Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Three Types of Internal Jugular Vein Reconstruction in Bilateral Radical Neck Dissection

INTRODUCTION Radical neck dissection (RND) was reported by Crile for the surgical management of metastatic squamous cell carcinoma in the neck. The sacrifice of the internal jugular vein (IJV) impedes the cerebral venous drainage and results in facial edema. When bulky cervical nodes involve the bilateral IJV, the decision to preserve at least one IJV or to ligate the bilateral IJV continues to be a matter of debate. A major argument against bilateral RND with sacrifice of both IJVs has been the risk of fatal complications, including stroke and laryngeal edema. Currently, we reconstruct one of the IJVs when bilateral RND is feasible. We report three types of IJV reconstruction and criteria for selecting these procedures.
Capital and Operating Costs of Full-Scale Fecal Sludge Management and Wastewater Treatment Systems in Dakar, Senegal

A financial comparison of a parallel sewer based (SB) system with activated sludge, and a fecal sludge management (FSM) system with onsite septic tanks, collection and transport (C&T) trucks, and drying beds was conducted. The annualized capital for the SB ($42.66 capita–1 year–1) was ten times higher than the FSM ($4.05 capita–1 year–1), the annual operating cost for the SB ($11.98 capita–1 year–1) was 1.5 times higher than the FSM ($7.58 capita–1 year–1), and the combined capital and operating for the SB ($54.64 capita–1 year–1) was five times higher than FSM ($11.63 capita–1 year–1). In Dakar, costs for SB are almost entirely borne by the sanitation utility, with only 6% of the annualized cost borne by users of the system. In addition to costing less overall, FSM operates with a different business model, with costs spread among households, private companies, and the utility. Hence, SB was 40 times more expensive to implement for the utility than FSM. However, the majority of FSM costs are borne at the household level and are inequitable. The results of the study illustrate that in low-income countries, vast improvements in sanitation can be affordable when employing FSM, whereas SB systems are prohibitively expensive.
Diverse K+ channels in primary human T lymphocytes

We used patch clamp techniques to identify and characterize a variety of K+ channels in primary human peripheral T lymphocytes. The most common channel observed in cell-attached configuration was voltage gated and inactivating. In ensemble averages, the kinetics of its activation and inactivation were similar to those of the whole-cell, voltage-gated K+ current described previously (Cahalan, M. D., K. G. Chandy, T. E. DeCoursey, and S. Gupta. 1985. J. Physiol. [Lond.]. 358:197-237; Deutsch, C., D. Krause, and S. C. Lee. 1986. J. Physiol. [Lond.]. 372:405-423), suggesting that this channel underlies the major portion of the outward current in lymphocytes. A small fraction of the time, this or another very similar channel was observed to inactivate significantly more slowly. Another channel type observed in cell- attached recording was seen less frequently and was transient in its appearance. This channel has a unitary conductance of approximately 10 pS, similar to the voltage-gated channel, but its voltage-independent gating, lack of inactivation, and different kinetic parameters showed it to be distinct. In whole-cell recording there is often a significant plateau current during sustained depolarization. Experiments using whole-cell and excised outside-out configurations indicate that at least part of this residual current is carried by K+ and, as opposed to the predominant voltage-gated current, is charybdotoxin insensitive. These findings are consistent with evidence that implicates charybdotoxin-sensitive and -insensitive components in T lymphocyte proliferation and volume regulation.
Evidence-Based Practice for Teachers of Children With Autism

Evidence-based practice related to autism research is a controversial topic. Governmental entities and national agencies are defining evidence-based practice as a specific set of interventions that educators should implement; however, large-scale efforts to generalize autism research, which are often single-subject case designs, may be a setback in the field. Children on the autism spectrum can experience a very broad range of difficulties with social interactions, managing behaviors, and communicating; similarly, they may experience a wide range of comorbidities. In addition, different environmental considerations come into play for each child. Such challenges to generalizing research are important to acknowledge so that research will be used to inform, not to dictate, the interventions that educators select. The process of identifying and implementing evidence-based practices for children with autism spectrum disorders is a dynamic one that requires educators to adapt interventions to meet students’ individual needs.
Improving postpartum retention in care for women living with HIV in the United States

&NA; Research findings have consistently demonstrated that women living with HIV in the United States and globally experience declines in medication adherence and retention in care after giving birth. A number of studies have identified factors associated with postpartum retention in care, but the evidence base for interventions to address the problem and close this gap in the HIV care continuum is limited. Furthermore, the majority of studies have been conducted in low-resource or moderate-resource countries and may be less applicable or require adaptation for use in high resource countries. In the United States, up to two-thirds of women drop out of care after delivery and are unable to maintain or achieve viral suppression postpartum, at a time when maternal and pediatric health are closely linked. We conducted a critical review of the literature to identify existing gaps regarding maternal retention in the United States and conceptualize the problem through the lens of the integrated and ecological models of health behavior. This review describes existing barriers and facilitators to retention in HIV care postpartum from published studies and suggests steps that can be taken, using a multilevel approach, to improve maternal retention. We propose five core action steps related to increasing awareness of the problem of poor postpartum retention, addressing needs for improved care coordination and case management, and using novel approaches to adapt and implement peer support and technology-based interventions to improve postpartum retention and clinical outcomes of women living with HIV.
Unified Structured Learning for Simultaneous Human Pose Estimation and Garment Attribute Classification

In this paper, we utilize structured learning to simultaneously address two intertwined problems: 1) human pose estimation (HPE) and 2) garment attribute classification (GAC), which are valuable for a variety of computer vision and multimedia applications. Unlike previous works that usually handle the two problems separately, our approach aims to produce an optimal joint estimation for both HPE and GAC via a unified inference procedure. To this end, we adopt a preprocessing step to detect potential human parts from each image (i.e., a set of candidates) that allows us to have a manageable input space. In this way, the simultaneous inference of HPE and GAC is converted to a structured learning problem, where the inputs are the collections of candidate ensembles, outputs are the joint labels of human parts and garment attributes, and joint feature representation involves various cues such as pose-specific features, garment-specific features, and cross-task features that encode correlations between human parts and garment attributes. Furthermore, we explore the strong edge evidence around the potential human parts so as to derive more powerful representations for oriented human parts. Such evidences can be seamlessly integrated into our structured learning model as a kind of energy function, and the learning process could be performed by standard structured support vector machines algorithm. However, the joint structure of the two problems is a cyclic graph, which hinders efficient inference. To resolve this issue, we compute instead approximate optima using an iterative procedure, where in each iteration, the variables of one problem are fixed. In this way, satisfactory solutions can be efficiently computed by dynamic programming. Experimental results on two benchmark data sets show the state-of-the-art performance of our approach.
The Tensions between Food Choices and Sustainable Practices in Early Childhood Centres

THIS STUDY EXPLORED HOW educators implement policies that support children's health and wellbeing, and that promote sustainable practices in five Australian early childhood (EC) centres. In early childhood centres where parents provide the food, educators are responsible for supervising children's eating and often have to manage children's food that is highly processed and packaged. Interview data from children, parents and educators from five EC centres where parents provide children's food was analysed. The key findings demonstrate that the differing perspectives by the educators, parents and children produced challenges for enactment of healthy food choices and sustainable practices, even though EC centres sought advice from government agencies. Parents' food decisions were often misaligned with centre policies and children were frequently caught between the EC centre's policies and parents' choices of food. Educators felt ineffective influencing parents' food choices and sustainable practices regarding waste minimisation. A holistic educational approach is required where all stakeholders have social responsibility towards this approach.
MicroRNAs as New Characters in the Plot between Epigenetics and Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer (PCA) still represents a leading cause of death. An increasing number of studies have documented that microRNAs (miRNAs), a subgroup of non-coding RNAs with gene regulatory functions, are differentially expressed in PCA respect to the normal tissue counterpart, suggesting their involvement in prostate carcinogenesis and dissemination. Interestingly, it has been shown that miRNAs undergo the same regulatory mechanisms than any other protein coding gene, including epigenetic regulation. In turn, miRNAs can also affect the expression of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes by targeting effectors of the epigenetic machinery, therefore indirectly affecting the epigenetic controls on these genes. Among the genes that undergo this complex regulation, there is the androgen receptor (AR), a key therapeutic target for PCA. This review will focus on the role of epigenetically regulated and epigenetically regulating miRNAs in PCA and on the fine regulation of AR expression, as mediated by this miRNA–epigenetics interaction.
Effect of Empathy on Death Penalty Support in Relation to the Racial Divide and Gender Gap

v v Chapter One: Introduction 1 1 Chapter Two: Literature Review 4 4 Public Opinion: Why it Matters? 4 4 Polling 5 6 Correlates of Death Penalty Support 8 8 Sociodemographic and other Correlates 8 8 Race and Death Penalty Support 11 11 Gender and Death Penalty Support 15 15 Empathy and Death Penalty Support 18 19 Chapter Three: Empathy 21 22 Defining Empathy 21 22 Cognitive Empathy 23 24 Affective Empathy 24 25 Ethnocultural Empathy 24 25 Current Study’s Definition 25 26 Results of Empathy 25 26 Empathy and Race 27 28 Empathy and Gender 29 30 Chapter Four: Methods 34 35 Sample and Mechanism 34 35 Death Penalty Support 35 36 Empathy Variables 36 37 Attribution Variables 38 39 Sociodemographic Variables 40 41 Method of Analysis 41 42 Chapter Five: Results 42 43 Overview 42 43
The protective effect of a diet rich in fish oil in an amphetamine toxicity model of Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that damages the dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra and their axonal projections to the striatum. This cell death results in significant motor deficits that include muscular rigidity, resting tremor, and akinesia. Although there is no known cure for Parkinson's disease, evidence from epidemiological studies suggests that consumption of fish oil, which is rich in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), may help to reduce the risk of this debilitating disorder. Furthermore, research using 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) and 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) models of Parkinson's disease supports this conclusion. Consequently, this dissertation examined the potential protective effect of fish oil in an amphetamine-toxicity model of Parkinson's disease. In Experiment 1, mice were administered a diet rich in either corn oil or fish oil for one week and then were treated with either amphetamine or saline. After sacrifice 72 hours later, striatal tissue was assayed for neurochemical content using HPLC. It was determined that fish oil iii protects against amphetamine-induced depletions of dopamine and its metabolites. Given the role of oxidative stress in amphetamine toxicity, this protection may be a result of the antioxidant properties of fish oil. Experiment 2, in addition to successfully replicating this effect, extended the protective effect of fish oil to behavioral and physiological measures. More specifically, a diet rich in fish oil significantly altered amphetamine's impact on behaviors including oral dyskinesia, self biting, stereotypy, and backwards walking; it also mitigated amphetamine-induced changes in dermal temperature. These results suggest that fish oil can moderate the elevated dopaminergic activity caused by amphetamine administration. Experiment 3 was designed to examine the time course of protection afforded by the fish oil-rich diet, and it was discovered that the protective effect of fish oil develops between 1 and 3 days of consumption. Experiment 4 was performed to determine whether fish oil alters amphetamine-induced increases in oxidative stress and dopamine release. Fish oil did not impact these measures, indicating that other mechanisms may be responsible for the observed protection. Collectively, these findings indicate that the consumption of fish oil offers protection against amphetamine toxicity in a model of Parkinson's disease. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PrtR Homeostasis Contributes to Pseudomonas aeruginosa Pathogenesis and Resistance against Ciprofloxacin

ABSTRACT Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that causes acute and chronic infections in humans. Pyocins are bacteriocins produced by P. aeruginosa that are usually released through lysis of the producer strains. Expression of pyocin genes is negatively regulated by PrtR, which gets cleaved under SOS response, leading to upregulation of pyocin synthetic genes. Previously, we demonstrated that PrtR is required for the expression of type III secretion system (T3SS), which is an important virulence component of P. aeruginosa. In this study, we demonstrate that mutation in prtR results in reduced bacterial colonization in a mouse acute pneumonia model. Examination of bacterial and host cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluids from infected mice revealed that expression of PrtR is induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS) released by neutrophils. We further demonstrate that treatment with hydrogen peroxide or ciprofloxacin, known to induce the SOS response and pyocin production, resulted in an elevated PrtR mRNA level. Overexpression of PrtR by a tac promoter repressed the endogenous prtR promoter activity, and electrophoretic mobility shift assay revealed that PrtR binds to its own promoter, suggesting an autorepressive mechanism of regulation. A high level of PrtR expressed from a plasmid resulted in increased T3SS gene expression during infection and higher resistance against ciprofloxacin. Overall, our results suggest that the autorepression of PrtR contributes to the maintenance of a relatively stable level of PrtR, which is permissive to T3SS gene expression in the presence of ROS while increasing bacterial tolerance to stresses, such as ciprofloxacin, by limiting pyocin production.
Lifetime Medical Costs of Obesity: Prevention No Cure for Increasing Health Expenditure

Background Obesity is a major cause of morbidity and mortality and is associated with high medical expenditures. It has been suggested that obesity prevention could result in cost savings. The objective of this study was to estimate the annual and lifetime medical costs attributable to obesity, to compare those to similar costs attributable to smoking, and to discuss the implications for prevention. Methods and Findings With a simulation model, lifetime health-care costs were estimated for a cohort of obese people aged 20 y at baseline. To assess the impact of obesity, comparisons were made with similar cohorts of smokers and “healthy-living” persons (defined as nonsmokers with a body mass index between 18.5 and 25). Except for relative risk values, all input parameters of the simulation model were based on data from The Netherlands. In sensitivity analyses the effects of epidemiologic parameters and cost definitions were assessed. Until age 56 y, annual health expenditure was highest for obese people. At older ages, smokers incurred higher costs. Because of differences in life expectancy, however, lifetime health expenditure was highest among healthy-living people and lowest for smokers. Obese individuals held an intermediate position. Alternative values of epidemiologic parameters and cost definitions did not alter these conclusions. Conclusions Although effective obesity prevention leads to a decrease in costs of obesity-related diseases, this decrease is offset by cost increases due to diseases unrelated to obesity in life-years gained. Obesity prevention may be an important and cost-effective way of improving public health, but it is not a cure for increasing health expenditures.
AN ECOLOGICAL STUDY OF LANGUAGE TEACHING: PARENTS’ ROLE IN IMPROVING THE LEARNERS’ PROFICIENCY LEVEL OF ENGLISH

The process of learning never happens in vacuum, and the final product encompasses the various interactions between the language learner and the surrounding world. Most often, the language learner is assessed in a two-way relationship and in this respect, the academic environment and the classroom are the first and the last destinations, which are considered. Considering the importance of ecological and environmental factors in learning a foreign language, the present article tries to investigate the parents’ role in learning English language qualitatively. The amount of effective interaction between the parents and the child, the amount of accessibility to cultural goods such as computer and the Internet and that the effects of these goods on learning, as well as the parents` values with respect to learning English language were included as the purpose of this study. The study was conducted based on the following assumptions: (a) Intelligence and aptitude are not the only way toward success or failure in learning English language, and (b) there may be some discrepancies between the set of values advocated by schools and institutes with those of the parents. Thirty-five families participated in this study whose children were instructed in English language institutes in Mashhad. We interviewed all of these families as well as their children. The results revealed that families in both more-proficient and less-proficient learners use various strategies. At the end, some recommendations were given to improve the quality of education within families.
Mechanotransduction of Flow-Induced Shear Stress by Endothelial Glycocalyx Fibers is Torque Determined

To test the hypothesis that the mechanotransduction of flow-induced shear stress on endothelial cells (ECs) might be triggered by the total torque transmitted from the glycocalyx fibers to the ECs rather than by the total shear force acting directly on the membrane of ECs, we formulated the arterial wall as a five-layer model and numerically investigated the effect of two types of damages to the endothelial glycocalyx layer (EGL) on the flow in the EGL and on the drag force and bending moment acting on the glycocalyx fibers. One type of damage was to alter the thickness of the EGL, and the other was to damage its integrity. The results revealed that almost all amount of the shear stress acting on ECs was transmitted to the cells by the EGL and that the flow-induced shear stress acting directly on the cell membrane was negligibly small. In addition, the total force transmitted from the glycocalyx fibers to the cell membrane in the forms of drag force was hardly affected by the damages to the EGL. However, such damages could significantly influence the total torque at the roots of the EGL fibers. In conclusion, the mechanotransduction of shear stress by the EGL might be torque determined rather than force determined.
DISCRETIZATION OF THE '59 FENDER BASSMAN TONE STACK

The market for digital modeling guitar amplifiers requires that the digital models behave like the physical prototypes. A component of the iconic Fender Bassman guitar amplifier, the tone stack circuit, filters the sound of the electric guitar in a unique and complex way. The controls are not orthogonal, resulting in complicated filter coefficient trajectories as the controls are varied. Because of its electrical simplicity, the tone stack is analyzed symbolically in this work, and digital filter coefficients are derived in closed form. Adhering to the technique of virtual analog, this procedure results in a filter that responds to user controls in exactly the same way as the analog prototype. The general expressions for the continuous-time and discrete-time filter coefficients are given, and the frequency responses are compared for the component values of the Fender ’59 Bassman. These expressions are useful implementation and verification of implementations such as the wave digital filter.
Musings About Beauty

In this essay, I explore how cognitive science could illuminate the concept of beauty. Two results from the extensive literature on aesthetics guide my discussion. As the term "beauty" is overextended in general usage, I choose as my starting point the notion of "perfect form. " Aesthetic theorists are in reasonable agreement about the criteria for perfect form. What do these criteria imply for mental representations that are experienced as beautiful? Complexity theory can be used to specify constraints on mental representations abstractly formulated as vectors in a high-dimensional space. A central feature of the proposed model is that perfect form depends both on features of the objects or events perceived and on the nature of the encoding strategies or model of the observer. A simple example illustrates the proposed calculations. A number of interesting implications that arise as a consequence of reformulating beauty in this way are noted.
Validation of an entirely in vitro approach for rapid prototyping of DNA regulatory elements for synthetic biology

A bottleneck in our capacity to rationally and predictably engineer biological systems is the limited number of well-characterized genetic elements from which to build. Current characterization methods are tied to measurements in living systems, the transformation and culturing of which are inherently time-consuming. To address this, we have validated a completely in vitro approach for the characterization of DNA regulatory elements using Escherichia coli extract cell-free systems. Importantly, we demonstrate that characterization in cell-free systems correlates and is reflective of performance in vivo for the most frequently used DNA regulatory elements. Moreover, we devise a rapid and completely in vitro method to generate DNA templates for cell-free systems, bypassing the need for DNA template generation and amplification from living cells. This in vitro approach is significantly quicker than current characterization methods and is amenable to high-throughput techniques, providing a valuable tool for rapidly prototyping libraries of DNA regulatory elements for synthetic biology.