Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Learning for Everyday Life: Students’ standpoints on loud sounds and use of hearing protectors before and after a teaching–learning intervention

Researchers have highlighted the increasing problem of loud sounds among young people in leisure-time environments, recently even emphasizing portable music players, because of the risk of suffering from hearing impairments such as tinnitus. However, there is a lack of studies investigating compulsory-school students’ standpoints and explanations in connection with teaching interventions integrating school subject content with auditory health. In addition, there are few health-related studies in the international science education literature. This paper explores students’ standpoints on loud sounds including the use of hearing-protection devices in connection with a teaching intervention based on a teaching–learning sequence about sound, hearing and auditory health. Questionnaire data from 199 students, in grades 4, 7 and 8 (aged 10–14), from pre-, post- and delayed post-tests were analysed. Additionally, information on their experiences of tinnitus as well as their listening habits regarding portable music players was collected. The results show that more students make healthier choices in questions of loud sounds after the intervention, and especially among the older ones this result remains or is further improved one year later. There are also signs of positive behavioural change in relation to loud sounds. Significant gender differences are found; generally, the girls show more healthy standpoints and expressions than boys do. If this can be considered to be an outcome of students’ improved and integrated knowledge about sound, hearing and health, then this emphasizes the importance of integrating health issues into regular school science.
Some Characteristics of DNA Synthesis and the Mitotic Cycle in Ehrlich Ascites Tumor Cells

In vivo studies of Ehrlich ascites tumor cells during the first 5 days of growth in peritoneal cavities of mice consisted of the following: 1. Determination of growth curves by direct enumeration of cells. 2. Estimation of the duration of each phase of the mitotic cycle based on incidence of cells in different phases. 3. Radioautographic studies to determine the proportion of cells in different phases of the mitotic cycle that incorporate tritiated thymidine during a single brief exposure to this precursor of DNA. 4. Estimation of the rate of incorporation of tritiated thymidine at different times during the period of DNA synthesis by comparison of mean grain counts over nuclei in radioautographs at different times following exposure to tritiated thymidine. The assumptions underlying these experiments and our observations concerning the duration of the period of DNA synthesis and its relation to the mitotic cycle are discussed. It is concluded that DNA synthesis is continuous, occupying a period of 8.5 hours during the interphase and that the average rate of synthesis is approximately constant.
Patient considerations in the management of menopausal symptoms: role of conjugated estrogens with bazedoxifene

Menopausal symptoms (eg, hot flushes and vaginal symptoms) are common, often bothersome, and can adversely impact women’s sexual functioning, relationships, and quality of life. Estrogen–progestin therapy was previously considered the standard care for hormone therapy (HT) for managing these symptoms in nonhysterectomized women, but has a number of safety and tolerability concerns (eg, breast cancer, stroke, pulmonary embolism, breast pain/tenderness, and vaginal bleeding) and its use has declined dramatically in the past decade since the release of the Women’s Health Initiative trial results. Conjugated estrogens paired with bazedoxifene (CE/BZA) represent a newer progestin-free alternative to traditional HT for nonhysterectomized women. CE/BZA has demonstrated efficacy in reducing the frequency and severity of vasomotor symptoms and preventing loss of bone mineral density in postmenopausal women. CE/BZA provides an acceptable level of protection against endometrial hyperplasia and does not increase mammographic breast density. Compared with traditional estrogen–progestin therapy, it is associated with lower rates of breast pain/tenderness and vaginal bleeding. Patient-reported outcomes indicate that CE/BZA improves menopause-specific quality of life, sleep, some measures of sexual function (especially ease of lubrication), and treatment satisfaction. This review looks at the rationale for selection and combination of CE with BZA at the dose ratio in the approved product and provides a detailed look at the efficacy, safety, tolerability, and patient-reported outcomes from the five Phase III trials. Patient considerations in the choice between CE/BZA and traditional HT (eg, tolerability, individual symptoms, and preferences for route of administration) are also considered.
Evaluation of the Utility of Satellite-Based Vegetation Leaf Area Index Data for Climate Simulations

Abstract In this study the utility of satellite-based leaf area index (LAI) data in improving the simulation of near-surface climate with the NCAR Community Climate Model, version 3 (CCM3), GCM is evaluated. The use of mean LAI values, obtained from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer Pathfinder data for the 1980s, leads to notable warming and decreased precipitation over large parts of the Northern Hemisphere lands during the boreal summer. Such warming and decreased rainfall reduces discrepancies between the simulated and observed near-surface temperature and precipitation fields. The impact of interannual vegetation extremes observed during the 1980s on near-surface climate is also investigated by utilizing the maximum and minimum LAI values from the 10-yr LAI record. Surface energy budget analysis indicates that the dominant impact of interannual LAI variations is modification of the partitioning of net radiant energy between latent and sensible heat fluxes brought about through changes in th.
Patent strategies of small Danish high-tech firms

The increasingly strategic use of patents, and their importance for competitive advantage, pose special challenges for small high-tech firms. This paper seeks to add to our understanding of the strategic and economic effects of patents by exploring why small high-tech firms take out patents – and why not – and how these choices are linked to these firms’ broader business and technology strategies. Under what circumstances do small high-tech firms find patents effective, and what patent-related problems have they experienced? How important are factors such as industry characteristics, the nature of the invention, and previous patenting experience? To answer these questions, we conducted a series of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with patent experts in thirty-four small Danish firms in telecommunications, software and biotechnology. This paper presents some of our preliminary results.
Defending judgment and context in ‘original reporting’: Journalists’ construction of newswork in a networked age

With professional journalism facing vigorous competition over its jurisdiction in information production from online aggregators and networked forms of journalism, this article examines how journalists publicly construct their own reporting work in opposition to a networked alternative and argue to the public for its value. It does so through a qualitative analysis of discourse from mainstream journalistic sources regarding the document-leaking group WikiLeaks, identifying distinctions journalists made to differentiate their work and its professional value from that of WikiLeaks. The analysis suggests that journalists assign less importance to the sociocultural conventions and objects of evidence that have traditionally constituted professional newswork – documents, interviews, and eyewitness observation – and more significance instead to the less materially bound practices of providing context, judgment, and narrative power. In doing so, journalists cast themselves fundamentally as sense-makers rather than information-gatherers during an era in which information gathering has been widely networked.
Paternity after unilateral cryptorchidism: a controlled study.

OBJECTIVE To determine if paternity is decreased among formerly unilateral cryptorchid men compared with a control group of men. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Formerly unilateral cryptorchid men who had orchiopexy between 1955 and 1971 at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and a group of control men have had their medical records reviewed and have been surveyed by questionnaire. RESULTS Among the men who had ever married and had attempted paternity, significantly more of the unilateral cryptorchid men had been unable to father children (10.5%) than among the control group (5.4%). No difference was found when the groups were compared for the duration of regular intercourse without contraception to conception of their first child. There was no relationship between the age of orchiopexy or lifestyle factors and paternity or between the age of orchiopexy and months of regular unprotected intercourse to conception. Paternity among both groups was related to female-related infertility factors and to the presence of varicoceles. CONCLUSION When compared with a control group, paternity was compromised after unilateral cryptorchidism. Infertility is about twice as frequent among the unilateral group. There was no evidence of subfertility requiring a longer exposure of regular intercourse without contraception among the fertile subgroup. No correlation was found between age of orchiopexy and paternity.
Interpolation of hypergeometric ratios in a global field of positive characteristic

Pour chaque corps global de caracteristique non nulle, nous donnons de nombreux exemples de fonctions algebriques en deux variables qui possedent des proprietes consistantes avec un raffinement de la conjecture de Stark conjecture recemment par l'auteur. Tous les exemples sont des unites de Coleman. Nous obtenons nos resultats en etudiant les chtoucas de rang un dont le zero et le pole sont generiques, et ne sont donc associes avec aucun module de Drinfeld.
Migrant Transnationalism and Modes of Transformation

Much of the literature on migrant transnationalism focuses on the ways that specific sociocultural institutions have been modified in the course of being stretched across the globe. Yet migrant transnational practices are involved in more deep-seated patterns of change or structural transformation. Such modes of transformation concern: 1) an enhanced ‘bifocality’ of outlooks underpinning migrant lives lived here-and-there; such dual orientations have considerable influence on transnational family life and may continue to affect identities among subsequent post-migration generations; 2) heightened challenges to ‘identities-borders-orders’ stemming from migrants’ political affiliations in more than one nation-state; these particularly arise around questions of dual citizenship and nationality; and 3) potentially profound impacts on economic development by way of the sheer scale and evolving means of remittance sending; money transfer services, hometown associations and micro-finance institutions represent three kinds of remittance-related organizations currently undergoing significant forms of adaptation with significant consequences for development. These modes of transformation, and the practices of migrant transnationalism surrounding them, both draw from and contribute to wider processes of globalization.
Binding of Salivary Glycoprotein-Secretory Immunoglobulin A Complex to the Surface Protein Antigen ofStreptococcus mutans

ABSTRACT The interaction between a surface protein antigen (PAc) ofStreptococcus mutans and human salivary agglutinin was analyzed with a surface plasmon resonance biosensor. The major component sugars of the salivary agglutinin were galactose, fucose, mannose, N-acetylglucosamine,N-acetylgalactosamine, and N-acetylneuraminic acid. Binding of salivary agglutinin to PAc was calcium dependent and heat labile and required a pH greater than 5. Binding was significantly inhibited by N-acetylneuraminic acid and α2,6-linked sialic acid-specific lectin derived from Sambucus sieboldiana in a dose-dependent manner. Pretreatment of the salivary agglutinin with sialidase reduced the binding activity of the agglutinin to the PAc molecule. The agglutinin was dissociated into high-molecular-mass glycoprotein and secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) components by electrophoretic fractionation in the presence of 1% sodium dodecyl sulfate and 1% 2-mercaptoethanol. Neither of the components separated by electrophoretic fractionation, high-molecular-mass glycoprotein or sIgA, bound to the PAc molecule. Furthermore, the high-molecular-mass glycoprotein strongly inhibited the binding of the native salivary complex to PAc. These results suggest that the complex formed by the high-molecular-mass salivary glycoprotein and sIgA is essential for the binding reaction and that the sialic acid residues of the complex play an important role in the interaction between the agglutinin and PAc of S. mutans.
Mechanism of Decrease in Mitral Regurgitation After Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy: Optimization of the Force–Balance Relationship

Background—Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) has been shown to reduce functional mitral regurgitation (MR). It has been proposed that the mechanism of MR reduction relates to geometric change or, alternatively, changes in left ventricular (LV) contractile function. Normal mitral valve (MV) function relies on a balance between tethering and closing forces on the MV leaflets. Functional MR results from a derangement of this force–balance relationship, and CRT may be an important modulator of MV function by its ability to enhance the force–balance relationship on the MV. We hypothesized that CRT improves the comprehensive force balance acting on the valve, including favorable changes in both geometry and LV contractile function. Methods and Results—We examined the effect of CRT on 34 patients with functional MR before and after CRT (209±81 days). MR regurgitant volume, closing forces on MV (derived from Doppler transmitral pressure gradients), including dP/dt and a factor (closing pressure ratio) expressing how long the peak closing gradient is maintained over systole (closing pressure ratio=velocity time integral/MR peak velocity×mitral regurgitation time), and dyssynchrony by tissue Doppler were measured. End-diastolic volume, end-systolic volume, mitral valve annular area (MAA) and contraction (percent change in MAA from end-diastole to midsystole), leaflet closing area (leaflet area during valve closure), and tenting volume (volume under leaflets to annular plane) were measured by 3D echocardiography. After CRT, end-diastolic volume (253±111 versus 221±110 mL, P<0.001) and end-systolic volume (206±97 versus 167±91 mL, P<0.001) decreased and ejection fraction (19±6 versus 27±9%, P<0.001) increased. MR regurgitant volume decreased from 35±17 to 23±14 mL (P<0.001), MAA from 11.6±3.5 to 10.5±3.1 cm2 (P<0.001), leaflet closing area from 15.4±5 to 13.7±3.8 cm2 (P<0.001), and tenting volume from 5.7±2.6 to 4.6±2.2 mL (P<0.001). Peak velocity (and therefore transmitral closing pressure) was more sustained throughout systole, as reflected by the increase in the closing pressure ratio (0.77±0.1 versus 0.84±0.1 before CRT versus after CRT, P=0.01); dP/dt also improved after CRT. There was no change in dyssynchrony or MAA contraction. Conclusions—Reduction in MR after CRT is associated with favorable changes in MV geometry and closing forces on the MV. It does so by favorably affecting the force balance acting on the MV in 2 ways: reducing tethering through reversal of LV remodeling and increasing the systolic duration of peak transmitral closing pressures.
Semantic Networks in the Divided Cerebral Hemispheres

Hemispheric differences in the recognition and manipulation of meaning may be based on distinctions in size, composition, or organization of the right and left semantic networks The present study describes these features of pictorially based semantic networks in 3 subjects with complete forebrain commissurotomy Stimuli were presented for prolonged viewing to the left and right visual hemifields For each trial, the subjects chose from a 20-choice array all pictures that were associated with a target, then indicated the member of each pair of chosen associates that was more closely related to the target The hemispheres' networks were found to be of similar size and composition, but were organized differently The right hemisphere more often produced linear rankings of semantic associates to a target than did the left, and rankings by the two hemispheres were not strongly correlated Hemispheric differences in semantic organization mirror differences in perceptual organization, with the right hemisphere specialized for conventional meaning and the left hemisphere specialized for detecting and processing deviations from standard meaning
Ontology-Based Personalised SQA e-Learning System

Developing quality software requires well trained graduates with high SQA skills. Unfortunately, experience shows that most institutions are unable to graduate software engineers to meet manufactures expectations. With the new technological advances and the use of e-learning techniques, ontologies play key role in supporting semantic knowledge representation and thus enhancing e-learning experience. It allows structural annotation of electronic resources with semantic information providing machine-understandable contents. In this paper an ontology-based e-learning prototype was designed and implemented to guide students and practitioners about SQA process required in the software development.
Evidence of kinesin heavy chain (KIF5A) involvement in pure hereditary spastic paraplegia

Hereditary spastic paraplegias (HSPs) are characterized by progressive lower extremity spasticity due to an axonal degeneration of motor and sensory neurons. We report a four-generation pedigree segregating an autosomal dominant phenotype for HSP and showing a linkage to the SPG10 locus, coding for Kinesin family member 5A. Subsequent to a denaturing high performance liquid chromatography (dHPLC) mutation screening we found a new missense mutation 838C>T (R280C) at an invariant arginine residue in a region involved in the microtubule binding activity.
The Diagnostic Effect From Axial Loading of the Lumbar Spine During Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Patients With Degenerative Disorders

Study Design. Patients with low back pain, sciatica, and neurogenic claudication were observed during computed tomographic myelography or magnetic resonance imaging in psoas-relaxed position and axially compressed supine position of the lumbar spine. Objective. To estimate the clinical value of axially loaded imaging in patients with degenerative disorders of the lumbar spine. Summary of Background Data. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging still are performed with the lumbar spine in a supine relaxed position, which results in unloading of the spine and enlargement of the canal. Methods. A device for axial loading of the lumbar spine in computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging was used. Altogether, 172 patients were examined in psoas-relaxed position and axially compressed supine position of the lumbar spine: 50 patients with computed tomographic myelography and 122 patients with magnetic resonance imaging. If a significant decrease (>15 mm2) in the dural sac cross-sectional area to values smaller than 75 mm2 (the borderline value for stenosis) was found during examination in axial loading, or if a suspected disc herniation, narrow lateral recess, narrow intervertebral foramen, or intraspinal synovial cyst changed to being obvious at the axial loading examination, this was regarded as additional information important for the treatment. Results. Additional valuable information was found in 50 of 172 patients (29%) during examination in axial loading. In the different diagnostic groups, additional valuable information was found in 69% of the patients with neurogenic claudication, in 14% of the patients with sciatica, and in 0% of the patients with low back pain. The percentage of additional valuable information increased to 50% in the patients with sciatica, if recommended inclusion criteria for examinations in axial loading were used. A narrowing of the lateral recess causing compression of the nerve root was found at 42 levels in 35 patients at axial loading. Conclusion. According to the study results, axially loaded imaging adds frequent additional valuable information, as compared with conventional imaging methods, especially in patients with neurogenic claudication, but also in patients with sciatica if defined inclusion criteria are used.
Hierarchical graph based approach for service composition

Functional as well as Non-functional specification plays important role in service composition, discovery and selection. Among all the Non-functional specification cost is the most important parameter to handle. Hence optimization of cost is an interesting area of research in the domain of non-functional property aware service provisioning. In order to provide an effective solution; a cost oriented service composition method is presented in this paper. A hierarchical graph based model is proposed, which is constructed offline. It contains cost of single as well as composite services and also checks compliance information at the time of composition and can be used to answer all the queries in the system. Further the lemmas are defined to establish the soundness of the model which is formalized as Hierarchical Service Graph (HSG).
Familial Hepatitis E Outbreak Linked to Wild Boar Meat Consumption

An HIV‐infected patient was diagnosed with acute hepatitis E infection in our hospital. An epidemiological inquiry was performed to collect demographic, food and animal exposure variables in order to identify the potential route of transmission. The patient reported that his family traditionally hunted wild boar for food. All family members were analysed for hepatitis E virus infection. Additionally, route of transmission by wild boar meat consumption and prevalence of HEV infection among wild boar from the same hunting area were investigated. In all‐family members (n = 8), HEV‐RNA was amplified. Two wild boar meat slices consumed was analysed, showing the presence of HEV. The virus isolated was consistent with genotype 3, revealing 100% homology between family members and meat. Additionally, we tested nine wild boar hunted in the same hunting area. All of them were RNA‐HEV positive, isolating the same HEV genotype 3 viral strain. We demonstrated by phylogenetic analysis zoonotic transmission of HEV by wild boar meat consumption. The prevalence of HEV infection among wild boar found in our study suggests that this species is an important route of transmission to human.