Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Point-of-care International Normalised Ratios: UK NEQAS experience demonstrates necessity for proficiency testing of three different monitors

Summary External quality assessment (EQA) or proficiency testing is widely considered to be necessary for International Normalised Ratio (INR) determinations performed in conventional laboratory settings. There is increasing use of near-patient-test (NPT) or point-of-care (POC) INR devices and it is not known whether EQA is also necessary for these monitors. We report here on six years experience of proficiency testing for POC monitors used by health care professionals. Three devices were used by >10 centres who participated in the programme, the CoaguChek (CUC), the CUC-S and the TAS or Rapidpoint Coag. Not all users of the same type of monitor obtained the same INR result when analysing the same plasma sample. For the three monitors the CV of results in different centres was 11–14%. The variation between results in different centres could relate to inappropriately handled proficiency testing material, inaccuracies in the calibration of the system by the manufacturer or deterioration during transport/storage of the test strips. In each survey 10–11% of centres using POC monitors obtained INR results which were >15% different from those in other centres using the same monitors. For hospital laboratories using conventional INR techniques this figure was 12%. The relationship between INR results obtained by users of the Rapidpoint Coag orTAS monitor and results obtained by conventional techniques was not constant over the period of study. During one period INRs with TAS were 13.7% greater than with conventional methods. For the remaining three time periods results were similar. Our data suggest that the variation between INR results determined with three POC monitors show similar variation to that observed in hospital laboratories using conventional methods. Based on our data we recommend that users of these POC monitors participate regularly in an independent external proficiency testing programme.
The Cinnamyl Alcohol Dehydrogenase Gene Family in Melon (Cucumis melo L.): Bioinformatic Analysis and Expression Patterns

Cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD) is a key enzyme in lignin biosynthesis. However, little was known about CADs in melon. Five CAD-like genes were identified in the genome of melons, namely CmCAD1 to CmCAD5. The signal peptides analysis and CAD proteins prediction showed no typical signal peptides were found in all CmCADs and CmCAD proteins may locate in the cytoplasm. Multiple alignments implied that some motifs may be responsible for the high specificity of these CAD proteins, and may be one of the key residues in the catalytic mechanism. The phylogenetic tree revealed seven groups of CAD and melon CAD genes fell into four main groups. CmCAD1 and CmCAD2 belonged to the bona fide CAD group, in which these CAD genes, as representative from angiosperms, were involved in lignin synthesis. Other CmCADs were distributed in group II, V and VII, respectively. Semi-quantitative PCR and real time qPCR revealed differential expression of CmCADs, and CmCAD5 was expressed in different vegetative tissues except mature leaves, with the highest expression in flower, while CmCAD2 and CmCAD5 were strongly expressed in flesh during development. Promoter analysis revealed several motifs of CAD genes involved in the gene expression modulated by various hormones. Treatment of abscisic acid (ABA) elevated the expression of CmCADs in flesh, whereas the transcript levels of CmCAD1 and CmCAD5 were induced by auxin (IAA); Ethylene induced the expression of CmCADs, while 1-MCP repressed the effect, apart from CmCAD4. Taken together, these data suggested that CmCAD4 may be a pseudogene and that all other CmCADs may be involved in the lignin biosynthesis induced by both abiotic and biotic stresses and in tissue-specific developmental lignification through a CAD genes family network, and CmCAD2 may be the main CAD enzymes for lignification of melon flesh and CmCAD5 may also function in flower development.
Computer-Assisted Counseling.

New updated! The latest book from a very famous author finally comes out. Book of computer assisted counseling, as an amazing reference becomes what you need to get. What's for is this book? Are you still thinking for what the book is? Well, this is what you probably will get. You should have made proper choices for your better life. Book, as a source that may involve the facts, opinion, literature, religion, and many others are the great friends to join with.
Robust 3D tracking of unknown objects

Visual tracking of unknown objects is an essential task in robotic perception, of importance to a wide range of applications. In the general scenario, the robot has no full 3D model of the object beforehand, just the partial view of the object visible in the first video frame. A tracker with this information only will inevitably lose track of the object after occlusions or large out-of-plane rotations. The way to overcome this is to incrementally learn the appearances of new views of the object. However, this bootstrapping approach is sensitive to drifting due to occasional inclusion of the background into the model.
Evaluation of binding and antagonism/downregulation of brilanestrant molecule in estrogen receptor-α via quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics, molecular dynamics and binding free energy calculations

Abstract The resistance to the endocrine therapy of breast cancer leads to the emergence of new class of drugs that downregulates the estrogen receptor action known as selective estrogen receptor downregulators (SERDs). The first approved SERD is fluvestrant; after this, there are several downregulators evolved and are in clinical trials, in which the brilanestrant (BRI) molecule shows nM range of binding affinity and efficacy. In the present study, to understand the binding nature of BRI molecule in the active site of ERα, the molecular docking analysis has been performed. Further, the QM/MM calculations were performed for the BRI–ERα complex to analyze the charge density distribution of intermolecular interactions. The molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was employed to understand the stability and binding mechanism of BRI molecule through root-mean-square deviation (RMSD), root-mean-square fluctuation (RMSF) and binding free energy calculations. From the MD simulation trajectory analysis, the alterations of Helix12 conformation and the key residue (Lys529), which is responsible for the ERα downregulation, have been identified. Further, the interaction between the H3 and H12 regions was identified for the antagonism of BRI molecule. The current study led us to understand the binding mechanism, antagonism and downregulation of BRI molecule, and this knowledge is essential to design novel SERDs for the treatment of endocrine-resistant positive breast cancer. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma
[Effect of tripterysium glucosides on diabetic cardiomyopathy in rats].

OBJECTIVE To observe the effect of heart protection on diabetic cardiomyopathy in rats by tripterysium glucosides. METHOD The rat diabetic cardiomyopathy rats model are made by streptozotocin, then divided into tripterysium glucosides group (n=8) and model group (n=8). In addition, the control group is established (n=8). Glucosides group was orally administrated tripterysium glucosides (18 mg x kg(-1)), the control groups was orally administrated same volume NS for 3 months. Blood sugar, heart function and cardiac index were detected after 3 months. Immunohistochemical techniques were used to detect NF-kappaB and ICAM-1 expression. Ultrastructure of cardiac muscle cell were observed by electronmicroscope. RESULT Compared with model group, cardiac index was decreased after tripterysium glucosides administration, and LVSP, LVEDP, + dp/dtmax, -dp/dtmax, were improved, and the expression of nuclear Factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) and intercellular adhension molecule-1 (ICAM-1) was inhibited. Ultrastructure of cardiac muscle cell such as mitochondrion and cardiac muscle fibers was atttenuated. CONCLUSION Tripterysium glucosides could protect rat diabetic cardiomyopathy rats heart. These function may be related to inflammatory reaction inhibition and immunosuppression of tripterysium glucosides.
Tiotropium in the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Bronchodilators play an important role in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and anticholinergics have a long history as an effective and safe treatment. Two papers in this issue extend the information available on tiotropium, through large studies lasting a year. The study by Vincken et al. 1, on behalf of the Dutch/Belgian tiotropium study group, shows better results with the long-acting anticholinergic tiotropium than with ipratropium in COPD. A number of previous publications have shown that the prolonged bronchodilator action of tiotropium, found in single dose studies, is maintained with continued use 2–4. This publication extends shorter studies from the same group 2 and shows that the benefits in spirometry, symptoms, health status and exacerbations were maintained over 12 months of the study. A multicentre study from Casaburi et al. 5, comparing tiotropium with placebo, also confirms the continued effect over 12 months. In addition, tiotropium, compared with placebo, improved health status on COPD-specific measures such as the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire, and general measures, such as the Short Form (SF)-36 5. Such larger and longer studies are needed for alternative end points, such as exacerbations. The baseline forced expiratory volume in one second of ∼40% predicted in these groups of patients, puts them in …
Les connaissances mtacognitives en lecture-comprhension chez l'enfant et l'adulte

Cet article examine les connaissances metacognitives en lecture-comprehension chez les enfants et les adultes. Les connaissances metacognitives en lecture portent sur les facteurs linguistiques et cognitifs qui affectent la comprehension et sur les strategies d’evaluation et de controle de l’activite en cours. Deux etudes ont ete menees afin d’identifier les connaissances d’enfants de CE2 et CM2, ainsi que d’etudiants a l’universite dans ce domaine. On observe une certaine evolution des connaissances avec l’âge, mais surtout d’importantes differences individuelles chez les enfants comme chez les adultes. De plus le niveau de metaconnaissances apparait lie a la performance en comprehension chez les enfants.
Self-Assembled 3D ZnO Porous Structures with Exposed Reactive {0001} Facets and Their Enhanced Gas Sensitivity

Complex three-dimensional structures comprised of porous ZnO plates were synthesized in a controlled fashion by hydrothermal methods. Through subtle changes to reaction conditions, the ZnO structures could be self-assembled from 20 nm thick nanosheets into grass-like and flower-like structures which led to the exposure of high proportions of ZnO {0001} crystal facets for both these materials. The measured surface area of the flower-like and the grass, or platelet-like ZnO samples were 72.8 and 52.4 m2·g−1, respectively. Gas sensing results demonstrated that the porous, flower-like ZnO structures exhibited enhanced sensing performance towards NO2 gas compared with either grass-like ZnO or commercially sourced ZnO nanoparticle samples. The porous, flower-like ZnO structures provided a high surface area which enhanced the ZnO gas sensor response. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy characterization revealed that flower-like ZnO samples possessed a higher percentage of oxygen vacancies than the other ZnO sample-types, which also contributed to their excellent gas sensing performance.
Training American listeners to perceive Mandarin tones.

Auditory training has been shown to be effective in the identification of non-native segmental distinctions. In this study, it was investigated whether such training is applicable to the acquisition of non-native suprasegmental contrasts, i.c. , Mandarin tones. Using the high-variability paradigm, eight American learners of Mandarin were trained in eight sessions during the course of two weeks to identify the four tones in natural words produced by native Mandarin talkers. The trainees' identification accuracy revealed an average 21% increase from the pretest to the post-test, and the improvement gained in training was generalized to new stimuli (18% increase) and to new talkers and stimuli (25% increase). Moreover, the six-month retention test showed that the improvement was retained long after training by an average 21% increase from the pretest. The results are discussed in terms of non-native suprasegmental perceptual modification, and the analogies between L2 acquisition processes at the segmental and suprasegmental levels.
How can botnets cause storms? Understanding the evolution and impact of mobile botnets

A botnet in mobile networks is a collection of compromised nodes due to mobile malware, which are able to perform coordinated attacks. Different from Internet botnets, mobile botnets do not need to propagate using centralized infrastructures, but can keep compromising vulnerable nodes in close proximity and evolving organically via data forwarding. Such a distributed mechanism relies heavily on node mobility as well as wireless links, therefore breaks down the underlying premise in existing epidemic modeling for Internet botnets. In this paper, we adopt a stochastic approach to study the evolution and impact of mobile botnets. We find that node mobility can be a trigger to botnet propagation storms: the average size (i.e., number of compromised nodes) of a botnet increases quadratically over time if the mobility range that each node can reach exceeds a threshold; otherwise, the botnet can only contaminate a limited number of nodes with average size always bounded above. This also reveals that mobile botnets can propagate at the fastest rate of quadratic growth in size, which is substantially slower than the exponential growth of Internet botnets. To measure the denial-of-service impact of a mobile botnet, we define a new metric, called last chipper time, which is the last time that service requests, even partially, can still be processed on time as the botnet keeps propagating and launching attacks. The last chipper time is identified to decrease at most on the order of 1/√B, where B is the network bandwidth. This result reveals that although increasing network bandwidth can help with mobile services; at the same time, it can indeed escalate the risk for services being disrupted by mobile botnets.
TOUCH-PANEL USABILITY FOR CHILDREN

In the past few years, touch panels have increasingly been used in children’s education, and more research has been devoted to the development of electronic schoolbag. However, children often encounter difficulties operating touch screens, possibly due to their relative lack of experience using computers or touch panels, or because of the small size of their hands. This study investigates the drag, zoom and rotation operations of 4.3-inch and 10.1-inch touch panels, aiming to provide recommendations for appropriate movement speed settings. The operating gestures used by child users were also observed. The movement rate of 30 young adults using 4.3-inch and 10 inch touch panels were taken as base values, and compared to the movement rate of 30 other children serving as test subjects. Overall, children performed better on the 10.1-inch panel than on the 4.3-inch panel, thus 10.1-inch panels are recommended for use in electronic schoolbag for children. In addition, results for the children's average drag rate (0.039 inch) and average rotation rate (0.024~0.026inch) on the 10.1-inch screen can be used as a settings reference. Finally, the children were found to all use gestures combining the use of thumb, forefinger and middle finger.
Community detection for large scale social network sites

Social networking sites, such as YouTube, Flickr, Livejournal and Orkut, are getting popular with the increasing number of Internet users. As a consequence, community detection on social network sites becomes more important and have been studied by many researchers. However, most of the proposed algorithms are used to detect communities on small scale social networks which limits studying large scale social network sites. In this paper, we are proposing an efficient community detection algorithm for large scale social networks.
Empirical analysis of performance in acquisitions based on different motives

In order to know how the motive of acquisition influences on its performance, multi-Dimensional analysis and regression analysis are used to analyze the sort of motives and relation between motives and long-term performance. Research indicates performance of acquirers in pre-acquisition and post-acquisition increases remarkably based on synergy motive, acquisitions based on agency motive do not create value in long term, acquirers with high ROE and ROA is more possibly based on synergy motive than those based on agency motive.
A study of enzymes that can break down tobacco-leaf components; mammalian pancreatic and salivary enzymes.

In other papers ofthis series (Holden, Pirie & Tracey, 1950; Holden, 1950a, b) the effects of a number of polysaccharases on leaf fibre are described. The only polysaccharase recognized in tobacco leaves in significant quantity is amylase (Frankenburg, 1946), and even this is not present in sufficient quantity to effect complete removal of starch on repeated prolonged incubation. It is convenient to remove the leaf starch so that varying amounts of starch hydrolysis by the leaf amylase will not complicate the results observed with other enzymes. This has been done with salivary amylase. Some of the enzyme preparations studied do not contain protease in significant amounts. Trypsin has accordingly been used in the form of a crude preparation from pancreas in order to remove protein. This 'trypsin' contains amylase, and the effect ofthe other enzymes present in it may be made clearer by preliminary treatment of the substrate with salivary amylase. The protease in tobacco-leaf fibre has already been described (Tracey, 1948). The low activities found will be still lower under the conditions used in the present work, for no reducing agents were added and experiments were carried out at pH 7, whereas the pH optimum of the leaf protease is about 5. The effect of tobacco protease can therefore be ignored. Commercial trypsin softens the fibre. This softening is probably due to the protease component of the mixture, for similar effects are obtained by the use of crystalline chymotrypsin (Bawden & Pirie, 1946).
Nonlaser Endoscopic Endonasal Dacryocystorhinostomy With Adjunctive Mitomycin C in Children

Purpose: To determine the outcome and safety of pediatric endonasal dacryocystorhinostomy with the use of adjunctive mitomycin C. Methods: A prospective, nonrandomized and noncomparative interventional case series study was performed in 71 consecutive procedures. Sixty patients 16 years of age and younger underwent nonlaser endonasal dacryocystorhinostomy with the use of adjunctive mitomycin C. Eleven patients had a simultaneous bilateral procedure performed. All patients underwent a standardized procedure, with an endonasal approach to the lacrimal sac and surgical removal of nasal mucosa, lacrimal bone, and a fragment of the frontal process of the maxilla. The medial wall of the lacrimal sac was completely removed and a neurosurgical cottonoid soaked in mitomycin C at 0.5 mg/ml placed at the osteotomy site for 5 minutes. All patients underwent bicanalicular or monocanalicular silicone intubation. Results: The main outcome measures were the resolution of epiphora, lacrimal discharge, and patency of the ostium confirmed either by endoscopic visualization and/or irrigation at 6 months or a normal dye disappearance test. Thirteen patients’ (18%) final evaluation was via telephone survey. The mean follow-up was 12.3 months. Nonlaser endonasal dacryocystorhinostomy with adjunctive mitomycin C was successful in 67 cases (94.4%). African descent was strongly associated with a higher rate of obstruction (p < 0.001). Infection at the time of surgery (p = 0.051) and less than 3 months intubation (p = 0.059) were also borderline significant. Previous trauma, gender, age, and side operated had no influence on the final outcome. No significant complications were encountered. Conclusions: Nonlaser endonasal dacryocystorhinostomy with mitomycin C is a safe and successful procedure for the treatment of congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction in children. It has the advantage of leaving no scar and of preserving the medial canthal structures. It can be successfully performed as a simultaneous bilateral procedure.
Redundancy-Based Semi-Reliable Packet Transmission in Wireless Visual Sensor Networks Exploiting the Sensing Relevancies of Source Nodes

Visual data monitoring in wireless sensor networks can significantly enrich a large set of surveillance and general purpose monitoring applications. However, transmission of image snapshots or video streams can rapidly deplete the energy resources of the deployed nodes, turning energy efficiency into a major optimization issue. During wireless transmissions, packets can be corrupted directly affecting the monitoring quality of the applications. One reasonable way to reduce quality loss is the transmission of redundant packets for higher error resilience, but additional packet transmissions may incur in undesirable energy consumption. Frequently, some monitoring quality loss may be tolerated since visual information retrieved from source nodes may have different relevance for the applications, according to the monitoring requirements and the current sensors’ poses and fields of view. In such way, we propose that only high-relevant source nodes will transmit redundant packets, assuring error resilience only for the most relevant visual data for the monitoring application. Doing so, energy is saved over the network when fewer packets are transmitted in average, potentially enlarging the network lifetime with reduced impact to the overall monitoring quality. Key-Words: packet-level redundancy; wireless visual sensor networks; semi-reliable transmission; sensing relevance of source nodes.