Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chronic otitis media treated topically with ciprofloxacin or tobramycin.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of ciprofloxacin compared with tobramycin and placebo ear drops in the treatment of chronic suppurative otitis media without cholesteatoma. DESIGN Sixty ears (in 51 patients) were randomly divided into 3 treatment groups: ciprofloxacin hydrochloride, tobramycin, and placebo interventions. SETTING The otolaryngology department of a university teaching hospital. INTERVENTION All ears were treated topically for 3 weeks. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Each patient received a small, numbered bottle and was instructed to instill 5 drops 3 times daily for 3 weeks. The final clinical and bacteriologic assessment was made after 3 weeks. RESULTS The organism most commonly isolated from the ear discharge was Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Its sensitivity to ciprofloxacin and tobramycin was 94.2% and 70.6%, respectively. The clinical response was 78.9%, 72.2%, and 41.2% in the ciprofloxacin, tobramycin, and placebo groups, respectively. The bacteriologic response rate was 66.7% for the ciprofloxacin and tobramycin groups and 20% for the placebo group. Treatment with ciprofloxacin ear drops seemed to be as effective as treatment with tobramycin. CONCLUSION While the lack of ototoxicity of ciprofloxacin was not tested in our study, this treatment may be considered as a potential topical therapy for cases of chronic suppurative otitis media.
Effect of pH on the compressive strength of Grey Mineral Trioxide Aggregate and Biodentine

Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the effect of an acidic and alkaline environment on the compressive strength of Grey Pro Root Mineral Trioxide Aggregate and Biodentine. Methodology: A total of eightyhuman, mandibular molars were used. Perforations were made in the furcation of each molar and enlarged to #3 Pesso drills. The repair was performed, according to the materials used. Samples of each material were repaired according to the repair material and randomly divided into two groups (n=40), GMTA and Biodentine, respectively. These were further apportioned into four subgroups (n=10) according to storage media and time. Four subgroups of ten samples eachwere exposed to pH 5.4 and pH 7.4 for 4 days respectively.Compressive strength was measured for each of the sample and was measured 4 days after the exposure. Results: Data was subjected to one-way ANOVA using Tukey’spost hoc test. Biodentine displayed greater resistance to dislodgement than Grey Mineral Trioxide Aggregate at acidic environment, 4.66±0.94 MPa and 2.41±0.95. A p-value <0.05 was consideredto be statistically significant. Conclusion:In an acidic environment, compressive strength of Grey Mineral Trioxide Aggregate was affected
Integrated Project Member of the FET Proactive Initiative Complex Systems

We propose a simple and intuitive cost mechanism which assigns costs for the competitive usage of m resources by n selfish agents. Each agent has an individual demand; demands are drawn according to some probability distribution. The cost paid by an agent for a resource she chooses is the total demand put on the resource divided by the number of agents who chose that same resource. So, resources charge costs in an equitable, fair way, while each resource makes no profit out of the agents. We call our model the Fair Pricing model. Its fair cost mechanism induces a non-cooperative game among the agents. To evaluate the Nash equilibria of this game, we introduce the Diffuse Price of Anarchy, as an extension of the Price of Anarchy that takes into account the probability distribution on the demands. We prove: – Pure Nash equilibria may not exist, unless all chosen demands are identical; in contrast, a fully mixed Nash equilibrium exists for all possible choices of the demands. Further on, the fully mixed Nash equilibrium is the unique Nash equilibrium in case there are only two agents. – In the worst-case choice of demands, the Price of Anarchy is Θ(n); for the special case of two agents, the Price of Anarchy is less than 2 − 1 m . – Assume now that demands are drawn from a bounded, independent probability distribution, where all demands are identically distributed and each is at most a (universal for the class) constant times its expectation. Then, the Diffuse Price of Anarchy is at most that same constant, which is just 2 when each demand is distributed symmetrically around its expectation. ⋆ Partially supported by the EU within the 6th Framework Programme under contracts 001907 “Dynamically Evolving, Large Scale Information Systems” (DELIS) and 015964 “Algorithmic Principles for Building Efficient Overlay Computers” (AEOLUS), and by the General Secretariat for Research and Technology of the Greek Ministry of Development within the programme PENED 2003.
GA-tuning of nonlinear observers for sensorless control of automotive power steering IPMSMs

The paper considers two observer-based rotor position estimation schemes for sensorless control of interior permanent magnet synchronous motors (IPMSMs) for use in future automotive power steering systems. Specifically, emphasis is given to techniques based on feedback-linearisation followed by classical Luenberger observer design, and direct design of non-linear observers. Genetic algorithms (GAs), using the principles of evolution, natural selection and genetic mutation, are introduced to address difficulties in selecting correction gains for the observers, since no analytical tuning mechanisms yet exist. Experimental measurements from an automotive power steering test-facility are included, to demonstrate the enhanced performance attributes offered by tuning the proposed observer schemes, online, in this manner.
Prosodic Knowledge Affects the Recognition of Newly Acquired Words

An eye-tracking study examined the involvement of prosodic knowledge—specifically, the knowledge that monosyllabic words tend to have longer durations than the first syllables of polysyllabic words—in the recognition of newly learned words. Participants learned new spoken words (by associating them to novel shapes): bisyllables and onset-embedded monosyllabic competitors (e.g., baptoe and bap). In the learning phase, the duration of the ambiguous sequence (e.g., bap) was held constant. In the test phase, its duration was longer than, shorter than, or equal to its learning-phase duration. Listeners' fixations indicated that short syllables tended to be interpreted as the first syllables of the bisyllables, whereas long syllables generated more monosyllabic-word interpretations. Recognition of newly acquired words is influenced by prior prosodic knowledge and is therefore not determined solely on the basis of stored episodes of those words.
A core outcome set for adult cardiac surgery trials: A consensus study

Background Invasive off- or on-pump cardiac surgery (elective and emergency procedures, excluding transplants are routinely performed to treat complications of ischaemic heart disease. Randomised controlled trials (RCT) evaluate the effectiveness of treatments in the setting of cardiac surgery. However, the impact of RCTs is weakened by heterogeneity in outcome measuring and reporting, which hinders comparison across trials. Core outcome sets (COS, a set of outcomes that should be measured and reported, as a minimum, in clinical trials for a specific clinical field) help reduce this problem. In light of the above, we developed a COS for cardiac surgery effectiveness trials. Methods Potential core outcomes were identified a priori by analysing data on 371 RCTs of 58,253 patients. We reached consensus on core outcomes in an international three-round eDelphi exercise. Outcomes for which at least 60% of the participants chose the response option “no” and less than 20% chose the response option “yes” were excluded. Results Eighty-six participants from 23 different countries involving adult cardiac patients, cardiac surgeons, anaesthesiologists, nursing staff and researchers contributed to this eDelphi. The panel reached consensus on four core outcomes: 1) Measure of mortality, 2) Measure of quality of life, 3) Measure of hospitalisation and 4) Measure of cerebrovascular complication to be included in adult cardiac surgery trials. Conclusion This study used robust research methodology to develop a minimum core outcome set for clinical trials evaluating the effectiveness of treatments in the setting of cardiac surgery. As a next step, appropriate outcome measurement instruments have to be selected.
Heparins and blood polymorphonuclear stimulation in haemodialysis: an expansion of the biocompatibility concept.

BACKGROUND At the concentrations used in haemodialysis and in a dose-dependent way, unfractionated heparin (UFH) and, to a lesser degree, a low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) stimulate polymorphonuclear cells (PMN) in vitro, and could act in synergy with the stimulatory effect of dialysis membranes in vivo. To examine this hypothesis, we studied the effects of different heparin types and regimens on blood PMNs during haemodialysis sessions. METHODS Ten haemodialysed patients were studied during regular dialysis sessions on a cellulose triacetate membrane (CT 110 G; 1.10 m(2); Baxter), with four different random heparin protocols: one high-UFH regimen (HHR) at 90 IU/kg body-weight (b.w.) and one low-UFH regimen (LHR) at 50 IU/kg b.w. , and with a LMWH (nadroparin calcium) at 85 (HHR) or 45 (LHR) IU/kg b.w. Blood granulocytes, platelet counts, and plasma granulocyte degranulation products (elastase, lactoferrin) were measured serially during 4 h dialysis sessions. RESULTS After 10 min, the reduction in PMNs with UFH was 29.5% for HHR (P<0.01) and 28.5% for LHR (P<0.01), and only 16.8 and 18.6% with LMWH (NS), significantly higher for HHR with UFH than with LMWH (P<0.01). At 60 min, the elastase increase with HHR was greater, 61% with UFH (P<0.01) and 37.8% with LMWH (P<0.01), significantly higher than LHR for UFH (P<0.05) or LMWH (P<0.05). The overall decrease in platelets (with LMWH P<0.01) and the overall increase in lactoferrin (P<0.001) were not different between heparinization procedures. CONCLUSION Under a conventional heparin regimen, the PMN variation during the course of the dialysis session suggests a more biocompatible effect of LMWH over UFH. In addition, the variation of elastase favours the lower dose, whatever the type of heparin. Heparin type and dose should therefore be considered in studies addressing biocompatibility in haemodialysis: a low dose of LMWH may be viewed as a better biocompatible treatment with regard to leukocyte stimulation.
An adaptive robust control scheme for a class of nonlinear uncertain systems

Abstract This paper presents a new adaptive robust control scheme for a class of nonlinear uncertain systems with both unknown parameters and exogenous disturbances. A new update scheme, referred to as the p-modification scheme, is proposed to cease parameter adaptation in accordance with the adaptive robust control law. The novel property possessed by the new control scheme is that it guarantees the uniform boundedness of the system and at the same time, the tracking error enters an arbitrarily designated zone in a finite time. The paper includes simulation studies that demonstrate the performance of the proposed control scheme.
Apolipoprotein A‐I: Insights from redox proteomics for its role in neurodegeneration

Proteomics has a wide range of applications, including determination of differences in the proteome in terms of expression and post‐translational protein modifications. Redox proteomics allows the identification of specific targets of protein oxidation in a biological sample. Using proteomic techniques, apolipoprotein A‐I (ApoA‐I) has been found at decreased levels in subjects with a variety of neurodegenerative disorders including in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of Alzheimer disease (AD), Parkinson disease (PD), and Down syndrome (DS) with gout subjects. ApoA‐I plays roles in cholesterol transport and regulation of inflammation. Redox proteomics further showed ApoA‐I to be highly oxidatively modified and particularly susceptible to modification by 4‐hydroxy‐2‐trans‐nonenal (HNE), a lipid peroxidation product. In the current review, we discuss the consequences of oxidation of ApoA‐I in terms of neurodegeneration. ROS‐associated chemotherapy related ApoA‐I oxidation leads to elevation of peripheral levels of tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) that can cross the blood‐brain barrier (BBB) causing a signaling cascade that can contribute to neuronal death, likely a contributor to what patients refer to as “chemobrain. ” Current evidence suggests ApoA‐I to be a promising diagnostic marker as well as a potential target for therapeutic strategies in these neurodegenerative disorders.
Implicit Polarity and Implicit Aspect Recognition in Opinion Mining

This paper deals with a double-implicit problem in opinion mining and sentiment analysis. We aim at identifying aspects and polarities of opinionated statements not consisting of opinion words and aspect terms. As a case study, opinion words and aspect terms are first extracted from Chinese hotel reviews, and then grouped into positive (negative) clusters and aspect term clusters. We observe that an implicit opinion and its neighbor explicit opinion tend to have the same aspect and polarity. Under the observation, we construct an implicit opinions corpus annotated with aspect class labels and polarity automatically. Aspect and polarity classifiers trained by using this corpus is used to recognize aspect and polarity of implicit opinions.
Molecular epidemiology of Plasmodium falciparum infections among asymptomatic inhabitants of a holoendemic malarious area in northern Ghana

Age dependence of malaria infection was assessed in an age‐stratified cluster sample of 308 individuals from Kassena‐Nankana District of northern Ghana during June and July 2000. Overall prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum by microscopy was 70%, with the maximum among 5–9 year olds. Parasite density was highest (geometric mean 1922/μl blood) in 1–2 year olds. Eighty‐two per cent of samples were positive by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and restriction fragment length polymorphism typing of the P. falciparum msp2 revealed a mean msp2 multiplicity of 3.4 (range: 1–8) genotypes per PCR positive sample. Multiplicity increased with age until 5–9 years and then started to reduce again into adulthood. About 49.3% of infections belonged to the msp2 FC27 allelic family and 50.7% to the 3D7 family. On the day of the survey, only 3.6% of the participants had fever (axillary temperature ≥ 37.5 °C) and 2.3% had fever associated with parasitaemia. The correlation between parasite density and msp2 multiplicity was 0.42; highest among infants, and decreased with age to a minimum among 5–9 year olds. Contrasting with results from Tanzania, this correlation increased with age in adolescents and adults. Parasite multiplicity is very high in this community, and the patterns of age dependence are similar to those in other holoendemic sites in Africa, validating the use of the age–multiplicity relationship as an indicator of malaria endemicity.
Serving Live Multimedia for the Linked Open Data Cloud

: DBpedia is a community-driven project to extract semantic data from Wikipedia articles. It publishes the results as RDF data in the Linked Open Data Cloud. With DBpedia Live, the community enabled live updates of linked data using the OAI-PMH protocol to receive and process changes on Wikipedia. The MediaWiki foundation discontinued their support for OAI-PMH in March 2016 causing DBpedia Live to no longer receive live updates. In this work, we use RCStream, the new MediaWiki protocol to notify other systems of changes, to re-enable live updates in DBpedia Live. Currently, users need to consume two DBpedia resources to access general information and multimedia files about one entity. On the one hand DBpedia holds the structured information. On the other DBpedia Commons holds most multimedia information. We improve the integration of multimedia data into DBpedia by introducing a new extractor to the DBpedia Extraction Framework that extracts most multimedia data from a Wikipedia page. Additionally, we present two further extractors that link pages in DBpedia with pages in DBpedia Commons and vice versa. All our changes are available in the DBpedia Extraction Framework and in use, e.g. for DBpedia Live.
Skeletouch: transparent electro-tactile display for mobile surfaces

An electro-tactile display is a possible candidate for a truly tangible multi-touch interface for four reasons. First, it only requires an electrode substrate that can be made transparent and thin. Second, it has a potential to present high-resolution tactile information of 3mm or less, which is preferable for shape presentation. Third, it's principle is active so that it does not require user's finger motion. Fourth, the electrical stimulation can be innately used for multi-touch sensing. This paper introduces a prototype transparent electro-tactile display mounted on mobile devices.
APOPTOSIS OF CRYPT EPITHELIAL CELLS IN ULCERATIVE COLITIS

In the colon of ulcerative colitis (UC) patients, apoptotic bodies have been recognized in routine histopathological preparations. To investigate the extent of the apoptosis, colonic biopsies were examined from involved and uninvolved areas of untreated active UC and from normal areas in patients with colonic polyps, utilizing various markers of apoptosis. The markers included DNA breaks detected by TUNEL, Fas (CD95/APO‐1) and Fas ligand (Fas‐L) localized by immunohistochemistry, electron microscopic features of apoptosis, and laddering of extracted DNA. Apoptosis marker positive cells were found mainly on the luminal epithelium of the normal colon and were present in active UC in crypts of involved and uninvolved areas of the colon, in addition to the luminal epithelium. The DNA extracted from active UC colon electrophoresed as a ladder. These findings suggest that the loss of epithelial cells in active UC occurs mainly by apoptosis in crypts of involved and adjacent uninvolved areas and that the Fas/Fas‐L interaction is a mediator of the apoptosis.
Into the Maelstrom: Music, Improvisation and the Dream of Freedom, Volume 1

Into the Maelstrom examines in two volumes the history, practice and context of musical improvisation, notably the post-1959 ‘school’ known as free improvisation. The source material includes primary research through face to face interviews, alongside systematic study of archive materials (personal, private and institutional), published and unpublished literature and interviews, film, audio recordings, photographs, magazine articles and personal experience. The intention is that it should function as a history, source book, theoretical overview and research companion for the theory and practice of improvised music.
Characterisation of two highly oncogenic strains of Marek's disease virus.

The RB-1B and ALA-8 strains of Marek's disease (MD) virus, which were isolated from chickens with MD and which had been vaccinated with the herpesvirus of turkeys (HVT), were evaluated for their oncogenic potential in genetically susceptible (P-line) and resistant (N-line, PDRC) chickens. RB-1B and ALA-8 were both highly oncogenic, causing a high incidence of MD in both susceptible and resistant birds. Vaccination of P-line birds with SB-1 or HVT did not protect satisfactorily against RB-1B. However, a bivalent vaccine consisting of SB-1 and HVT enhanced protection significantly. HVT alone, and the bivalent vaccine, protected PDRC and N-line chickens well against RB-1B, but SB-1 was less protective in PDRC birds. HVT protected equally well against challenge with ALA-8 and the standard JM-10 strain. Differences in the pathogenesis of viral infection could not be detected among ALA-8, RB-1B and JM-10 between 4-7 days post-infection (d.p.i.). However, after d.p.i. 12 RB-1B caused significantly higher levels of viral internal antigen and virus isolation rates than did JM-10 in the same genetic strain. Prior vaccination prevented the expression of ALA-8 at 5 and 20 d.p.i. , but not that of RB-1B. Pathogenetic events such as expression of VIA or level of virus infection appeared to be directly related to the level of protection observed in challenged birds.
PKAuth : A Social Login Protocol for Unregistered Applications

Social login is a double-redirection mechanism whereby a Web application delegates user authentication to a social site and obtains access to the user’s social context. Today social login is implemented using OAuth, which requires registration of the application with the site for authentication of the application to the site and identification of the application to the user by the site. As social login gains in popularity, this may lead to a situation where every application must register with the dominant social site (currently Facebook) just to be able to authenticate its users, and the dominant social site has the power to disable any application on the Web by revoking its registration. PKAuth is a protocol for social login that does not require registration and yet provides strong application authentication and identification. It relies for that purpose on the public key infrastructure of the Web. The application submits its TLS certificate as client certificate in a TLS handshake, and the site identifies the application to the user by displaying the information contained in the certificate. Additional information about the application may be provided to the site by a holder-of-key assertion or by optional prior registration.
Lag free transfer transistor in CMOS image sensor pixel with a non-uniform doped gate

A transfer transistor structure achieving complete charge transfer in a CMOS image sensor pixel is proposed to eliminate image lag. This structure adopted double N implants for photodiode to ensure a wide channel of charge transfer, a surface P type preventing from dark current and especially a non-uniform doped poly-silicon gate to adjust the potential profile in channel. The simulation results show that if a light pulse of 10000lux illuminates for one integration cycle, the signal voltage of the following frame drops to 1/50000 of the first one. The electron density in N buried layer after charge transfer is around 108/cm3, far below the intrinsic value.
The impact of medicare funding on the use of mammography among older women: implications for improving access to screening.

BACKGROUND In 1991, a policy change extended finan cial coverage for biennial mammography to holders of Medicare part B. The impact of this decision on mammography use was examined by comparing mammography use among Medicare-eligible and ineligible women in the years before (1990) and after (1993) the policy change, using National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data, controlling for socioeconomic indicators and for having a usual source of medical care. METHODS The Medicare-eligible group consists of 2,419 women ages 65-69 years and women ages 60-64 years who are Medicare-eligible. The Medicare-ineligible group consists of 1,872 women ages 60-64 years. The analysis used logistic regressions and compared women who had undergone mammography in the prior 2 years and controlled for race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, insurance status, and usual source of care. RESULTS Medicare reimbursement of mammography appears to have increased the number of Medicare-eligible women who had had a mammogram in the 2 years prior to the survey. However, the analyses suggested that disparities in mammography use due to access to primary care and socioeconomic status persisted after the change in Medicare coverage. Analyses indicated that having additional insurance was the only significant predictor of having a usual source of care among the Medicare population. CONCLUSIONS This analysis suggests that simply removing financial barriers to mammography for older women (such as the 1998 elimination of a deductible payment for mammograms provided under Medicare) may have limited effectiveness. The strong relationship between having a usual source of care and mammography suggests that disparities in mammography use may reflect inequalities in access to health care in general.