Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The RCC1 protein, a regulator for the onset of chromosome condensation locates in the nucleus and binds to DNA

The RCC1 gene, a regulator for the onset of chromosome condensation was found to encode a protein with a molecular mass of 45 kD, determined using the antibody against the synthetic peptides prepared according to the amino acid sequence of the putative RCC1 protein. The p45 located in the nuclei was released from the isolated nuclei, either by DNase I digestion or by treatment with 0.3 M NaCl. Consistently, p45 bound to the DNA-cellulose column was eluted with 0.3 M NaCl. After sequential treatment with DNase I and 2 M NaCl, almost all of the RCC1 protein were released from the nuclei. Thus, RCC1 protein locates on the chromatin and is not a component of the nuclear matrix. In mitotic cells, p45 is dispersed into the cytoplasm. Presumably, RCC1 protein plays a role in regulating the onset of chromosome condensation, at the level of transcription or of mRNA maturation.
Implementation experiences of ISO/IEEE11073 standard applied to new use cases for e-health environments

Recent advances in biomedical engineering and continuous technological innovations in last decade are promoting new challenges, especially in e-Health environments. In this context, the medical devices interoperability is one of the interest fields wherein these improvements require a standard-based design in order to achieve homogeneous solutions. Furthermore, the spreading of wearable devices, oriented to the paradigm of patient environment and supported by wireless technologies as Bluetooth or ZigBee, is bringing new medical use cases based on Ambient Assisted Living, home monitoring of elderly, heart failure, chronic, under palliative care or patients who have undergone surgery, urgencies and emergencies, or even fitness auto-control and health follow-up. In this paper, several implementation experiences based on ISO/IEEE11073 standard are detailed. These evolved e-Health services can improve the quality of the patient’s care, increase the user’s interaction, and assure these e-Health applications to be fully compatible with global telemedicine systems.
Proton echo‐planar spectroscopic imaging with highly effective outer volume suppression using combined presaturation and spatially selective echo dephasing

A highly effective outer volume suppression (OVS) technique, termed spatially selective echo dephasing (SSED), which employs gradient dephasing of spatially selective spin echoes, is introduced. SSED, which is relatively insensitive to T1 dispersion among lipid signals and B1 inhomogeneity, was integrated with very high spatial resolution 2D proton echo‐planar spectroscopic imaging (PEPSI) to assess residual lipid bleeding into cortical regions in the human brain. The method was optimized to minimize signal refocusing of secondary spin‐echoes in areas of overlapping suppression slices. A comparison of spatial presaturation with single or double SSED, and with combined presaturation and SSED shows that the latter method has superior performance with spatially uniform lipid suppression factors in excess of 70. Metabolite mapping (choline, creatine, and NAA) with a 64 × 64 spatial matrix and 0.3 cm3 voxels in close proximity to peripheral lipid regions was demonstrated at 1.5 T with a scan time of 32 min using the standard head coil. Magn Reson Med 49:817–821, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Cortical high-gamma responses in auditory processing.

PURPOSE This tutorial provides an introduction to cortical auditory spectral responses, focusing on event-related activity in the high-gamma frequencies (60-150 Hz), their recent emergence in neuroscience research, and potential clinical applications. METHOD Auditory high-gamma responses are described and compared with traditional cortical evoked responses, including the auditory evoked N1 response. Methods for acquiring and analyzing spectral responses, including time-frequency analyses, are discussed and contrasted with more familiar time-domain averaging approaches. Four cases are presented illustrating high-gamma response patterns associated with normal and impaired auditory processing. CONCLUSIONS Cortical auditory high-gamma responses may provide a useful clinical measure of auditory processing.
ESTIMATION OF MAGNETIC FIELD STRENGTH IN THE TURBULENT WARM IONIZED MEDIUM

We studied Faraday rotation measure (RM) in turbulent media with the rms Mach number of unity, using isothermal, magnetohydrodynamic turbulence simulations. Four cases with different values of initial plasma beta were considered. Our main findings are as follows. (1) There is no strong correlation between the fluctuations of magnetic field strength and gas density. So the magnetic field strength estimated with RM/DM (DM is the dispersion measure) correctly represents the true mean strength of the magnetic field along the line of sight. (2) The frequency distribution of RMs is well fitted to the Gaussian. In addition, there is a good relation between the width of the distribution of RM/ ( is the average value of RMs) and the strength of the regular field along the line of sight; the width is narrower, if the field strength is stronger. We discussed the implications of our findings in the warm ionized medium where the Mach number of turbulent motions is around unity.
Update 2014: Advances to Optimize 6-Mercaptopurine and Azathioprine to Reduce Toxicity and Improve Efficacy in the Management of IBD

Background:The thiopurine drugs, 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) and azathioprine (AZA), remain as a mainstay therapy in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Differences in metabolism of these drugs lead to individual variation in thiopurine metabolite levels that can determine its therapeutic efficacy and development of adverse reactions. In this update, we will review thiopurine metabolic pathway along with the up-to-date approaches in administering thiopurine medications based on the current literature. Methods:A search of the PubMed database by 2 independent reviewers identifying 98 articles evaluating thiopurine metabolism and IBD management. Results:Monitoring thiopurine metabolites can assist physicians in optimizing 6-MP and AZA therapy in treating patients with IBD. Of the dosing strategies reviewed, we found evidence for monitoring thiopurine metabolite level, use of allopurinol with thiopurine, use of mesalamine with thiopurine, combination therapy with thiopurine and anti–tumor necrosis factor agents, and split dosing of AZA or 6-MP to optimize thiopurine therapy and minimize adverse effects in IBD. Conclusions:Based on the currently available literature, various dosing strategies to improve therapeutic response and reduce adverse reactions can be considered, including use of allopurinol with thiopurine, use of mesalamine with thiopurine, combination therapy with thiopurine and anti–tumor necrosis factor agents, and split dosing of thiopurine.
Speaker independent Sinhala speech recognition for voice dialling

Speech is the most natural and the most powerful way of communication between humans. Speech recognition for voice dialling applications has already been developed for languages such as English, French and Japanese, etc. However, there is no evidence of existence of such applications for voice dialling in Sinhala language with speaker independent environment. The work described in this paper is based on an attempt to implement a speaker independent Sinhala speech recognizer and a voice dialling application which has been used to communicate with a VoIP application. The underlying concept of building the speech recognizer is Hidden Markov Model (HMM) and the system is developed using the Hidden Markov Model Toolkit (HTK). The first stages of building the speech recognizer involve the preparation of speech samples for training and the creation of the pronunciation dictionary which lists all the speech samples along with their phonetic representations. A noise reduction method has been applied at the front end of the voice dialling application to clean up the speech signal from the beginning. The middle stages comprise of employing a good feature extraction technique to enhance the speech recognition, and building and training the acoustic model to match a spoken digit to the observed input while the latter stages involve the creation of the language model to determine which digit has spoken. The results show that 87.37% of the digits are correctly recognized by the speech recognizer under quiet environment while 82.19% of the digits are correctly recognized in noisy environment.
The symbolic management of stockholders: Corporate governance reforms and shareholder reactions

Jensen and Meckling (1976) defined agency costs as the sum of (1) monitoring expenditures to assure that an agent is acting in the principal's interests, (2) bonding expenditures made by the agent to reassure the principal, and (3) the remaining costs due to unresolved conflicts between agent and principal (see also Barney and Ouchi, 1986: 209-210). This paper examines the consequences of symbolic action in corporate governance. Specifically, we examine (1) whether the stock market reacts favorably to specific governance mechanisms that convey the alignment of CEO and shareholder interests, such as the adoption of long-term incentive plans (LTIPs), even if such plans are not actually implemented, (2) whether providing agencyrelated explanations for LTIPs affects the stock market response, and (3) whether the symbolic adoption of LTIPs deters other governance reforms that would reduce CEOs' control over their boards. Analysis of data from over 400 corporations over a ten-year period suggests that symbolic corporate actions can engender significant positive stockholder reactions and deter other, more substantive governance reforms, thus perpetuating power imbalances in organizations. We discuss implications for institutional and agency-based perspectives on organizations. '
Breast Cancer in Iran: An Epidemiological Review

Abstract: Breast cancer is one of the most frequent malignancies among Iranian women, however; the epidemiological aspects of breast cancer among Iranian patients are uncertain. A literature review of the published articles from January 1998 to December 2005 was conducted using different search engines: MEDLINE, Scientific information data base of Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research, and over 2000 issues of 94 Persian medical journals. The headings “Breast Cancer,”“Breast Tumor,”“Breast Malignancy,” and “Breast Carcinoma” were combined with the word “Iran” to execute the search. In all, 85 full papers were reviewed. These findings showed that participants ranged from 15 to 84 years old, with those 40–49 being the most prevalent. The incidence of breast cancer in women was 22 per 100,000. The prevalence in this same population was 120 per 100,000. Stage I was diagnosed in 18%, stage II in 57% and stage III in 25% of the cases. About 72% of the patients were diagnosed with a tumor over 2 cm. Sixty‐three percent of the patients had lymph node involvement at the diagnostic time. Infiltrative ductal carcinoma was found to be the most common at 77% and lobular carcinoma the least at 5%. This review indicates that the epidemiological aspects of breast cancer in Iran are relatively well‐studied. Shortcomings in study of its clinical aspects are evident and need to be a central part of upcoming investigations.
Fatigue and Attention Following Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract: Numerous outcome studies have indicated that fatigue is one of the most universal and persistent problems reported following traumatic brain injury (TBI). The present study will examine fatigue following TBI, as reported subjectively, its relationship with demographic and injury-related factors, depression and anxiety, as well as its relationship with measures of attention and mental speed. In a group of 28 TBI participants and 28 controls, TBI participants reported significantly greater fatigue on the Fatigue Severity Scale. Fatigue was greater in those who were older, more educated and a longer time post-injury. Depression was also associated with high fatigue, but not in all cases. The relationship of subjective fatigue with mental speed and attention will be the next focus of this study.
De-Linking Labor

This article evaluates the thesis that the relationship between national labor movements and social democratic political parties has become `delinked' in the past two decades as a result of globalization. As globalization has undermined the political relevance of unions, social democratic parties have pursued independent, and more conservative, policies and have courted a diversity of other interest groups. This thesis is tested using a pooled time-series multiple regression analysis of 16 advanced industrialized countries spanning the period 1950-95. Globalization - measured both in terms of a country's general `openness' to the world economy and specifically in terms of international trade and direct investment abroad - is found to be positively related both to the widening success gap between unions and social democratic parties and to the growing policy conservatism of social democratic parties.
Opérations d'administration pour SStreaMWare

SStreaMWare is a data management middleware that allows building declarative queries on heterogeneous sensors. This paper illustrates how to extend SStreaMWare, in addition to its querying capabilities, with management capabilities, such as configuration, software update and performance monitoring, in order to increase the efficiency of networked sensing systems. In fact, with the emergence of sensors in applications in which the quality of service requirements are high (e.g., industrial, medical, domotic), management of these sensing devices gains an increasing importance.
The Combined Performance of ADC, CSF CXC Chemokine Ligand 13, and CSF Interleukin 10 in the Diagnosis of Central Nervous System Lymphoma

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: CXC chemokine ligand 13 and interleukin 10 have emerged as CSF biomarkers for the diagnosis of CNS lymphoma. Our hypothesis is that the combined use of ADC, CXC chemokine ligand 13, and interleukin 10 will result in increased diagnostic performance compared with the use of ADC values alone. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty-seven patients were included in this study, including 43 with CNS lymphoma and 44 without CNS lymphoma (21 metastases, 14 high-grade gliomas, 9 tumefactive demyelinating lesions) who had undergone CSF proteomic analysis and had a new enhancing mass on brain MR imaging. Average ADC was derived by contouring the contrast-enhancing tumor volume. Group means were compared via t tests for average ADC, CXC chemokine ligand 13, and interleukin 10. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed for each individual variable. Multiple-variable logistic regression with receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed, and the multiple-variable receiver operating characteristic was compared with single-variable receiver operating characteristics. RESULTS: The average ADC was lower and CSF CXC chemokine ligand 13 and interleukin 10 values were higher in CNS lymphoma (P < .001). Areas under the curve ranged from 0.739 to 0.832 for single-variable ROC. Multiple-variable logistic regression yielded statistically significant individual effects for all 3 variables in a combined model. Multiple-variable receiver operating characteristics (area under the curve, 0.928) demonstrated statistically significantly superior diagnostic performance compared with the use of single variables alone. CONCLUSIONS: The combined use of ADC, CSF CXC chemokine ligand 13, and interleukin 10 results in increased diagnostic performance for the diagnosis of CNS lymphoma. This finding highlights the importance of CSF analysis when the diagnosis of CNS lymphoma is considered on the basis of MR imaging.
Decline of physical activity from youth to young adulthood in Finland.

PURPOSE As a part of a nation-level research program, Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns, the aim of this study was to analyze age-related decline of physical activity among Finnish young people. METHODS The number of subjects at the beginning of the study in 1980 was 2309, representing both genders and ages 9, 12, 15, and 18. The follow-up measurements were repeated in 1983, 1986, and 1989. Thus, the data cover ages from 9 to 27. To measure physical activity, a short self-report questionnaire was administrated in connection with medical examination. The questionnaire consisted of items concerning frequency and intensity of physical activity, way of spending leisure-time, and participation in organized sports. Using five items an index of physical activity was calculated. RESULTS The results showed a remarkable decline after the age of 12 in frequency of physical activity and sport participation, in particular. The self-reported intensity of physical activity increased with age. In younger age groups, the boys were more active than girls according to all variables, but the decline of activity was steeper among male than female subjects, and after the age of 15 the female subjects participated in physical activity more frequently than male subjects. CONCLUSION Reasons for the decline need to be further studied, and interventions are needed to assist young people in maintaining healthful levels of physical activity.
Evolutionary Computation and Visualisation as Decision Support tools For Conceptual Building Design

The conceptual stage of the design is undoubtedly the most innovative stage of the design process during which most decisions that determine the future of the project are taken, and about 70% to 80% of resources are committed. Unfortunately, due to discrete, fuzzy and incomplete nature of information in this stage the design and decision making process is non-algorithmic which is difficult to be modelled in a computer program. In the past a number of attempts have been made, using knowledge based expert systems and classical optimisation tools to involve computers in decision making process, but none of these attempts have been totally successful. Applications of Evolutionary Computation in design opened up a new opportunity in this area. This paper introduces a novel approach and demonstrates that interactive use of evolutionary computation, assisted by visualisation tools, leads to a human-led search that could be the key for solving this deadlock. A system based on an interactive visualisation clustered genetic algorithm is introduced and its application on an example of a multi-disciplinary decision making process is demonstrated.
Changing Deliberative Norms on News Organizations' Facebook Sites

Comments posted to news sites do not always live up to the ideals of deliberative theorists. Drawing from theories about deliberation and group norms, this study investigates whether news organizations can affect comment section norms by engaging directly with commenters. We conducted a field study with a local television station in a top-50 Designated Market Area. For 70 political posts made on different days, we randomized whether an unidentified staff member from the station, a recognizable political reporter, or no one engaged with commenters. We assessed if these changes affected whether the comments (n = 2,403) were civil, were relevant, contained genuine questions, and provided evidence. The findings indicate that a news organization can affect the deliberative behavior of commenters.
WTF-PAD: Toward an Efficient Website Fingerprinting Defense for Tor

Website Fingerprinting attacks are conducted by a low-resource local adversary who observes the (encrypted) traffic between an anonymity system and one or more of its clients. With this attack, the adversary can recover the user's otherwise anonymized web browsing activity by matching the observed traffic with prerecorded web page traffic templates. The defenses that have been proposed to counter these attacks are effective, but they are impractical for deployment in real-world systems due to their high cost in terms of both added delay to access webpages and bandwidth overhead. Further, these defenses have been designed to counter attacks that, despite their high success rates, have been criticized for assuming unrealistic attack conditions in the evaluation setting. In this paper, we show that there are lightweight defenses that provide a sufficient level of security against website fingerprinting, particularly in realistic evaluation settings. In particular, we propose a novel defense based on Adaptive Padding, a link-padding strategy for low-latency anonymity systems that we have adapted for Tor. With this countermeasure in a closed-world setting, we observe a reduction in the accuracy of the state-of-the-art attack from 91% to 20%, while introducing zero latency overhead and less than 60% bandwidth overhead. In an open-world setting with 50 pages that the attacker is monitoring and 2,000 other websites that users visit, the attack precision is just 1% and drops further as the number of sites grows. For the implementation and evaluation of the defense, we have developed a tool for evaluating the traffic analysis resistance properties of Tor's Pluggable Transports that we hope will contribute to future research on Tor and traffic analysis.
Recurrent Lumbar Disc Herniation: Results of Operative Management

Study Design. A retrospective evaluation of 28 patients with recurrent lumbar disc herniation. Objectives. To analyze the outcome of the revisions (repeat discectomy), the risk factors of recurrent disc herniation, and the factors that influenced the outcomes of repeat discectomy. Summary of Background Data. Recurrent herniation following disc excision has been reported in 5–11% of patients. There have been many studies on recurrent disc herniation, but these studies have analyzed mixed patient populations. Methods. Recurrent lumbar disc herniation was defined as disc herniation at the same level, regardless of ipsilateral or contralateral herniation, with a pain-free interval greater than 6 months. Eight women and 20 men were studied. The levels of disc herniation were L4–L5 (19 cases) and L5–S1 (9 cases). Gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging was performed in all patients. Revision surgery was performed in all patients by using conventional open discectomy. The pain-free interval, side and degree of herniation, operation time, duration of hospital stay, and clinical improvement rate were recorded. Results. The mean pain-free interval was 60.8 months. There were 21 cases of ipsilateral herniation and 7 cases of contralateral herniation. The degrees of herniation in revision were protrusion (14 cases), subligamentous extrusion (3 cases), transligamentous extrusion (8 cases), and sequestration (3 cases). The degrees of herniation in the previous discectomy were protrusion (17 cases), subligamentous extrusion (10 cases), and transligamentous extrusion (1 case). The length of surgery was significantly different (P = 0.003) between the revision surgery and the previous discectomy. There were no significant differences between revision and previous surgery in terms of hospital stay or clinical improvement rates. Age, gender, smoking, professions, traumatic events, level and degree of herniation, and pain-free interval did not affect the clinical outcomes. Conclusion. Conventional open discectomy as a revision surgery for recurrent lumbar disc herniation showed satisfactory results that were comparable with those of primary discectomy. Based on the results of this study, repeat discectomy can be recommended for the management of recurrent lumbar disc herniation.