Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acute pain medicine in anesthesiology

The American Academy of Pain Medicine and the American Society for Regional Anesthesia have recently focused on the evolving practice of acute pain medicine. There is increasing recognition that the scope and practice of acute pain therapies must extend beyond the subacute pain phase to include pre-pain and pre-intervention risk stratification, resident and fellow education in regional anesthesia and multimodal analgesia, as well as a deeper understanding of the pathophysiologic mechanisms that are integral to the variability observed among individual responses to nociception. Acute pain medicine is also being established as a vital component of successful systems-level acute pain management programs, inpatient cost containment, and patient satisfaction scores. In this review, we discuss the evolution and practice of acute pain medicine and we aim to facilitate further discussion on the evolution and advancement of this field as a subspecialty of anesthesiology.
ff ect for gas permeability and its comparison to water permeability for porous sedimentary rocks

Klinkenberg effect for gas permeability and its comparison to water permeability for porous sedimentary rocks W. Tanikawa and T. Shimamoto Kochi Institute for Core Sample Research, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), 200 Monobe-otsu, Kochi, Japan. Department of Geology and Mineralogy, Faculty of Science, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa-Oiwake-Cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan. Received: 20 April 2006 – Accepted: 30 May 2006 – Published: 7 July 2006 Correspondence to: W. Tanikawa (tanikawa@jamstec.go.jp)
Estimating genetic and non-genetic effects for host susceptibility, infectivity and recoverability using temporal epidemic data

Hosts differ widely in their response to infection and therefore also in their relative contribution to the spread of infection within and across populations. Three key epidemiological host traits affect infectious disease spread: susceptibility (propensity to acquire infection), infectivity (propensity to transmit infection to others, once infected) and recoverability (propensity to recover quickly). Disease control strategies aimed at reducing disease spread may target improvement in any one of these traits. In this paper we introduce a novel software tool called SIRE (standing for “Susceptibility, Infectivity and Recoverability Estimation”), which allows, for the first time, simultaneous estimation of the genetic effect of a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), as well as of environmental and specific non-genetic influences on these three host traits. SIRE implements a Bayesian algorithm which makes use of temporal data (consisting of any combination of recorded individual infection times, recovery times or disease status measurements) from multiple epidemics whose dynamics can be represented by the susceptible-infectious-recovered (SIR) model. Validation of SIRE was achieved through simulation studies. Different data scenarios representing realistic recording schemes were simulated to evaluate the impact on the precision of parameter estimates. This analysis revealed that, for the majority of scenarios, SNP effects associated with recoverability can be estimated with highest precision and accuracy, followed by susceptibility and finally infectivity. In the latter case it was found that many epidemics with few individuals give substantially more statistical power to identify SNP effects than the reverse. Furthermore, precise estimates of SNP effects could be obtained even when only recovery times of individuals are known, albeit requiring around four times as many individuals to give equivalent precision. SIRE represents a new tool for analysing a wide range of experimental and field disease data with the aim of discovering and validating SNPs and other factors controlling infectious disease transmission.
POLITECNICO DI TORINO Repository ISTITUZIONALE Electrical Contacts on Silicon Nanowires Produced by Metal-Assisted Etching : a Comparative Approach /

Silicon nanowires fabricated by metal-assisted chemical etching can present low porosity and a rough surface depending on the doping level of the original silicon wafer. In this case, wiring of silicon nanowires may represent a challenging task. We investigated two different approaches to realize the electrical contacts in order to enable electrical measurement on a rough silicon nanowire device: we compared FIB-assisted platinum deposition for the fabrication of electrical contact with EBL technique.
Serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and risk of death in chronic dialysis patients.

BACKGROUND The prognosis of chronic dialysis patients is poor, in part due to the high incidence of cardiovascular disease. Malnutrition, such as hypoalbuminaemia, has been shown to be a predictor of death in this group of patients, while serum C-reactive protein (CRP) is a predictor of myocardial infarction and sudden death. Thus, the aim of the present study was to determine of the relationship between CRP and serum albumin concentration, and the value of baseline CRP data in the prediction of death. METHODS In one of the dialysis units in Okinawa, Japan, baseline CRP data was available (n=163, 95 men and 68 women) in January 1991. These patients were divided into two groups according to their baseline CRP levels, with group 1 consisting of CRP<10 mg/l (n=128) and group 2 of CRP> or =10 mg/l (n=35), and then followed up until the end of 1997. Survival curves were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. The statistical significance of the relationship between CRP levels and the risk of death was evaluated by multiple logistic analysis with covariables such as age, sex, diabetes mellitus, serum albumin, and blood pressure. RESULTS The mean (SD) level of serum albumin was 38 (3) g/l in group 1 and 36 (3) g/l in group 2 (P<0.00001). The 5-year survival rate was significantly poorer in group 2 (44.4%) than in group 1 (82.5%) (P<0.0001). Furthermore, the risk of death was significantly higher in group 2 (relative risk 3.48 (95% confidence interval 1.76-6.89), P<0.0003) by multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis. CONCLUSIONS CRP is a significant predictor of death in chronic dialysis patients, independent of serum albumin and other possible confounders. Dialysis patients with high CRP levels should be carefully evaluated and monitored regardless of serum albumin concentrations in the normal range.
Remote and deep attestations to mitigate threats in Cloud Mash-Up services

Cloud computing is an emerging technology able to offer a plethora of new advanced services. Cloud operators can use and combine such services in order to build new Mash-up Cloud platform and applications. However, security issues have strongly limited the large-scale adoption of Cloud computing, especially in business environments and similar application scenarios, where sensitive date need to be protected. At the same time the Trusted Computing technology is bringing a new way of thinking about security of systems. This paper deals with the importance to leverage the Trusted Computing for encouraging the development of secure distributed Mash-up Cloud services. We show how the Remote and Deep Attestation protocols make secure both the physical hosts and the virtual machines in a Cloud infrastructure, providing a solid framework for the deployment of federated environments.
Anti‐absence activity of mGlu1 and mGlu5 receptor enhancers and their interaction with a GABA reuptake inhibitor: Effect of local infusions in the somatosensory cortex and thalamus

Glutamate and γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) are the key neurotransmitter systems in the cortical‐thalamocortical network, involved in normal and pathologic oscillations such as spike‐wave discharges (SWDs), which characterize different forms of absence epilepsy. Metabotropic glutamate (mGlu) and GABA receptors are widely expressed within this network. Herein, we examined the effects of two selective positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) of mGlu1 and mGlu5 receptors, the GABA reuptake inhibitor, tiagabine, and their interaction in the somatosensory cortex and thalamus on SWDs in WAG/Rij rats.
The Effect of Physical Self-concept on Sportswear Dependence and Psychological Happiness

This study investigates the effect of physical self-concept and sportswear dependence on psychological happiness for women over 20 years of age who participate in life sports. Survey questionnaires were developed and implemented to collect data. Three hundred and thirty nine responses were analyzed to test the structural equation model using SPSS 21.0 and Amos 21. The results were as follows. First, physical selfconcept had a significant positive effect on psychological happiness and sportswear dependence mediated the relationship between them. Second, sports competence had a significant effect on psychological happiness and sportswear dependence respectively. Third, appearance satisfaction did not significantly affect psychological happiness and had a significant positive effect on sportswear dependence. Fourth, physical strength satisfaction did not affect psychological happiness and sportswear dependence. Fifth, health condition had a significant positive effect on psychological happiness and negatively influenced sportswear dependency. In conclusion, physical self-concept and sportswear dependence plays an important role in psychological happiness that requires a differentiated marketing strategy in the sportswear market.
Distance-Based Locality Analysis and Prediction

Profiling can accurately analyze program behavior for select data inputs. This article shows that profiling can also predict program locality for inputs other than profiled ones. Here locality is defined by the distance of data reuse. The article describes three distance-based techniques for whole-program locality analysis. The first is approximate measurement of reuse distance in near linear time. It can measure the reuse distance of all accesses to all data elements in fullsize benchmarks with guaranteed precision. The second is pattern recognition. Based on a few training runs, it classifies patterns as regular and irregular and, for regular ones, it predicts their (changing) behavior for other inputs. It uses regression and multi-model analysis to reduce the prediction error, the space overhead, and the size of the training runs. The last technique is online prediction, which uses distance-based sampling at the beginning of an execution to estimate the locality of the whole execution. When tested on 15 integer and floating-point programs from SPEC and other benchmark suites, these techniques predict with on average 94% accuracy for data inputs up to hundreds times larger than the training inputs. Distance-based locality analysis has been used in measuring and improving the cache performance of a wide range of programs.
The evolution of host preference in allopatric vs. parapatric populations of Timema cristinae walking‐sticks

Divergent habitat preferences can contribute to speciation, as has been observed for host‐plant preferences in phytophagous insects. Geographic variation in host preference can provide insight into the causes of preference evolution. For example, selection against maladaptive host‐switching occurs only when multiple hosts are available in the local environment and can result in greater divergence in regions with multiple vs. a single host. Conversely, costs of finding a suitable host can select for preference even in populations using a single host. Some populations of Timema cristinae occur in regions with only one host‐plant species present (in allopatry, surrounded by unsuitable hosts) whereas others occur in regions with two host‐plant species adjacent to one another (in parapatry). Here, we use host choice and reciprocal‐rearing experiments to document genetic divergence in host preference among 33 populations of T. cristinae. Populations feeding on Ceanothus exhibited a stronger preference for Ceanothus than did populations feeding on Adenostoma. Both allopatric and parapatric pairs of populations using the different hosts exhibited divergent host preferences, but the degree of divergence tended to be greater between allopatric pairs. Thus, gene flow between parapatric populations apparently constrains divergence. Host preferences led to levels of premating isolation between populations using alternate hosts that were comparable in magnitude to previously documented premating isolation caused by natural and sexual selection against migrants between hosts. Our findings demonstrate how gene flow and different forms of selection interact to determine the magnitude of reproductive isolation observed in nature.
Assessment and comparison of local and global SW engineering practices in a classroom setting

In this paper we present assessment and comparison of local and global software (SW) engineering practices based on our software engineering (SE) class jointly taught for the last there years between San Francisco State University (SFSU) and the University of Applied Sciences, Fulda University, Germany. We define global SE practices as those used when the team members are for the most part distributed in terms of location and time, and hence do not meet regularly in person. While global SE practices have become a significant mode of SW development, surprisingly little formal measurements and comparisons have been done to understand it and compare it with traditional (local) SE practices. Moreover, the challenge remains as to how to effectively prepare students and employees for this environment. The key contribution of this paper is an attempt to objectively compare differences between local and global SW engineering practices from the developers' perspective, using measurements from our SFSU/Fulda SW engineering class as a simulation of a real-world environment. We also propose practical SE teamwork assessment methods based on our comparison measurements. In analyzing the differences between local and global SE practices we measure and analyze the following five main factors: quality of final delivery (including development of milestone documentation), progress impediment factors, expended effort, level of collaborative activity and teamwork problems. One of the surprising findings is that in today environment the differences between local and global SE practices are blurring, since local groups have to employ many practices of global groups, e.g. are teams of diverse cultures who seldom meet each other in person. We also confirm that global groups spend significantly more effort in producing comparable deliverables.
Measles Virus Nucleocapsid Protein Binds to FcγRII and Inhibits Human B Cell Antibody Production

Despite the development of an efficient specific immune response during measles virus (MV) infection, an immunosuppression occurs contributing to secondary infections. To study the role of nucleocapsid protein (NP) in MV-induced immunosuppression, we produced recombinant MV NP. Purified recombinant NP exhibited biochemical, antigenic, and tridimensional structure similar to viral NP. By flow cytometry, we showed that viral or recombinant NP bound to human and murine B lymphocytes, but not to T lymphocytes. This binding was specific, independent of MHC class II expression, and dependent of the B lymphocyte activation state. The murine IIA1.6 B cell line, deficient in the Fc receptor for IgG (FcγRII) expression, did not bind NP efficiently. Transfected IIA1.6 cells expressing either murine FcγRIIb1 or b2, or human FcγRIIa, b1*, or b2 isoforms efficiently bound NP. Furthermore, this binding was inhibited up to 90% by monoclonal antibodies 2.4G2 or KB61 specific for murine and human FcγRII, respectively. Finally, the in vitro Ig synthesis of CD40- or Ig-activated human B lymphocytes in the presence of interleukin (IL)-2 and IL-10 was reduced by 50% in the presence of recombinant NP. These data demonstrate that MV NP binds to human and murine FcγRII and inhibits in vitro antibody production, and therefore suggests a role for NP in MV-induced immunosuppression.
Cardiovascular risk prediction method based on test analysis and data mining ensemble system

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a highly significant contributor to loss of quality and quantity of life all over the world. Early detection and prediction is very important for patients' treatment and doctors' diagnose which can help to reduce mortality. In this paper, we focus on practical problem of Chinese hospital dealing with cardiovascular patients' data to make an early detection and risk prediction. To better understand the prescription and advice in Chinese, basic natural language processing method was used to synonym recognition and attribute extraction in Ultrasonic echocardiography. After data preprocessing, over 50 data mining techniques was tested for real patents dataset. Totake full advantage of multi-methods and reduce bias, top 6 subclassifiers was selected to form an ensemble system, adjusted voting mechanism was used to make a final result, which consists of risk prediction and confidence. System has a high precision of 79.3% for 2628 cases of real patents in experiment. Therisk prediction confidence and algorithm accuracy shows great significance in practical use for doctors' diagnosing.
For the Love of a Game: The Effects of Pathological Video Game Use on Romantic Relationship Satisfaction

For the Love of a Game: The Effects of Pathological Video Game Use on Romantic Relationship Satisfaction Hailey Elizabeth Holmgren School of Family Life, BYU Master of Science Media use may have the potential to influence romantic relationships, depending on the context of media use. For example, pathological media use, which includes symptoms of addiction such as relapse, withdrawal, and conflict with family and friends over media use, may be particularly damaging to romantic relationships. Additionally, research shows that pathological video game use can negatively influence factors of mental health, including depression. The current study includes 183 heterosexual couples from the Eastern United States. Both members of each couple completed online surveys answering questions regarding pathological media use, depression, and relationship satisfaction. Results showed that male pathological video game use was not associated with female romantic relationship satisfaction. Additionally, male pathological video game use was associated with increased levels of male depression, and male depression was associated with increased levels of female relationship satisfaction. However, male depression did not mediate the relation between male pathological video game use and female relationship satisfaction. Discussion focuses on the implications of pathological video game use on mental health, as well as problems within the sample, measurement, and short-term longitudinal study design.
Entwined engrams

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans displays a surprisingly sophisticated behavioral repertoire that includes the utilization of both associative and non-associative forms of learning. Elucidating the molecular basis of learning remains a fundamental, yet daunting, challenge of modern neuroscience. In Pereira and van der Kooy (ref. 2), we described the use of a two input—two output stimuli system to dissociate between associative and non-associative learning and between memory acquisition and retrieval processes. Briefly, one finding indicated that after training with the odorant isoamyl alcohol (IsoA), we could preferentially retrieve either associative or non-associative memory with a choice of either a benzaldehyde (Bnz) or IsoA retrieval stimulus, respectively. Here, we describe how that apparently enigmatic molecular cross wiring of the two forms of memory examined could represent an evolutionary relic of the ancient divergence between non-associative and associative learning. In addition, we extrapolate on the utility and subtleties of using such a system to dissociate and decipher the components of memory in C. elegans.
Do Writing Directions Influence How People Map Space onto Time?: Evidence from Japanese and Taiwanese Speakers

The causal role of a unidirectional orthography in shaping speakers’ mental representations of time seems to be well established by many psychological experiments. However, the question of whether bidirectional writing systems in some languages can also produce such an impact on temporal cognition remains unresolved. To address this issue, the present study focused on Japanese and Taiwanese, both of which have a similar mix of texts written horizontally from left to right (HLR) and vertically from top to bottom (VTB). Two experiments were performed which recruited Japanese and Taiwanese speakers as participants. Experiment 1 used an explicit temporal arrangement design, and Experiment 2 measured implicit space-time associations in participants along the horizontal (left/right) and the vertical (up/down) axis. Converging evidence gathered from the two experiments demonstrate that neither Japanese speakers nor Taiwanese speakers aligned their vertical representations of time with the VTB writing orientation. Along the horizontal axis, only Japanese speakers encoded elapsing time into a left-to-right linear layout, which was commensurate with the HLR writing direction. Therefore, two distinct writing orientations of a language could not bring about two coexisting mental time lines. Possible theoretical implications underlying the findings are discussed.
The Efficacy of Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) for People With Mild-to-Moderate Dementia

Abstract. Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) is an internationally used, evidence-based psychosocial intervention for people with mild-to-moderate dementia. The present review thus aimed specifically to examine the reliability of the findings and the strength of the evidence obtained in studies on the CST protocol concerning any benefit in terms of cognitive functioning, perceived quality of life, psychological, behavioral, and everyday life functioning of people with dementia, and their family caregivers’ health status, quality of life, and burden of care. A systematic literature search on studies specifically adopting the CST protocol in patients with mild-to-moderate DSM-IV dementia – eventually involving their family members – was performed. A total of 238 papers were screened and 12 finally included in the qualitative analysis after inclusion/exclusion criteria were applied. The Jadad Scale and the Stroke Prevention and Educational Awareness Diffusion (SPREAD) method were used to appraise the studies’ methodological quality. Moderate levels of evidence emerged for general cognitive functioning, language comprehension and production, and quality of life. The levels of evidence were weaker for short-term memory, orientation, praxis, depression, social and emotional loneliness, behavior, and communication in people with dementia, and for their caregivers’ health status and anxiety symptoms. Albeit with the limited quality of reviewed evidence, and the need for more studies on CST, the present review highlights the value of this program as part of dementia care services to sustain the cognitive functioning and quality of life of people with dementia.