Methods This study collected articles from databases, applied inclusion and exclusion criteria, and analyzed them for bias. The effects of hydroxyurea on transfusion requirements were categorized according to the following definitions. ‘Good responders’ were participants who became transfusion independent after treatment. ‘Moderate responders’ were participants who were still transfusion dependent, however, experienced a significant decline in their transfusion requirements. ‘Poor responders’ were defined as participants who did not respond to hydroxyurea. Results A total of 13 studies met all the inclusion and exclusion criteria providing a total of 1196 study participants. The weighted average of the odds ratio using the random effect model (P < 0.001) was determined to be 0.493 for good responders, 0.270 for moderate responders, and 0.229 for poor responders. Discussion Until now, there has not been any double-blinded placebo-controlled studies performed looking at the effectiveness of hydroxyurea with this regard, and this substantially limits this meta-analysis. More studies should be conducted to determine whether hydroxyurea preferentially treats particular type of mutations over others. Conclusion This study suggests that hydroxyurea provides some benefit to patients, and therefore, in certain clinical situations, it may be understandable to start a trial therapy of hydroxyurea to qualifying patients. However, a double-blinded placebo-controlled studies should be performed before its efficacy can be considered established.
Incorporating New Research Into Medicare Risk Adjustment

Background:The Medicare Advantage payment system underpays health plans that enroll beneficiaries with multiple and complex chronic conditions. Objectives:This article addresses 3 major problems in the current payment system: (1) underreporting of chronic disease prevalence in fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare claims data, (2) overpayment of healthier and underpayment of sicker beneficiaries in the current payment system, and (3) underpayment for new beneficiaries in Medicare Advantage plans that require the beneficiaries to have at least one chronic disease to enroll. Research Design:We incorporate 2 years of data and a count of chronic diseases in the current Medicare payment model. We develop a separate payment adjustment for new enrollees. Subjects:A nationally representative sample of FFS beneficiaries in the 2004–2006 Medicare 5% claims data. Measures:We use predictive ratios to evaluate whether our enhanced model improves the predictive accuracy over the current model overall and for subsets of beneficiaries. Results:The underreporting of chronic disease prevalence in Medicare FFS by 20% leads to systematic bias in the disease coefficients and demographic adjusters. The enhanced model reduces the level of payment for healthy beneficiaries and increases the payment for beneficiaries with multiple and complex chronic conditions. It improves payment for plans that enroll new enrollees with specific chronic conditions. Conclusions:Our enhanced model reduces financial incentives for health plans to engage in risk selection against beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions.
Polyethylene glycol diminishes pathological effects of Citrobacter rodentium infection by blocking bacterial attachment to the colonic epithelia

Infections from enteric bacteria such as enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) are a public health threat worldwide. EPEC and EHEC are extracellular pathogens, and their interaction with host surface receptors is critical to the infection process. We previously demonstrated that polyethylene glycol (PEG) downregulates surface receptors in intestinal cells. Here we show that PEG decreases β1-integrin, the surface receptor in intestinal cells that is critical for EPEC and EHEC attachment. We hypothesized that PEG would inhibit the attachment of these enteric pathogens to host cells and improve clinical signs of infection. We found that attachment of the mouse enteric pathogen Citrobacter rodentium, which belongs to the same group of pathogens as EPEC and EHEC, was attenuated by the concurrent presence of PEG. Pretreatment with PEG, without concurrent presence during infection, also reduced bacterial attachment. This finding was further supported in vivo such as that PEG administered by gavage daily during infection as well as prior to infection significantly decreased C. rodentium in the colon and improved the appearance of the infected colon in mice. In addition, PEG decreased the β1-integrin in colonic mucosa and reduced the C. rodentium-induced activation of epidermal growth factor receptors. PEG also significantly reduced infection-induced colonic inflammation. Finally, PEG efficiently reduced C. rodentium shedding from the colon during infection. In conclusion, PEG can be an efficient and safe preventive agent against EPEC and EHEC infections.
Structural Insight into Cell Wall Architecture of Micanthus sinensis cv. using Correlative Microscopy Approaches

Abstract Structural organization of the plant cell wall is a key parameter for understanding anisotropic plant growth and mechanical behavior. Four imaging platforms were used to investigate the cell wall architecture of Miscanthus sinensis cv. internode tissue. Using transmission electron microscopy with potassium permanganate, we found a great degree of inhomogeneity in the layering structure (4–9 layers) of the sclerenchymatic fiber (Sf). However, the xylem vessel showed a single layer. Atomic force microscopy images revealed that the cellulose microfibrils (Mfs) deposited in the primary wall of the protoxylem vessel (Pxv) were disordered, while the secondary wall was composed of Mfs oriented in parallel in the cross and longitudinal section. Furthermore, Raman spectroscopy images indicated no variation in the Mf orientation of Pxv and the Mfs in Pxv were oriented more perpendicular to the cell axis than that of Sfs. Based on the integrated results, we have proposed an architectural model of Pxv composed of two layers: an outermost primary wall composed of a meshwork of Mfs and inner secondary wall containing parallel Mfs. This proposed model will support future ultrastructural analysis of plant cell walls in heterogeneous tissues, an area of increasing scientific interest particularly for liquid biofuel processing.
Incubation and the Resolution of Tip-of-the-Tongue States

Are tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) states better resolved by persistent retrieval efforts, or does an incubation period, i.e., a time away from memory attempts, facilitate resolution? General knowledge questions were given to participants twice, with the retest given either immediately after the participant's first attempt to answer the question, or after a period of incubation during which the participant answered other unrelated questions. When questions were unanswered, they were rated for TOT-strength, ranging from very strong to no TOT. A clear incubation effect was observed; greater resolution of TOTs was found for items retested after a delay than with an immediate retest. The incubation effect and resolution, in general, were greater for stronger TOTs. The results are consistent with a blocking and recovery explanation of TOTs.
The P2Y2 Nucleotide Receptor Mediates Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 Expression through Interaction with VEGF Receptor-2 (KDR/Flk-1)*

UTP stimulates the expression of pro-inflammatory vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) in endothelial cells through activation of the P2Y2 nucleotide receptor P2Y2R. Here, we demonstrated that activation of the P2Y2R induced rapid tyrosine phosphorylation of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)-2 in human coronary artery endothelial cells (HCAEC). RNA interference targeting VEGFR-2 or inhibition of VEGFR-2 tyrosine kinase activity abolishes P2Y2R-mediated VCAM-1 expression. Furthermore, VEGFR-2 and the P2Y2R co-localize upon UTP stimulation. Deletion or mutation of two Src homology-3-binding sites in the C-terminal tail of the P2Y2R or inhibition of Src kinase activity abolished the P2Y2R-mediated transactivation of VEGFR-2 and subsequently inhibited UTP-induced VCAM-1 expression. Moreover, activation of VEGFR-2 by UTP leads to the phosphorylation of Vav2, a guanine nucleotide exchange factor for Rho family GTPases. Using a binding assay to measure the activity of the small GTPases Rho, we found that stimulation of HCAEC by UTP increased the activity of RhoA and Rac1 (but not Cdc42). Significantly, a dominant negative form of RhoA inhibited P2Y2R-mediated VCAM-1 expression, whereas expression of dominant negative forms of Cdc42 and Rac1 had no effect. These data indicate a novel mechanism whereby a nucleotide receptor transactivates a receptor tyrosine kinase to generate an inflammatory response associated with atherosclerosis.
Interconnected Systems with Uncertain Couplings: Explicit Formulae for mu-Values, Spectral Value Sets, and Stability Radii

In this paper we study the variation of the spectrum of block-diagonal systems under perturbations of compatible block structure with fixed zero blocks at arbitrarily prescribed locations ("Gershgorin-type perturbations"). We derive explicit and computable formulae for the associated mu-values. The results are then applied to characterize spectral value sets and stability radii for such perturbed systems. By specializing our results to the scalar diagonal case, the classical eigenvalue inclusion theorems of Gershgorin, Brauer, and Brualdi are obtained as corollaries. Moreover it follows that the inclusion regions of Brauer and Brualdi are optimal for the corresponding perturbation structures.
A Hybrid Recommender System: User Profiling from Keywords and Ratings

Over the last decade, user-generated content has grown continuously. Recommender systems that exploit user feedback are widely used in e-commerce and quite necessary for business enhancement. To make use of such user feedback, we propose a new content/collaborative hybrid approach, which is built on top of the recently released hetrec2011-movielens-2k dataset and is an extension of a previously proposed neighborhood based approach, called Weighted Tag Recommender (WTR). Our approach has two versions. Both versions make use of ratings to enable collaborative filtering and use either user tags, available in the hetrec2011-movielens-2k dataset, or movie keywords retrieved from IMDB, to capture movie content information. Experimental results show that the information from keywords can help build a movie recommender system competitive with other neighborhood based approaches and even with more sophisticated state-of-the-art approaches.
Improved graph-based image segmentation based on Mean Shift 1

According to the problem of over-segmentation using graph-based image segmentation(GBIS), combined with Mean Shift, the paper proposed an improved graph-based image segmentation algorithm(IGBIS) using L*a*b* color space. Firstly, the source image was smoothed by mean shift; Second, the mean shift image was converted from RGB color space to L*a*b* color space; Then, the weight function in GBIS method was improved by a constant S that we introduced to control the color difference degree; Finally, two kinds of Algorithm evaluation method (GCE and VOI) were used to evaluate the improved method. The experiment results show that the improved method depressed over-segmentation, received better segmentation results.
Theory and design of high order sound field microphones using spherical microphone array

A major problem in sound field reconstruction systems is how to record the higher order (> 1) harmonic components of a given sound field. Spherical harmonics analysis is used to establish theory and design of a higher order recording system, which comprises an array of small microphones arranged in a spherical configuration and associated signal processing. This result has implications to the advancement of future sound field reconstruction systems. An example of a third order system for operation over a 10∶1 frequency range of 340 Hz to 3.4 kHz is given.