Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of carbamazepine in epilepsy. Results in 87 patients.

The anticonvulsive properties of carbamazepine (Tegretol) were investigated in 87 patients who suffered with various forms of epileptic seizures. All of these patients had been refractory to treatment with one or more of the standard antiepileptic drugs. This study demonstrated that carbamazepine is an effective anticonvulsant and particularly useful in the control of psychomotor (temporal lobe) epilepsy. Visual disturbances, primarily diplopia, and cutaneous reactions were the most common side effects observed in this group of patients. No irreversible untoward reactions were encountered. A review of the literature revealed that other investigators also found carbamazepine effective in the control of epileptic seizures. Several physicians reported serious and fatal hematopoietic disturbances in association with this therapy.
NETWORKS AND COMPUTATIONS OF ARTIFICIAL NEURONS

A Hopfield network is a completely connected directed graph of I nodes (“neurons”), i.e., a graph of I nodes, denoted {1, 2, . , I}, in which there is a directed edge from each node to every other node (there are no self directed loops). Each node i has an associated output value xi. For simplicity, we consider xi ∈ {−1, 1}. From a biological perspective, such an binary assignment of node values corresponds to a neuron not firing (xi = −1) and a neuron firing at maximum rate (xi = 1), respectively [1]. Finally, there is a weight assigned to each edge: wij is the weight of the directed edge from node j to node i. The value of every node represents the state or output of the Hopfield network (i.e., the network of the state is a vector x ∈ {−1, 1} .
Studying the mechanisms of titanium dioxide as ultraviolet‐blocking additive for films and fabrics by an improved scheme

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has good ultraviolet (UV)-blocking power and is very attractive in practical ap- plications because of such advantages as nontoxicity, chem- ical stability at high temperature, and permanent stability under UV exposure, for example. Development of nano- science and -technology provides new ways for better treat- ment for UV-resistant films and fabrics using TiO2. How- ever, the exact mechanisms of TiO2 as a UV-blocking addi- tive are still not very clear, and researchers hold different views on this issue. The aim of this investigation was to study systematically the mechanisms of TiO2 as a UV-block- ing additive for films and fabrics. To achieve this goal, the conventional scheme describing light interactions with fab- rics was revised based on more recent progress in optical theory, and special experiments and analytic methods were used in the investigation. Several effects attributed to the nanoscale additives were identified. Moreover, detailed analyses based on the results yielded a few important suggestions useful in developing or improving both inor- ganic UV-blocking agents and the UV-protective films and textiles. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 92: 3201-3210, 2004
Neuronal Activity in the Visual Cortex Reveals the Temporal Order of Cognitive Operations

Most mental processes consist of a number of processing steps that are executed sequentially. The timing of the individual mental operations can usually only be estimated indirectly, from the pattern of reaction times. In vision, however, many processing steps are associated with the modulation of neuronal activity in early visual areas. Here we exploited this association to elucidate the time course of neuronal activity related to each of the self-paced mental processing steps in complex visual tasks. We trained monkeys to perform two tasks, search–trace and trace–search, which required performing a sequence of two operations: a visual search for a specific color and the mental tracing of a curve. We used multielectrode recording techniques to monitor the representations of multiple visual items in area V1 at the same time and found that the relevant curve as well as the target of visual search evoked enhanced neuronal activity with a timing that depended on the order of operations. This modulation of neuronal activity in early visual areas could allow these areas to (1) act as a cognitive blackboard that permits the exchange of information between successive processing steps of a sequential visual task and to (2) contribute to the orderly progression of task-dependent endogenous attention shifts that are driven by task structure and evolve over hundreds of milliseconds.
Electrocardiographic screening for emphysema: the frontal plane P axis.

BACKGROUND Because the most characteristic and sensitive electrocardiographic (ECG) correlate of pulmonary emphysema in adults is verticalization of the frontal plane P-wave vector (P axis), we investigated its strength as a lone criterion to screen for obstructive pulmonary disease (OPD) in an adult hospital population. METHODS In all, 954 consecutive unselected ECGs were required to yield 100 with P axis > or = +70 degrees (unequivocally negative P in a VL during sinus rhythm) and pulmonary function tests. and 100 with P axis < or = +50 degrees (unequivocally positive P-aVL). RESULTS Obstructive pulmonary disease by both pulmonary function test and clinical criteria was present in 89 of 100 patients with vertical P axes and 4 of 100 patients without OPD. CONCLUSION The high sensitivity (89% for this series) and high specificity (96%) makes vertical P axis a useful screening criterion. Its at-a-glance simplicity makes it "user-friendly. "
Blood Parameters Modification at Different Ruminal Acidosis Conditions

This study evaluated the reliability of various blood parameters to assess the ruminal acidosis in cattle. Six whole heifers were fed three experimental rations in a 3 x 3 Latin square design. The diets had different starch levels: high (HS), medium (MS) or low (CT). Ruminal pH values were continuously measured using wireless sensors. To evaluate the severity of ruminal acidosis, the amount of time per day that the pH was below 5.8, 5.5 and 5.0 was recorded. Blood samples were analyzed for complete blood count, venous blood gas and biochemical profile at 8:00 and 12:00 h. The data were analyzed according to a mixed model. Feeding on CT, MS and HS led to significant differences in DMI (7.7 vs. 6.9 vs. 5.1 kg/d; P < 0.01) which modified the amount of time per day that the pH was below 5.0 (0 vs. 12 vs. 92 min; P < 0.10). Feeding MS and HS diets led to inflammation as indicated by the significant increment of white blood cells when compared to the CT ones and to blood concentration due to the osmotic pressure at ruminal level. Furthermore a significant decrease of bicarbonate level, CO2 partial pressure and oxyhemoglobin was observed as consequence of the activation of metabolic processes aimed to prevent metabolic acidosis. No differences were observed on blood sampling time, suggesting that one daily blood sample was enough to evaluate the metabolic variations related to ruminal acidosis.
Load-Balancing Strategies for Lifetime Maximizing in Wireless Sensor Networks

The lifetime of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) is crucial. The goal of all WSN application scenarios is to have sensor nodes deployed, unattended, for months or years. In this work, we investigate the problem of energy consumption and lifetime maximizing in a many-to-one sensor network. In such network pattern, all sensor nodes generate and send data to a single sink via multihop transmissions. In our previous experimental studies, we noticed that, since all the sensor data has to be forwarded to a base station via multihop routing, the traffic pattern is highly nonuniform, putting a high burden on the sensor nodes close to the base station. In this paper, we analyze and propose some strategies that balance the energy consumption of these nodes and ensure maximum network lifetime by balancing the load as equally as possible.
Influence of gender, educational attainment and family environment on the educational aspirations of secondary school students

This paper examines the influence of gender, educational attainment and family-related variables on the academic aspirations of students aged. Using data from the Academic Achievement Assessment in Andalusia (Spain) during 2006/2007 and from a questionnaire answered by 3963 students and 3842 families, we obtained information about students’ test scores, their academic expectations and the social and educational resources of their families. Chi-square tests and a binary logistic regression were carried out to identify the influence of the independent variables on aspirations. Results show that all variables are relevant to the students’ aspirations, but when their combined effects are considered, educational attainment and the educational levels of parents have greater power than gender to predict students’ aspirations.
Personality disorders and social functioning in depressed patients

In this article we present the results of a study of 244 outpatients suffering from major depression. The issues addressed were: 1) which axis II disorders are found in this group and are there correlations with the demographic characteristics? ; and 2) is there a relationship between individual axis II disorders and the severity of the depression and social functioning? Using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, a slightly significant correlation was found between the presence of an axis II disorder and the severity of the depression. A significant difference was found using the Symptom Check List -90. The influence of the measuring instruments used and to the composition of the population are discussed, as well as the clinical relevance of the diagnosis of axis II disorders and social functioning in patients with a major depression.
Black Democratic Partisanship and White Flight in Louisiana, 1975 Through 1996

In a unique study by Giles and Hertz (1994) titled "Racial Threat and Partisan Identification," an explanation is provided for defections among White Democrats in Louisiana. A pooled time-series analysis of Louisiana voter registration data from 1975 to 1990 found that higher "Black concentrations of black Democratic members are associated with declines in the percentage of white registered voters who are Democrats and an increase in the percentage who are Republicans" (p. 317). White voters in Louisiana see a large Black membership in the state's Democratic party as a threat to their continued dominance of that party. Thus, the greater the number of Blacks joining the Louisiana Democratic party, the greater the threat to White voters' interests within that party and in the state. The study concluded that White Democrats were joining the more White interest-oriented Republican party or becoming Independents due to the political threat posed by increasing Black membership (see Giles & Hertz, 1994). The study employed the theoretical assertions of "power theory," which view intergroup relationships as competitive within political, economic, and social arenas. Simply, the greater the
Changes in subcutaneous and visceral fat mass during growth hormone replacement therapy in adult men.

OBJECTIVES To assess the degree of subcutaneous and intraabdominal fat accumulation in growth hormone (GH) deficient adult men, and to evaluate the lipolytic effects of GH replacement therapy. DESIGN Placebo-controlled, double-blind, dose-response study. All patients, including those initially starting on placebo, received GH for a period of one year. SUBJECTS 46 adult men (mean age 28.0 +/- 4.5 y) with childhood-onset GH deficiency (GHD). MEASUREMENTS Subcutaneous fat mass and fat distribution was assessed by measurement of skinfold thicknesses at seven different sites. Intraabdominal fat mass was assessed by computerized tomography (CT). Reference values were obtained from age- and sex-matched controls with a normal body mass index. RESULTS The sum of skinfolds (SKFs) was 75% (95% CI: 52-98%) higher, and intraabdominal fat area was 84% (95% CI: 45-122%) greater in GHD patients than in age- and sex-matched controls. Patients with multiple pituitary hormone deficiencies (MPHD, n = 30), who were all receiving conventional hormone replacement therapy, were more obese than patients with isolated GHD (IGHD, n = 16). This difference was attributed to a more severe impairment in GH secretion, as well as to the lower androgen levels in patients with MPHD. GH treatment was associated with a gradual decline in subcutaneous fat that continued for approximately six months. Thereafter, a new steady-state was reached. The GH-induced decline in subcutaneous and intraabdominal fat was dose-dependent (r = 0.84, p < 0.001 and r = 0.52, p < 0.001, respectively). The efficacy of GH treatment was similar to IGHD and MPHD patients. Optimal GH replacement, defined as treatment resulting in normalization of serum insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) concentration, was achieved in 25 patients. In this subgroup the sum of SKFs decreased by 27% (95% CI: 22-32%) and intraabdominal fat was reduced by 47% (95% CI: 38-57%). CONCLUSION We conclude that subcutaneous as well as intraabdominal fat mass are abnormally high in GHD men, and that GH treatment with doses within the physiological range profoundly reduces the sizes of both fat compartments. In addition, GH replacement therapy was found to be equally effective in men with IGHD as in those with MPHD.
Eccentric and Concentric Exercise of the Triceps Surae: An in Vivo Study of Dynamic Muscle and Tendon Biomechanical Parameters.

Triceps surae eccentric exercise is more effective than concentric exercise for treating Achilles tendinopathy, however the mechanisms underpinning these effects are unclear. This study compared the biomechanical characteristics of eccentric and concentric exercises to identify differences in the tendon load response. Eleven healthy volunteers performed eccentric and concentric exercises on a force plate, with ultrasonography, motion tracking, and EMG applied to measure Achilles tendon force, lower limb movement, and leg muscle activation. Tendon length was ultrasonographically tracked and quantified using a novel algorithm. The Fourier transform of the ground reaction force was also calculated to investigate for tremor, or perturbations. Tendon stiffness and extension did not vary between exercise types (P = .43). However, tendon perturbations were significantly higher during eccentric than concentric exercises (25%-40% higher, P = .02). Furthermore, perturbations during eccentric exercises were found to be negatively correlated with the tendon stiffness (R2 = .59). The particular efficacy of eccentric exercise does not appear to result from variation in tendon stiffness or extension within a given session. However, varied perturbation magnitude may have a role in mediating the observed clinical effects. This property is subject-specific, with the source and clinical timecourse of such perturbations requiring further research.
Minimizing Communication Overhead in Window-Based Parallel Complex Event Processing

Distributed Complex Event Processing has emerged as a well-established paradigm to detect situations of interest from basic sensor streams, building an operator graph between sensors and applications. In order to detect event patterns that correspond to situations of interest, each operator correlates events on its incoming streams according to a sliding window mechanism. To increase the throughput of an operator, different windows can be assigned to different operator instances---i.e., identical operator copies---which process them in parallel. This implies that events that are part of multiple overlapping windows are replicated to different operator instances. The communication overhead of replicating the events can be reduced by assigning overlapping windows to the same operator instance. However, this imposes a higher processing load on the single operator instance, possibly overloading it. In this paper, we address the trade-off between processing load and communication overhead when assigning overlapping windows to a single operator instance. Controlling the trade-off is challenging and cannot be solved with traditional reactive methods. To this end, we propose a model-based batch scheduling controller building on prediction. Evaluations show that our approach is able to significantly save bandwidth, while keeping a user-defined latency bound in the operator instances.
Cytochrome b5 Reductase 3 Modulates Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Redox State and cGMP Signaling

Rationale: Soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) heme iron, in its oxidized state (Fe3+), is desensitized to NO and limits cGMP production needed for downstream activation of protein kinase G–dependent signaling and blood vessel dilation. Objective: Although reactive oxygen species are known to oxidize the sGC heme iron, the basic mechanism(s) governing sGC heme iron recycling to its NO-sensitive, reduced state remain poorly understood. Methods and Results: Oxidant challenge studies show that vascular smooth muscle cells have an intrinsic ability to reduce oxidized sGC heme iron and form protein–protein complexes between cytochrome b5 reductase 3, also known as methemoglobin reductase, and oxidized sGC. Genetic knockdown and pharmacological inhibition in vascular smooth muscle cells reveal that cytochrome b5 reductase 3 expression and activity is critical for NO-stimulated cGMP production and vasodilation. Mechanistically, we show that cytochrome b5 reductase 3 directly reduces oxidized sGC required for NO sensitization as assessed by biochemical, cellular, and ex vivo assays. Conclusions: Together, these findings identify new insights into NO–sGC–cGMP signaling and reveal cytochrome b5 reductase 3 as the first identified physiological sGC heme iron reductase in vascular smooth muscle cells, serving as a critical regulator of cGMP production and protein kinase G–dependent signaling.
Will Voluntary and Educational Programs Meet Environmental Objectives? Evidence from a Survey of New York Dairy Farms

This paper presents the results from a survey of New York dairy farms that links manure management practices and farmer willingness to participate in voluntary environmental programs, focusing on those operations that are not automatically designated as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations. A wide divergence is found between actual and recommended manure management practices on individual dairy farms (high), the apparent ability of farms to divert financial resources to environmental practices (mixed), and the willingness to participate in voluntary programs at various annual costs per cow (low). These findings have policy implications for the USDA/USEPA National Strategy for Animal Feeding Operations.
Emotion words in the mental lexicon: A new look at the emotional Stroop effect

The representation of emotion words in memory is a relatively new area of research within the cognitive domain. In the present paper, these words will be examined with the use of the Stroop paradigm. In the past, this paradigm has been used to investigate a wide variety of word types, including color words and color-related words. Only a few studies have examined emotion words. The current study investigates a particular set of emotion words that were either congruent or incongruent with the color they were presented in (e.g., ENVY in green ink or red ink), much like standard Stroop stimuli (RED in red ink or green ink). The results of Experiment 1 revealed that emotion stimuli can be studied in the same manner as color words and color-related words, such as fire. When the congruent and incongruent items were presented together, within the same block in Experiment 2, the color items and color-related emotion items still produced a Stroop interference effect, but the color-related emotionally neutral items did not. The results of Experiment 2 suggest that evaluative information (i.e., negative valence) is automatically accessed regardless of the task at hand. The current study speaks to the need to include negative valence as an important factor in models of word recognition.
Taking the Transtheoretical Model Into the Field: A Curriculum for Lay Health Advisors

The transtheoretical model (TTM) is a commonly applied theoretical perspective for understanding mammography behaviors and improving the effectiveness of one-on-one counseling. The North Carolina Breast Cancer Screening Program (NC-BCSP) developed a training curriculum to incorporate TTM into the advising practices of lay health advisors (LHAs). The TTM helped “natural helper” LHAs understand that women in their rural North Carolina communities were likely to be in different stages for mammography screening and hence required different messages. NC-BCSP staff believed that by combining an understanding of TTM with LHAs’ natural helping abilities we potentially increased the effectiveness of LHA advising. Our limited evaluation, based on LHA feedback, suggests the curriculum is a useful training tool, even for those unfamiliar with behavior change models. Our TTM curriculum serves as an example of a health behavior theory successfully operationalized outside academia for use in the field by lay people.
Combining infliximab with 6-mercaptopurine/azathioprine for fistula therapy in Crohn's disease

OBJECTIVES:Fistulas occur in about one third of patients with Crohn's disease and rarely heal spontaneously. Conventional medical and surgical therapy often fails. The anti-TNF-α antibody infliximab offers a novel therapeutic option. By this approach, closure of fistulas was reported in 45% of cases. However, after discontinuation of therapy, most fistulas recurred. Azathioprine and 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) are effective drugs in Crohn's disease and lead to closure of fistulas in 30–40% of cases. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the combination of infliximab with 6-mercaptopurine/azathioprine as therapy for fistulas in patients with Crohn's disease.METHODS:A total of 16 patients (mean age 37 yr) with Crohn's fistulas resistant to conventional measures were treated with a combination of three or four infusions of infliximab and long term 6-MP/azathioprine. In all, 13 patients had perianal fistulas, two had abdominal fistulas, and one patient had both perianal and recto-vaginal fistulas. Therapy success was defined as complete closure of fistulas for a minimum observation period of 6 months after fistula closure.RESULTS:In 12 (75%) of the 16 patients, we observed complete closure of the fistulas that persisted for >6 months (median follow-up 10 months, range 6–11 months). The median time to complete closure of fistulas was 14 days (range 2–36 days). In four patients, therapy success was not achieved.CONCLUSION:Our pilot study reveals that concomitant and long term 6-MP/azathioprine therapy could prolong the effect of an initial infliximab therapy on fistula closure in patients with Crohn's disease. These data prompt larger controlled trials.
2 Pros vs . buzz-How Relevant Are Experts In The Internet Age ? Evidence from the Motion

Our paper integrates and extends the current research on expert opinions and user generated content in the context of the motion pictures industry. We find that contrary to widespread speculation in the popular press, expert opinions still matter a great deal even in the presence of internet generated word-of-mouth. We corroborate work by Chintagunta, Gopinath and Venkatraman (2010) which shows that ―buzz‖ (user reviews volume) is endogenous and once endogeneity is properly addressed, its seeming effect on revenues disappears. However, the valence of user reviews matters. We also show that WOM and expert reviews may diminish the effect of one another on revenues. Also, expert reviews enhance marketing activities, whereas user reviews and marketing activities may be substitutes. Finally, contrary to popular belief and industry views, we show that for platform release movies, only expert opinions matter rather than WOM. All in all, this paper seems to demonstrate the decisive effect of professional critical reviews even in the presence of ubiquitous user generated content.