Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Etude de la sensibilité vésicale, des moyens d'évaluation et des possibles facteurs l'influençant

La sensibilite vesicale est un pre-Requis au controle normal de la vessie. Les objectifs de cette these apres une analyse de la litterature etaient d'etudier les outils d'evaluation de la sensibilite de la vessie et les possibles facteurs influencant les sensations vesicales. Une premiere etude demontre l'effet de sensibilisation de l'eau froide pendant une cystomanometrie sur la sensation de besoin d'uriner et les interactions entre les voies afferentes du besoin d'uriner et thermique. Une seconde etude a montre l'effet d'un remplissage rapide lors d'une cystomanometrie sur la sensation de besoin avec un besoin d'uriner retarde. Une troisieme etude a mis en evidence chez un certain nombre de patients l'influence de la suggestion verbale sur les sensations vesicales. L'apport des sequences de diffusion en IRM pelvienne pour distinguer le syndrome douloureux vesical chronique /cystite interstitielle d'autres syndromes douloureux pelvi-Perineaux a ete etudie. La validation psychometrique d'un questionnaire sur les circonstances de declenchement des urgenturies a ete commencee. Un protocole de remplissage vesical physiologique a egalement ete developpe permettant d'etudier les interactions entre la sensation de besoin d'uriner et les performances attentionnelles. Les deux dernieres etudes ont porte sur l'effet de certains stimuli environnementaux sur les sensations vesicales chez des sujets atteints de syndrome clinique d'hyperactivite vesical et des volontaires sains. Ce travail a permis de souligner certains facteurs pouvant influencer la sensibilite vesicale et de developper des outils prometteurs pour son evaluation.
Structural Model of RNA Polymerase II Elongation Complex with Complete Transcription Bubble Reveals NTP Entry Routes

The RNA polymerase II (Pol II) is a eukaryotic enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of the messenger RNA using a DNA template. Despite numerous biochemical and biophysical studies, it remains elusive whether the “secondary channel” is the only route for NTP to reach the active site of the enzyme or if the “main channel” could be an alternative. On this regard, crystallographic structures of Pol II have been extremely useful to understand the structural basis of transcription, however, the conformation of the unpaired non-template DNA part of the full transcription bubble (TB) is still unknown. Since diffusion routes of the nucleoside triphosphate (NTP) substrate through the main channel might overlap with the TB region, gaining structural information of the full TB is critical for a complete understanding of Pol II transcription process. In this study, we have built a structural model of Pol II with a complete transcription bubble based on multiple sources of existing structural data and used Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations together with structural analysis to shed light on NTP entry pathways. Interestingly, we found that although both channels have enough space to allow NTP loading, the percentage of MD conformations containing enough space for NTP loading through the secondary channel is twice higher than that of the main channel. Further energetic study based on MD simulations with NTP loaded in the channels has revealed that the diffusion of the NTP through the main channel is greatly disfavored by electrostatic repulsion between the NTP and the highly negatively charged backbones of nucleotides in the non-template DNA strand. Taken together, our results suggest that the secondary channel is the major route for NTP entry during Pol II transcription.
Hepatitis C Virus Life Cycle and Lipid Metabolism

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infects over 150 million people worldwide. In most cases HCV infection becomes chronic, causing liver disease ranging from fibrosis to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. HCV affects the cholesterol homeostasis and at the molecular level, every step of the virus life cycle is intimately connected to lipid metabolism. In this review, we present an update on the lipids and apolipoproteins that are involved in the HCV infectious cycle steps: entry, replication and assembly. Moreover, the result of the assembly process is a lipoviroparticle, which represents a peculiarity of hepatitis C virion. This review illustrates an example of an intricate virus-host interaction governed by lipid metabolism.
Effective Link Triggers to Improve Handover Performance

Effective link layer triggering is the key in order to enable fast and reliable handovers across different access networks. In this paper, we investigate the use of signal strength as part of the trigger mechanism. We propose an analytical model to estimate the anticipation required in order to achieve a target handover packet loss performance, for both voice and video traffic patterns. Numerical results from the analytical model are presented and compared to simulation data obtained for realistic handover scenarios
A New Similarity Measure for User-based Collaborative Filtering in Recommender Systems

Collaborative filtering is a popular approach in recommender Systems that helps users in identifying the items they may like in a wagon of items. Finding similarity among users with the available item ratings so as to predict rating(s) for unseen item(s) based on the preferences of likeminded users for the current user is a challenging problem. Traditional measures like Cosine similarity and Pearson correlation’s correlation exhibit some drawbacks in similarity calculation. This paper presents a new similarity measure which improves the performance of Recommender System. Experimental results on MovieLens dataset show that our proposed distance measure improves the quality of prediction. We present clustering results as an extension to validate the effectiveness of our proposed method.
Using Mixed Methods to Design a Web-based Behavioural Intervention to Reduce Transmission of Colds and Flu

This mixed methods study informed the development of our web-based intervention to reduce the risk of transmission of respiratory infections. Two qualitative studies examined 28 users’ responses to website materials, and elicited additional beliefs. A questionnaire study (N = 129) tested key intervention assumptions: that hand-washing is considered the most feasible preventive behaviour; behavioural determinants were related to behavioural intentions; beliefs related to hand-washing intentions and behaviour. Thematic analysis of the qualitative data revealed important issues, such as the belief that catching minor infections is beneficial to the immune system. The questionnaire results confirmed our assumptions, including hand-washing as the appropriate target behaviour.
Grip strength parameters and functional activities in young adults with unilateral cerebral palsy compared with healthy subjects.

OBJECTIVE To determine reliability of maximal grip strength, muscle coordination and muscle endurance. To compare these parameters in young adults with unilateral cerebral palsy and healthy subjects. To evaluate the correlation of these variables with functional activities. SUBJECTS Twenty-six healthy subjects and 26 young adults with unilateral cerebral palsy recruited from a cohort study in young adults with cerebral palsy. METHODS Maximal grip strength, muscle coordination and muscle endurance were measured in both hands of all subjects. In the healthy subjects test-retest reliability was established. In the young adults with cerebral palsy, the Melbourne assessment and Abilhand Questionnaire were used to determine functional activities. RESULTS For the dominant and non-dominant hand the intraclass correlation coefficients for the maximal grip strength were 0.93 and 0.91, for the muscle coordination 0.81 and 0.86, and for the muscle endurance 0.59 for both sides. Maximal grip strength of the involved hand of patients was reduced compared with the uninvolved hand and compared with healthy subjects. There was no difference in muscle coordination and muscle endurance between the involved and uninvolved hands. These parameters, however, were significantly reduced in both hands compared with healthy subjects. Correlations between grip strength parameters and activity limitations were relatively weak and non-linear. CONCLUSION Performance of activity is not directly related to grip strength parameters. The uninvolved hand of young adults with unilateral cerebral palsy also has impaired function.
Use of 64-slice CT in symptomatic patients after coronary bypass surgery: evaluation of grafts and coronary arteries.

AIMS Although previous generations of multislice computed tomography (CT) have demonstrated accurate detection of obstructive bypass graft disease, progression of coronary disease is a more frequent cause for ischaemic symptoms late after bypass graft surgery. We explored the diagnostic performance of 64-slice CT in symptomatic patients after bypass surgery, for the assessment of both grafts and native coronary arteries. METHODS AND RESULTS The 64-slice CT angiography (Siemens Sensation 64, Germany) was performed in 52 symptomatic patients, 10 +/- 5 years after bypass surgery. Two independent, blinded observers assessed all grafts and coronary arteries for stenosis, using conventional quantitative angiography as a reference. A total of 109 grafts (182 graft segments), 123 distal coronary run-offs, and 116 non-bypassed coronary branches (288 segments) were analysed. Per-segment detection of graft disease yielded a sensitivity of 99% (71/72) and specificity of 96% (106/110). Sensitivity and specificity to detect run-off disease were 89% (8/9) and 93% (106/114), positive predictive value was 50% (8/16). In non-grafted coronary segments, CT detected significant stenosis with a sensitivity and specificity of 97% (62/64) and 86% (192/224). Overestimation occurred more frequently in calcified segments (P = 0.002). CONCLUSION The 64-slice CT allows angiographic evaluation of grafts and coronary arteries, although overestimation of coronary obstruction occurs, particularly in the presence of calcified disease.
Stabilizing characteristics of rotator cuff muscles: a systematic review

Abstract Purpose: To systematically review the evidence in support of the purported function of the rotator cuff muscles as dynamic stabilizers of the glenohumeral joint. Methods: Electronic searches were conducted using AMED, CINAHL, Medline and SPORT Discus. Studies were required to include at least one characteristic of a stabilizer muscle. Quality analysis was completed by two assessors independently. Data were extracted for four main characteristics of stabilizer muscles: (1) moment arm length, (2) onset of muscle activity, (3) joint stiffness as measured by contribution of muscle activity to prevent joint translation, (4) co-contraction as demonstrated by electromyography muscle activity and co-activation ratio. Results: Twenty of the 1726 identified studies were selected for the review. Rotator cuff muscles can limit joint translation (five studies) and contribute to joint stiffness (one study), possess shorter moment arms in some movements (three studies), but show limited evidence for stabilizing characteristics of early onset (seven studies) and co-contraction (seven studies). Conclusion: The rotator cuff muscles exhibited some stabilization characteristics but not all. On the basis of our current low to moderate quality evidence, the most likely, but as yet unverified, stabilization role for the rotator cuff muscles appears to be limiting of translation in a direction-specific manner. Implications for Rehabilitation Diagnostic tests currently used are based largely on the assumption that the muscles of the rotator cuff can be individually recruited as prime movers. Our findings demonstrate the need for more research into the proposed stabilizing mechanisms of the rotator cuff muscles to increase diagnostic accuracy and more targeted shoulder rehabilitation programs. It may be that the rotator cuff muscles have a role in limiting glenohumeral joint translation which is not reflected in the current diagnostic tests and rehabilitation protocols. Further research is required to establish this stabilizing characteristic in living subjects. Knowledge of the contribution of rotator cuff muscle activation in limiting joint translation may be an important aspect in properly assessing and quantifying the proposed function of the rotator cuff muscles as dynamic stabilizers of the shoulder joint.
Interneuronal Basis of the Generation of Related but Distinct Motor Programs in Aplysia: Implications for Current Neuronal Models of Vertebrate Intralimb Coordination

Coordination of two sets of movements, protraction–retraction versus opening–closing, of the feeding apparatus (the radula) in ingestive and egestive motor programs of Aplysiaresembles vertebrate intralimb coordination in that the relative timing of the two sets of movements differs in the two motor programs. In both ingestion and egestion, radula protraction and retraction alternate, whereas radula closure shifts its phase relative to protraction–retraction. In egestion, the radula closes in protraction; in ingestion, the radula closes in retraction. In both ingestive and egestive motor programs elicited by the command-like neuron, cerebral-buccal interneuron-2 (CBI-2), the protraction and retraction movements are mediated by the same sets of controller interneurons. In contrast, radula closure is mediated by two controller interneurons, B20 and B40, that are preferentially active in egestion and ingestion, respectively. In egestion, B20, active in protraction, drives closure motorneuron B8 in protraction, whereas in ingestion, B40, also active in protraction, uses a functionally novel mechanism, fast inhibition and slow excitation, to drive B8 in retraction. Our findings are summarized in a neural model that permits a conceptual comparison of our model with two previous hypothetical models of intralimb coordination in spinal circuits that were proposed by Grillner (1981,1985) and Berkowitz and Stein (1994). Although our model supports the existence of separate controllers for different movements as in theGrillner (1981, 1985) model; in terms of basic mechanisms, our model is similar to the Berkowitz and Stein (1994) model because the closure movement is mediated by separate controllers in different programs, and thus both models can be classified as recruitment models.
Fast and slow twitch units in a human muscle

A study has been made of the isometric twitches of single motor units in the extensor hallucis brevis (EHB) muscle in man. The twitch contraction times ranged from 35 to 98 msec and the pooled results indicated the presence of at least two types of unit. The recorded twitch tensions also varied considerably (from 2 to 14 g) but were not related to the twitch speeds. The twitch tension developed by the whole EHB muscle depended on the initial length of the muscle and on the age of the subject. The EHB muscle was estimated to contain approximately 56 motor units.
Safety and systemic absorption of pulmonary delivered human IFN-beta1a in the nonhuman primate: comparison with subcutaneous dosing.

Safety and bioavailability of pulmonary delivered interferon-beta 1a (IFN-beta1a, AVONEX, Biogen, Inc., Cambridge, MA) was evaluated in the nonhuman primate. Pulmonary bioavailability following intratracheal (i.t.) instillation of 50 microg/kg IFN-beta1a to rhesus macaques was approximately 10%. To evaluate pulmonary safety, IFN-beta1a was administered intrabronchially to rhesus and cynomolgus macaques at a dose of 60 microg/dose one, three, or seven times per week for 4 weeks. At scheduled termination, lungs were evaluated for gross and histomorphologic changes. IFN-beta1a or vehicle (human serum albumin [HSA] in phosphate-buffered saline [PBS]) treatment resulted in minimal to mild subchronic alveolitis, located primarily near the instillation sites. These responses were considered nonspecific and consistent with either instillation of a foreign protein or minor injury associated with the instillation procedure. In one rhesus macaque treated every day for 4 weeks, IFN-beta1a induced mild to moderate eosinophilic alveolitis, considered possibly an isolated type I hypersensitivity response to HSA or IFN-beta1a. Partial resolution of pulmonary lesions was seen in all recovery animals killed 2 weeks after cessation of treatment. In conclusion, this study shows that pulmonary administration of human IFN-beta1a is safe and that the pulmonary route of administration is a possible alternate route for the systemic delivery of IFN-beta1a.
Latency Aware Block Replacement for L1 Caches in Chip Multiprocessor

Performance of chip multiprocessors (CMPs) heavily depends on the efficiency of the caches. There is still a large gap between implemented replacement policies and the theoretical optimal policy. Among other factors, replacement policies play a major role in deciding the memory access time as they directly affect the miss-rate. In a CMP environment, the cost incurred by a miss in the higher level cache needs to take into account the communication latency over the on-chip network as well as power consumption.There are existing replacement policies which use this misscost rather than miss-count as an optimisation factor. These existing policies targeting the optimisation of miss-cost are mainly designed for the Last-Level Caches (LLC). Due to their significant hardware overheads, these policies are not directly applicable for the L1 caches. In this paper, we propose a new replacement policy, LA-LRU, for L1 caches which uses communication latency as a factor in deciding the victim. Experimental evaluation on full system simulation shows 7.4% improvement in Average Memory Access Time (AMAT) which leads to 7% improvement in Cycles Per Instruction (CPI). Reduction in on-chip communication also helps in improving the on-chip network power consumption by 14.8%.
Co-reference in Japanese Task-oriented Dialogues: A Contribution to the Development of Language-specific and Language-general Annotation Schemes and Resources

This paper describes a corpus of Japanese task-oriented dialogues, i.e. its data, annotations, analysis methodology and preliminary results for the modeling of co-referential phenomena. Current corpus based approaches to co-reference concentrate on textual data from English or other European languages. Hence, the emerging language-general models of co-reference miss input from dialogue data of non-European languages. We aim to fill this gap and contribute to a model of co-reference on various language-specific and language-general levels.
Two cilengitide regimens in combination with standard treatment for patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma and unmethylated MGMT gene promoter: results of the open-label, controlled, randomized phase II CORE study.

BACKGROUND Survival outcomes for patients with glioblastoma remain poor, particularly for patients with unmethylated O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) gene promoter. This phase II, randomized, open-label, multicenter trial investigated the efficacy and safety of 2 dose regimens of the selective integrin inhibitor cilengitide combined with standard chemoradiotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma and an unmethylated MGMT promoter. METHODS Overall, 265 patients were randomized (1:1:1) to standard cilengitide (2000 mg 2×/wk; n = 88), intensive cilengitide (2000 mg 5×/wk during wk 1-6, thereafter 2×/wk; n = 88), or a control arm (chemoradiotherapy alone; n = 89). Cilengitide was administered intravenously in combination with daily temozolomide (TMZ) and concomitant radiotherapy (RT; wk 1-6), followed by TMZ maintenance therapy (TMZ/RT→TMZ). The primary endpoint was overall survival; secondary endpoints included progression-free survival, pharmacokinetics, and safety and tolerability. RESULTS Median overall survival was 16.3 months in the standard cilengitide arm (hazard ratio [HR], 0.686; 95% CI: 0.484, 0.972; P = .032) and 14.5 months in the intensive cilengitide arm (HR, 0.858; 95% CI: 0.612, 1.204; P = .3771) versus 13.4 months in the control arm. Median progression-free survival assessed per independent review committee was 5.6 months (HR, 0.822; 95% CI: 0.595, 1.134) and 5.9 months (HR, 0.794; 95% CI: 0.575, 1.096) in the standard and intensive cilengitide arms, respectively, versus 4.1 months in the control arm. Cilengitide was well tolerated. CONCLUSIONS Standard and intensive cilengitide dose regimens were well tolerated in combination with TMZ/RT→TMZ. Inconsistent overall survival and progression-free survival outcomes and a limited sample size did not allow firm conclusions regarding clinical efficacy in this exploratory phase II study.
Quantum information approach to normal representation of extensive games

We modify the concept of quantum strategic game to make it useful for extensive form games. We prove that our modification allows to consider the normal representation of any finite extensive game using the fundamental concepts of quantum information. The Selten's Horse game and the general form of two-stage extensive game with perfect information are studied to illustrate a potential application of our idea. In both examples we use Eisert-Wilkens-Lewenstein approach as well as Marinatto-Weber approach to quantization of games.
Pilot Skill Development with Implicit and Explicit Learning: Considerations for Task Complexity

Abstract : The focus of the present study was to evaluate aspects of the learning process that aid expertise development for aircraft pilots. Research in learning strategies has recently focused on implicit and explicit learning to determine if it is more important to focus on conscious facts or unconscious procedural performance during the learning process. Of particular concern for the current investigation was to determine if explicit knowledge is necessary for automatic performance of complex cognitive motor skills such as flying. Several recent studies have proposed that explicit knowledge may be detrimental for performance under the cognitive loads of stress. This study therefore examined groups of novice pilots who learned how to fly a flight simulator either implicitly or explicitly to see what effect the learning process had on performance during stress and a subsequent retention test. Participant scanning patterns were also analyzed using an infrared eye tracker to determine which group would exhibit superior attentional control.
OTDM add-drop multiplexer based on XPM-induced wavelength shifting in highly nonlinear fiber

In this paper, we study experimentally and numerically simultaneous time-domain add-drop multiplexing for high-speed optical time-division multiplexing (OTDM) networks based on cross-phase-modulation (XPM)-induced wavelength shifting in a 50-m highly nonlinear fiber. This scheme needs only a single-channel clock rate and does not alter the input signal wavelength. Simultaneous add and drop operations at 80 Gb/s have been demonstrated experimentally with less than 1-dB power penalty for the dropped channel and no distinct bit-error-rate (BER) degradation for the added channel. Numerical simulations show that the experimental results are only limited by the available signal pulsewidth, and simultaneous add-drop multiplexing at 160-Gb/s or higher bit rates is possible with this scheme by employing control and signal pulses with proper pulsewidths.