Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stroke Rehabilitation: Indwelling Urinary Catheters, Enteral Feeding Tubes, and Tracheostomies Are Associated With Resource Use and Functional Outcomes

Background and Purpose— The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between tracheostomies, enteral feeding tubes, and indwelling urinary catheters and functional outcome measures, incidence of medical complications, and resource use in an inpatient stroke rehabilitation program. Methods— A cohort of 1553 patients consecutively admitted for inpatient stroke rehabilitation was studied. Demographic and stroke characteristics, impairment (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale) and disability level (Functional Independence Measure [FIM]), preexisting medical conditions, and the presence of tracheostomies, enteral feeding tubes, and indwelling urinary catheters were recorded at admission. The occurrence of medical complications during rehabilitation, discharge disability level, length of rehabilitation stay, and rehabilitation hospital charges were recorded at discharge. Results— Compared with patients with no medical tubes, patients with 3 medical tubes had significantly higher National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores, lower admission and discharge FIM scores, reduced FIM efficiency scores (average FIM score change per day), and twice the number of medical complications. Patients with 3 medical tubes stayed 28 days longer in acute hospitalization and 20 days longer in rehabilitation compared with patients with no medical tubes. The presence of even a single medical tube was associated with longer length of stay, more medical complications during rehabilitation, and greater disability level at discharge. Conclusions— The presence of ≥1 medical tubes is associated with more severe and disabling strokes, an increased number of medical complications, longer acute and rehabilitation hospitalizations, and greater resource use.
Broadband Ferromagnetic Resonance Study of ${\hbox{Co}}_{2}{\hbox{MnSi}}$  Thin Films: Effect of the Film Thickness

The thickness dependence of the static and dynamic properties of Co<sub>2</sub>MnSi (CMS) full Heusler was investigated. Five samples with thickness ranging from 7 to 100 nm were deposited by rf magnetron sputtering on single crystal MgO(001). X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) evidence the epitaxial growth of samples, with an epitaxial relationship MgO(001)[100]//CMS(011)[110]. Magnetic properties were studied by standard magnetometry and broadband stripline ferromagnetic resonance (FMR). We observe a four-fold magnetocrystalline anisotropy K<sub>c</sub> = 1.5 × 10<sup>5</sup> erg/cm<sup>3</sup> for thicker samples, and an increase of K<sub>c</sub> up to 2.6 × 10<sup>5</sup> erg/cm<sup>3</sup> for the thinnest sample, accompanied by an increase of saturation magnetization. We attribute this behavior to interfacial effect (strain or stoichiometry).
Electronic Transactions on Numerical Analysis Volume 19, 2005 Contents

In this paper we study the orthogonality conditions satisfie d by Jacobi polynomials P (α,β) n when the parameters α andβ are not necessarily > −1. We establish orthogonality on a generic closed contour on a Riemann surface . Depending on the parameters, this leads to either full orthogonality condit ions on a single contour in the plane, or to multiple orthogonality conditions on a numb er of contours in the plane. In all cases we show that the orthogonality condition s characterize the Jacobi polynomialP (α,β) n of degreen up to a constant factor.
Unexpected coherence and conservation

The effects of migration in a network of patch populations, or metapopulation, are extremely important for predicting the possibility of extinctions both at a local and a global scale. Migration between patches synchronizes local populations and bestows upon them identical dynamics (coherent or synchronous oscillations), a feature that is understood to enhance the risk of global extinctions. This is one of the central theoretical arguments in the literature associated with conservation ecology. Here, rather than restricting ourselves to the study of coherent oscillations, we examine other types of synchronization phenomena that we consider to be equally important. Intermittent and out-of-phase synchronization are but two examples that force us to reinterpret some classical results of the metapopulation theory. In addition, we discuss how asynchronous processes (for example, random timing of dispersal) can paradoxically generate metapopulation synchronization, another non-intuitive result that cannot easily be explained by the standard theory.
Daedalus: Toward composable multimedia MP-SoC design

Daedalus is a system-level design flow for the design of multiprocessor system-on-chip (MP-SoC) based embedded multimedia systems. It offers a fully integrated tool-flow in which design space exploration (DSE), system-level synthesis, application mapping, and system prototyping of MP-SoCs are highly automated. In this paper, we describe our first industrial deployment experiences with the Daedalus framework. Daedalus is currently being deployed in the early stages of the design of an image compression system for very high resolution cameras targeting medical appliances. In this context, we performed a DSE study with a JPEG encoder application, which exploits both task and data parallelism. This application was mapped onto a range of different MP-SoC architectures. We achieved a performance speed-up of up to 20 x compared to a single processor system. In addition, the results show that the Daedalus high-level MP-SoC models accurately predict the overall system performance, i.e., the performance error is around 5%.
Outer Membrane Vesicles and Soluble Factors Released by Probiotic Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 and Commensal ECOR63 Enhance Barrier Function by Regulating Expression of Tight Junction Proteins in Intestinal Epithelial Cells

The gastrointestinal epithelial layer forms a physical and biochemical barrier that maintains the segregation between host and intestinal microbiota. The integrity of this barrier is critical in maintaining homeostasis in the body and its dysfunction is linked to a variety of illnesses, especially inflammatory bowel disease. Gut microbes, and particularly probiotic bacteria, modulate the barrier integrity by reducing gut permeability and reinforcing tight junctions. Probiotic Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) is a good colonizer of the human gut with proven therapeutic efficacy in the remission of ulcerative colitis in humans. EcN positively modulates the intestinal epithelial barrier through upregulation and redistribution of the tight junction proteins ZO-1, ZO-2 and claudin-14. Upregulation of claudin-14 has been attributed to the secreted protein TcpC. Whether regulation of ZO-1 and ZO-2 is mediated by EcN secreted factors remains unknown. The aim of this study was to explore whether outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) released by EcN strengthen the epithelial barrier. This study includes other E. coli strains of human intestinal origin that contain the tcpC gene, such as ECOR63. Cell-free supernatants collected from the wild-type strains and from the derived tcpC mutants were fractionated into isolated OMVs and soluble secreted factors. The impact of these extracellular fractions on the epithelial barrier was evaluated by measuring transepithelial resistance and expression of several tight junction proteins in T-84 and Caco-2 polarized monolayers. Our results show that the strengthening activity of EcN and ECOR63 does not exclusively depend on TcpC. Both OMVs and soluble factors secreted by these strains promote upregulation of ZO-1 and claudin-14, and down-regulation of claudin-2. The OMVs-mediated effects are TcpC-independent. Soluble secreted TcpC contributes to the upregulation of ZO-1 and claudin-14, but this protein has no effect on the transcriptional regulation of claudin-2. Thus, in addition to OMVs and TcpC, other active factors released by these microbiota strains contribute to the reinforcement of the epithelial barrier.
Improvement in hemocompatibility of chitosan/soy protein composite membranes by heparinization.

OBJECTIVE To improve the hemocompatibility of chitosan/soy protein isolate composite membranes by heparinization. METHODS Chitosan/soy protein isolate membranes (ChS-n, n=0, 10 and 30, corresponding to the soy protein isolate content in the membranes) and heparinized ChS-n membranes (HChS-n) were prepared by blending in dilute HAc/NaAc solution. The hemocompatibility of ChS-n and HChS-n membranes were comparatively evaluated by measuring surface heparin density, blood platelet adhesion, plasma recalcification time (PRT), thrombus formation and hemolysis assay. RESULTS The surface heparin density analysis showed that heparinized chitosan/SPI soy protein isolate membranes have been successfully prepared by blending. The density of heparin on the surface of HChS-n membranes was in the range of 0.67-1.29 μg/cm2. The results of platelet adhesion measurement showed that the platelet adhesion numbers of HChS-n membranes were lower than those of the corresponding ChS-n membranes. The PRT of the HChS-0, HChS-10 and HChS-30 membranes were around 292, 306 and 295 s, respectively, which were longer than the corresponding ChS-0 (152 s), ChS-10 (204 s) and ChS-30 (273 s) membranes. The hemolysis rate of HChS-n membranes was lower than 1%. CONCLUSION The hemocompatibility of ChS membranes could be improved by blending with heparin. Compared with ChS membranes, HChS membranes showed lower platelet adhesion, longer PRT, higher BCI, significant thromboresistivity and a lower hemolysis rate due to the heparinization. This widens the application of chitosan and soy protein-based biomaterials that may come in contact with blood.
Bad nights or bad bars? Multi-level analysis of environmental predictors of aggression in late-night large-capacity bars and clubs.

AIMS To clarify environmental predictors of bar-room aggression by differentiating relationships due to nightly variations versus across bar variations, frequency versus severity of aggression and patron versus staff aggression. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS Male-female pairs of researcher-observers conducted 1334 observations in 118 large capacity (> 300) bars and clubs in Toronto, Canada. MEASUREMENTS Observers independently rated aspects of the environment (e.g. crowding) at every visit and wrote detailed narratives of each incident of aggression that occurred. Measures of severity of aggression for the visit were calculated by aggregating ratings for each person in aggressive incidents. FINDINGS Although bivariate analyses confirmed the significance of most environmental predictors of aggression identified in previous research, multivariate analyses identified the following key visit-level predictors (controlling for bar-level relationships): rowdiness/permissive environment and people hanging around after closing predicted both frequency and severity of aggression; sexual activity, contact and competition and people with two or more drinks at closing predicted frequency but not severity of aggression; lack of staff monitoring predicted more severe patron aggression, while having more and better coordinated staff predicted more severe staff aggression. Intoxication of patrons was significantly associated with more frequent and severe patron aggression at the bar level (but not at the visit level) in the multivariate analyses and negatively associated with severity of staff aggression at the visit level. CONCLUSIONS The results demonstrate clearly the importance of the immediate environment (not just the type of bar or characteristics of usual patrons) and the importance of specific environmental factors, including staff behaviour, in predicting both frequency and severity of aggression.
Differential fates of biomolecules delivered to target cells via extracellular vesicles

Significance Extracellular vesicle (EV)-mediated transfer of macromolecules may play a key role in cellular communication and may have utility in directed molecular therapies. In addition, the EV packaged biomolecules in serum may have potential for diagnosing cancer and determining its likelihood of metastasis. EVs are heterogeneous and there are many outstanding questions associated with biogenesis, uptake, and the fate of transferred molecules in recipient cells. In fact, the function, characterization, and even the nomenclature of EVs are being refined. Here we aimed to improve the functional characterization of EVs, and observed that only microvesicles (MVs), but not exosomes, can functionally transfer loaded reporter molecules to recipient cells, largely by delivering plasmid DNA. Our data show that exosomes and MVs are structurally and functionally distinct. Extracellular vesicles (EVs), specifically exosomes and microvesicles (MVs), are presumed to play key roles in cell–cell communication via transfer of biomolecules between cells. The biogenesis of these two types of EVs differs as they originate from either the endosomal (exosomes) or plasma (MVs) membranes. To elucidate the primary means through which EVs mediate intercellular communication, we characterized their ability to encapsulate and deliver different types of macromolecules from transiently transfected cells. Both EV types encapsulated reporter proteins and mRNA but only MVs transferred the reporter function to recipient cells. De novo reporter protein expression in recipient cells resulted only from plasmid DNA (pDNA) after delivery via MVs. Reporter mRNA was delivered to recipient cells by both EV types, but was rapidly degraded without being translated. MVs also mediated delivery of functional pDNA encoding Cre recombinase in vivo to tissues in transgenic Cre-lox reporter mice. Within the parameters of this study, MVs delivered functional pDNA, but not RNA, whereas exosomes from the same source did not deliver functional nucleic acids. These results have significant implications for understanding the role of EVs in cellular communication and for development of EVs as delivery tools. Moreover, studies using EVs from transiently transfected cells may be confounded by a predominance of pDNA transfer.
Neurofilament light

Neurodegenerative parkinsonian disorders were historically divided into 2 major groups based on their clinical picture, treatment response, and prognosis. One group encompassed Parkinson disease (PD), characterized at onset by usually asymmetrical extrapyramidal motor symptoms showing a marked and sustained response to levodopa, and subsequent slow motor decline over time. The other group included the much rarer atypical parkinsonian disorders (APDs), including multiple system atrophy (MSA), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), and corticobasal degeneration (CBD), with features signaling early autonomous, pyramidal, or cortical involvement, poor motor response to levodopa, and a much more rapid functional decline and higher mortality than usually seen in PD.1
WIC participation and attenuation of stress-related child health risks of household food insecurity and caregiver depressive symptoms.

OBJECTIVES To examine how family stressors (household food insecurity and/or caregiver depressive symptoms) relate to child health and whether participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) attenuates stress-related child health risks. DESIGN Cross-sectional family stress and cumulative stress models from January 1, 2000, through December 31, 2010. SETTING Families recruited from emergency departments and/or primary care in Baltimore, Boston, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. PARTICIPANTS Participants included 26,950 WIC-eligible caregivers and children younger than 36 months; 55.2% were black, 29.9% were Hispanic, and 13.0% were white. Caregivers' mean age was 25.6 years; 68.6% were US-born, 64.7% had completed high school, 38.0% were married, and 36.5% were employed. MAIN EXPOSURES Of the participants, 24.0% had household food insecurity and 24.4% had depressive symptoms; 9.1% had both stressors, 29.9% had 1 stressor, and 61.0% had neither; 89.7% were WIC participants. OUTCOME MEASURES Caregivers reported child health, lifetime hospitalizations, and developmental risk. Weight and length were measured. We calculated weight-for-age and length-for-age z scores and the risk of underweight or overweight. The well-child composite comprised good/excellent health, no hospitalizations, no developmental risk, and neither underweight nor overweight. RESULTS In multivariate analyses adjusted for covariates, as stressors increased, odds of fair/poor health, hospitalizations, and developmental risk increased and odds of well-child status decreased. Interactions between WIC participation and stressors favored WIC participants over nonparticipants in dual stressor families on 3 child health indicators: (1) fair/poor health: WIC participants, adjusted odds ratio (aOR), 1.89 (95% CI, 1.66-2.14) vs nonparticipants, 2.35 (2.16-4.02); (2) well-child status: WIC participants, 0.73 (0.62-0.84) vs nonparticipants, 0.34 (0.21-0.54); and (3) overweight: WIC participants, 1.01 (0.88-1.16) vs nonparticipants, 1.48 (1.04-2.11) (P = .06). CONCLUSIONS As stressors increased, child health risks increased. WIC participation attenuates but does not eliminate child health risks.
Unified shear strength model for reinforced concrete beams-Part II: Verification and simplified method

This study integrates two previously-developed shear strength models for reinforced concrete (RC) slender beams and deep beams in order to develop a unified shear strength model. The models address the transition of shear failure mechanism according to the shear span-to-depth ratio. The unified model, which is applicable to both slender and deep beams with and without shear reinforcement, was verified by comparisons with existing experimental results. The comparisons showed that the proposed model predicts the shear strength of concrete beams better than current design methods for a wide range of values of design parameters. Based on the proposed strength model and the test results, a simplified design equation was developed that can predict the shear strength of RC beams both accurately and conservatively.
Development of the anti-VEGF aptamer to a therapeutic agent for clinical ophthalmology

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the main cause of loss of sight in the world and is characterized by neovascularization of the macula. The factors producing choroidal vascularization involve various growth factors, including the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF165). In this context, the systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) became a tool for developing new therapeutic agents for AMD treatment. The SELEX is a combinatorial oligonucleotide library-based in vitro selection approach in which DNA or RNA molecules (aptamers) are identified by their ability to bind their targets with high affinity and specificity. Recently, the use of the SELEX technique was extended to isolate oligonucleotide ligands for a wide range of proteins of clinical importance. For instance, Pegaptanib sodium, a 28-nucleotide polyethylene glycol RNA aptamer that selectively binds to VEGF165 and inhibits angiogenesis, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of wet AMD, thereby providing significant benefits to a great number of patients with minimal adverse effects.
Enriching the Experience in Video Games Based on Playability Development Techniques

Video games are the most economically profitable entertainment industry. The nature of their design means that user experience is enriched by emotional, cultural, and other subjective factors that make design and / or evaluation difficult using traditional methods commonly used in interactive systems. It is therefore necessary to know how to apply Playability in order to design, analyze, optimize, and adapt it to a player’s preferences. In this chapter, the authors present a way to perform UX based on Playability techniques by adding hedonic factors that enrich the development of video games. The aim is to easily and cost-effectively analyze the different degrees of Playability within a game and determine how player experience is affected by different game elements. These results can be applied in the educational field where the experience of the pupils with educational video games is a crucial factor for the success of the learning process.
MicroRNA as Type I Interferon-Regulated Transcripts and Modulators of the Innate Immune Response

Type I interferons (IFNs) are an important family of cytokines that regulate innate and adaptive immune responses to pathogens, in cancer and inflammatory diseases. While the regulation and role of protein-coding genes involved in these responses are well characterized, the role of non-coding microRNAs in the IFN responses is less developed. We review the emerging picture of microRNA regulation of the IFN response at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional level. This response forms an important regulatory loop; several microRNAs target transcripts encoding components at many steps of the type I IFN response, both production and action, at the receptor, signaling, transcription factor, and regulated gene level. Not only do IFNs regulate positive signaling molecules but also negative regulators such as SOCS1. In total, 36 microRNA are reported as IFN regulated. Given this apparent multipronged targeting of the IFN response by microRNAs and their well-characterized capacity to “buffer” responses in other situations, the prospects of improved sequencing and microRNA targeting technologies will facilitate the elucidation of the broader regulatory networks of microRNA in this important biological context, and their therapeutic and diagnostic potential.
A 43Gb/s 2:1 selector IC in 90nm CMOS technology

The 2:1 selector IC consists of three stages of input buffers, a 2:1 selector stage, and two stages of output buffers. By using multiple inductive peaking and selector architecture to suppress interference, the proposed circuit operates at a data rate of 43Gb/s and it is implemented in 90nm CMOS technology with 48nm transistors.
Discovering Latent Concepts and Exploiting Ontological Features for Semantic Text Search

Named entities and WordNet words are important in defining the content of a text in which they occur. Named entities have ontological features, namely, their aliases, classes, and identifiers. WordNet words also have ontological features, namely, their synonyms, hypernyms, hyponyms, and senses. Those features of concepts may be hidden from their textual appearance. Besides, there are related concepts that do not appear in a query, but can bring out the meaning of the query if they are added. The traditional constrained spreading activation algorithms use all relations of a node in the network that will add unsuitable information into the query. Meanwhile, we only use relations represented in the query. We propose an ontology-based generalized Vector Space Model to semantic text search. It discovers relevant latent concepts in a query by relation constrained spreading activation. Besides, to represent a word having more than one possible direct sense, it combines the most specific common hypernym of the remaining undisambiguated multi-senses with the form of the word. Experiments on a benchmark dataset in terms of the MAP measure for the retrieval performance show that our model is 41.9% and 29.3% better than the purely keyword-based model and the traditional constrained spreading activation model, respectively.