Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diagnosis and Management of Fetal Growth Restriction

Fetal growth restriction (FGR) remains a leading contributor to perinatal mortality and morbidity and metabolic syndrome in later life. Recent advances in ultrasound and Doppler have elucidated several mechanisms in the evolution of the disease. However, consistent classification and characterization regarding the severity of FGR is lacking. There is no cure, and management is reliant on a structured antenatal surveillance program with timely intervention. Hitherto, the time to deliver is an enigma. In this paper, the challenges in the diagnosis and management of FGR are discussed. The biophysical profile, Doppler, biochemical and molecular technologies that may refine management are reviewed. Finally, a model pathway for the clinical management of pregnancies complicated by FGR is presented.
Disk striping and block replication algorithms for video file servers

In multimedia systems, compressed video files are stored digitally on disks within a video server. Object placement and object replication on disks influence the cost, the availability, and the throughput of a video server. The choice of algorithm, along with the workload, determines the number of disks needed to support a given number of users. There is a need to duplex video objects in order to provide reliable access in the event of disk failures. Duplexing also provides an opportunity to optimize I/O and improve throughput by providing two potential sources for each block. The Individual Permutation Algorithm uses a different permutation of the disks for each movie. This paper studies the performance impact of different means of selecting permutations. The value of dynamic load balancing afforded by duplex is also studied. Part of the motivation of this study was to better understand the wide striping of the IBM Tiger Shark video server. Simulations show that the choice of algorithm leads to maximum practical device utilizations from 63 to 95 percent, resulting in significant differences in system cost.
Induction and expression of GluA1 (GluR-A)-independent LTP in the hippocampus

Long‐term potentiation (LTP) at hippocampal CA3–CA1 synapses is thought to be mediated, at least in part, by an increase in the postsynaptic surface expression of α‐amino‐3‐hydroxy‐5‐methyl‐4‐isoxazole proprionic acid (AMPA) receptors induced by N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate (NMDA) receptor activation. While this process was originally attributed to the regulated synaptic insertion of GluA1 (GluR‐A) subunit‐containing AMPA receptors, recent evidence suggests that regulated synaptic trafficking of GluA2 subunits might also contribute to one or several phases of potentiation. However, it has so far been difficult to separate these two mechanisms experimentally. Here we used genetically modified mice lacking the GluA1 subunit (Gria1−/− mice) to investigate GluA1‐independent mechanisms of LTP at CA3–CA1 synapses in transverse hippocampal slices. An extracellular, paired theta‐burst stimulation paradigm induced a robust GluA1‐independent form of LTP lacking the early, rapidly decaying component characteristic of LTP in wild‐type mice. This GluA1‐independent form of LTP was attenuated by inhibitors of neuronal nitric oxide synthase and protein kinase C (PKC), two enzymes known to regulate GluA2 surface expression. Furthermore, the induction of GluA1‐independent potentiation required the activation of GluN2B (NR2B) subunit‐containing NMDA receptors. Our findings support and extend the evidence that LTP at hippocampal CA3–CA1 synapses comprises a rapidly decaying, GluA1‐dependent component and a more sustained, GluA1‐independent component, induced and expressed via a separate mechanism involving GluN2B‐containing NMDA receptors, neuronal nitric oxide synthase and PKC.
A Novel PLL Resolver Angle Position Indicator

This paper describes a novel and high-performance phase-locked loop (PLL) resolver converter for the measurement of mechanical angles. The proposed method does not require the use of demodulators, voltage-controlled oscillator, digital-to-analog converter, counter, and lookup tables, that are associated with conventional PLL converters. The proposed method employs full-wave rectifiers to obtain the absolute values of the modulated resolver signals. This scheme results in a triangular output voltage and two binary outputs that represent a measure of the input angle. The required sine and cosine of the estimated angle, which are needed for PLL converters, are determined using simple approximation techniques. The proposed method can be used to measure angles in the full 360° range, is simpler than the available techniques, and may be easily implemented using digital or basic analog electronic circuitry. This paper describes the proposed method, full details of its implementation using standard electronic components, and experimental results. The performance of the proposed converter is comparable with that of a commercial product.
Introduction of a Composite Parameter to the Pharmacokinetics of Venlafaxine and its Active O‐Desmethyl Metabolite

Venlafaxine is a structurally novel, nontricyclic compound that is being evaluated for the treatment of various depressive disorders. A randomized three‐period crossover study was conducted to obtain pharmacokinetic and dose proportionality data on the drug and its active metabolite, O‐desmethylvenlafaxine. Eighteen healthy young men received single doses of venlafaxine 25, 75, and 150 mg followed by 3 days of administration every 8 hours (q8h). Steady‐state elimination half‐life was 3 to 4 hours for venlafaxine and 10 hours for O‐desmethylvenlafaxine; both were independent of dose. Venlafaxine had a high oral‐dose clearance, ranging from 0.58 to 2.63 L/hr/kg across doses with the lowest mean clearance, 0.98 L/hr/kg, at the highest dose. The apparent clearance of O‐desmethylvenlafaxine was lower than venlafaxine, ranging from 0.21 to 0.66 L/hr/kg, and the lowest mean clearance, 0.33 L/hr/kg, occurred at the lowest dose. The area under the metabolite curve was two to three times greater than that for venlafaxine. Each compound had linear dose proportionality up to 75 mg q8h. A composite parameter incorporating venlafaxine plus O‐desmethylvenlafaxine was introduced (i.e., AUC [area under the curve] + activity factor · AUCm), which extended linearity to 150 mg q8h. In summary, venlafaxine is a high‐clearance drug that forms a metabolite with almost equal activity and demonstrates linear dose‐proportionality.
Lie To Me: Compliant False Accusations By Children

In contrast to the literature showing that repeated suggestive interviews can contaminate children’s memory, in the current study we simply asked children to make a false accusation in order to help others. Results demonstrated that children would comply with an adult’s request to make an accusation even if they did not have first-hand knowledge of its accuracy. Interestingly, the initial compliance seemed to create false memories in some young children because they subsequently claimed to remember seeing the false event. In a second study we further explored the extent to which children would come to remember their own false statements. High rates of false memory were found in both children and adults when they believed their statements were accurate. In addition, younger participants also developed false memories for statements that they had previously believed were false. The findings of both experiments illustrate the dangers of pressing children to make accusations.
A Planar Folded Ultrawideband Antenna With Gap-Loading

A novel ultrawideband planar gap-loaded folded antenna is proposed in this paper, which is derived from an ordinary three-wire folded antenna with the gap-loading technique. The fabricated monopole antenna has a small electrical size and a measured bandwidth of 8.8:1 ranging from 1.48 to 13 GHz. The operating principles of the proposed antenna, including the excitation of three main resonant modes and their effects on the return loss, are analyzed. The proposed antenna exhibits a relatively stable radiation pattern, as proved experimentally in the paper. In the end, the parametric studies are performed for practical applications
A Two-stage Evaluation of User Query Performance for the Relational Model and SQL

What are the impacts of a data model and a query language on user query performance? This is a longstanding research question about database query. Current knowledge has provided their combined effect. A data model comprises structures and operations, and could be decoupled from a query language. It is theoretically possible to identify the effects from a data model (without the query language), and the additional effects when a query language is included. An experiment was conducted to provide answers on these effects. Subject query performance with the relational model and SQL was measured at two query stages: the query translation and query writing stages. The experiment confirms literature findings about SQL query difficulties (which are all based on the query writing stage). Exploratory analysis of query difficulties show surprises. For example, operations generally perceived to be difficult (such as joins, group count and repeated relations) are not difficult at the query translation stage, i.e. the difficulties are not because of the relational model, but because of SQL. The study illustrates an approach for separating the effects of data model and query language, which can be used for future studies of other models and languages.
Implant Surface Roughness and Bone Healing: a Systematic Review

A systematic review was performed on studies investigating the effects of implant surface roughness on bone response and implant fixation. We searched the literature using MEDLINE from 1953 to 2003. Inclusion criteria were: (1) abstracts of animal studies investigating implant surface roughness and bone healing; (2) observations of three-month bone healing, surface topography measurements, and biomechanical tests; (3) provision of data on surface roughness, bone-to-implant contact, and biomechanical test values. The literature search revealed 5966 abstracts. There were 470, 23, and 14 articles included in the first, second, and third selection steps, respectively. Almost all papers showed an enhanced bone-to-implant contact with increasing surface roughness. Six comparisons were significantly positive for the relationship of bone-to-implant contact and surface roughness. Also, a significant relation was found between push-out strength and surface roughness. Unfortunately, the eventually selected studies were too heterogeneous for inference of data. Nevertheless, the statistical analysis on the available data provided supportive evidence for a positive relationship between bone-to-implant contact and surface roughness.
Effectiveness of School-Based Violence Prevention for Children and Youth Cluster randomized controlled field trial of the Roots of Empathy program with replication and three-year follow-up

Aggression, bullying and violence in children and youth are prevalent in Canada (18%) and internationally. The authors evaluated the effectiveness of Roots of Empathy (ROE), a school-based mental health promotion and violence prevention program for children that has been widely implemented but rarely evaluated. Eight school divisions were randomly assigned to either a treatment group that received ROE in 2002–2003 (445 students) or a wait-list control group (315 students). These were compared on three child mental health outcomes (physical aggression, indirect aggression and pro-social behaviour), rated by teachers and students (self-rated). The three wait-list school divisions received ROE in 2003–2004 (new cohort of 265 students) and were compared with the control group from 2002–2003 on the three outcomes, for replication purposes. For both comparisons, the authors report multi-level modelling analyses regarding (1) immediate effects after ROE completion at the end of the school year (pretest to post-test) and (2) long-term ROE effects up to three years after post-test. ROE had replicated, beneficial effects on all teacher-rated outcomes, which were generally maintained or further improved across follow-up. However, ROE had almost no statistically significant or replicated effects on student-rated outcomes. This is the first evaluation to suggest that ROE appears effective when implemented on a large scale under real-world delivery conditions.
Modulation of Host Cytoskeleton Function by the Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli and Citrobacter rodentium Effector Protein EspG

ABSTRACT EspG is a conserved protein encoded by the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE) of attaching and effacing (A/E) pathogens, including enteropathogenic and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli and Citrobacter rodentium. EspG is delivered into infected host cells by a type III secretion system. The role of EspG in virulence has not yet been defined. Here we describe experiments that probe the virulence characteristics and biological activities of EspG in vitro and in vivo. A C. rodentium espG mutant displayed a significantly reduced ability to colonize C57BL/6 mice and to cause colonic hyperplasia. Epitope-tagged EspG was detected in the apical regions of infected colonic epithelial cells in infected mice, partially localizing with another LEE-encoded effector protein, Tir. EspG was found to interact with mammalian tubulin in both genetic screens and gel overlay assays. Binding to tubulin by EspG caused localized microtubule depolymerization, resulting in actin stress fiber formation through an undefined mechanism. Heterologous expression of EspG in yeast resulted in loss of cytoplasmic microtubule structure and function, preventing coordination between bud development and nuclear division. Yeast expressing EspG were also unable to control cortical actin polarity. We suggest that EspG contributes to the ability of A/E pathogens to establish infection through a modulation of the host cytoskeleton involving transient microtubule destruction and actin polymerization in a manner akin to the Shigella flexneri VirA protein.
Projections of Coadjoint Orbits and the Hilbert-Mumford Criterion

Consider a compact Lie group and a closed subgroup. Generalizing a result of Klyachko, we give a necessary and sufficient criterion for a coadjoint orbit of the subgroup to be contained in the projection of a given coadjoint orbit of the ambient group. The criterion is couched in terms of the " relative " Schubert calculus of the flag varieties of the two groups.
A CENTRALIDADE DAS EXPERIÊNCIAS DA VERGONHA: ESTUDO DAS PROPRIEDADES PSICOMÉTRICAS DA VERSÃO PORTUGUESA DA ESCALA DA CENTRALIDADE DO ACONTECIMENTO

A natureza das experiencias de vergonha sugere que estas podem constituir-se como memorias traumaticas e autobiograficas, pontos de referencia centrais para a identidade pessoal e atribuicao de significado a outras experiencias de vida, com consequencias ao nivel da psicopatologia. O presente estudo examina as propriedades psicometricas da versao portuguesa da Escala da Centralidade do Acontecimento (Centrality of Event Scale, CES; Berntsen & Rubin, 2006) numa ampla amostra da populacao geral. A validade de constructo foi examinada com recurso a procedimentos da Analise em Componentes Principais, cujos resultados suportaram a estrutura unidimensional subjacente a CES, explicativa de 59% da variância. Os valores de correlacao item-total moderados a elevados (> .65) e um valor de alfa de Cronbach elevado (α=.96), apontam para a excelente consistencia interna da escala. A validade convergente e discriminate foi sugerida pelas correlacoes elevadas encontradas com a Escala do Impacto do Acontecimento (.) DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.17575/rpsicol.v24i1. 297
Maximizing timely content advertising in DTNs

Many applications, such as product promotion advertisement and traffic congestion notification, benefit from the opportunistic content exchange in Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs). An important requirement of such applications is timely delivery. However, the intermittent connectivity of DTNs may significantly delay content exchange and cannot guarantee timely delivery. The state-of-the-arts capture the mobility patterns or social properties of mobile devices. However, there is little optimization in terms of the delivered content. Without such optimization, the content demanded by a large number of subscribers could follow the same forwarding path as the content by only one subscriber. To address the challenge, in this paper, we separate content routing from content forwarding. For content routing, we leverage content properties to derive an optimal routing hop count for each content in order to maximize the number of nodes which receive demanded content. Next, for timely forwarding, we develop node utilities to capture interests and mobility patterns of mobile devices for the selection of content carriers. The distributed greedy relay scheme, Ameba, leverages the optimal routing hop count and developed utilities to timely relay content to the needed nodes as fast as possible. Illustrative results show that Ameba is able to achieve comparable delivery ratio as the Epidemic but with much lower overhead.
VISOCAR: an autonomous industrial transport vehicle guided by visual navigation

The authors describe a vision system, called VISOCAR, for mobile robot guidance in industrial environments. VISOCAR is an optically navigating AGV (automatically guided vehicle) that, owing to its local intelligence, can travel automatically in its natural environment, does not need any dedicated floor installations, and does not impose any restrictions on the route network or factory environment. It can navigate accurately on its track and integrate multisensor information to enhance functional redundancy and system reliability. It is shown that the navigation task can be broken down into a hierarchy of goals, which can be attained by functionally independent modules. The system architecture presented reflects this fact: there is a hierarchy of navigation capabilities, rather than a hierarchy of image processing steps. The successful implementation of this concept for autonomous navigation of AGVs in environments that are well structured but not artificially reduced in visual complexity shows that this modular system architecture is well suited to the specific demands of the application in spite of very limited computational resources. <<ETX>>
Three-Dimensional Model-Based Human Detection in Crowded Scenes

In this paper, the problem of human detection in crowded scenes is formulated as a maximum a posteriori problem, in which, given a set of candidates, predefined 3-D human shape models are matched with image evidence, provided by foreground extraction and probability of boundary, to estimate the human configuration. The optimal solution is obtained by decomposing the mutually related candidates into unoccluded and occluded ones in each iteration according to a graph description of the candidate relations and then only matching models for the unoccluded candidates. A candidate validation and rejection process based on minimum description length and local occlusion reasoning is carried out after each iteration of model matching. The advantage of the proposed optimization procedure is that its computational cost is much smaller than that of global optimization methods, while its performance is comparable to them. The proposed method achieves a detection rate of about 2% higher on a subset of images of the Caviar data set than the best result reported by previous works. We also demonstrate the performance of the proposed method using another challenging data set.
Amdahl's and Hill-Marty laws revisited for FPGA-based MPSoCs: from theory to practice

In this paper we extend and analyse Amdahl's and Hill-Marty laws to general heterogeneous on-chip cluster era, without the abstract limitation of base core equivalents BCEs. To understand the relative merits between speedup and the cluster characteristics, including microprocessors amount, accelerators speedup, and task partitioning plans, we also analyse the theoretical results about how the extended Amdahl's Law is applied to leverage load balancing of a heterogeneous on-chip cluster. Simulation results demonstrate that our extended model reinforces state-of-the-art performance evaluation methods for hybrid MPSoC architectures and also provide creditable new insights to heterogeneous research communities, in particular for scalable FPGA based on-chip cluster domains.
Effects of retinoic acid excess on expression of Hox‐2.9 and Krox‐20 and on morphological segmentation in the hindbrain of mouse embryos.

Mouse embryos were exposed to maternally administered RA on day 8.0 or day 7 3/4 of development, i.e. at or just before the differentiation of the cranial neural plate, and before the start of segmentation. On day 9.0, the RA‐treated embryos had a shorter preotic hindbrain than the controls and clear rhombomeric segmentation was absent. These morphological effects were correlated with alterations in the spatiotemporal distribution patterns of two genes, Hox‐2.9 and Krox‐20, which are expressed in the otic and preotic hindbrain and in specific neural crest cell populations. Hox‐2.9 was expressed throughout the preotic hindbrain region, instead of being confined to rhombomere 4. Krox‐20 was not expressed rostral to the Hox‐2.9 domain, i.e. its normal rhombomere 3 domain was absent. The Hox‐2.9/Krox‐20 boundary was ill‐defined, with patches of alternating expression of the two genes. In migrating neural crest cells, Hox‐2.9 expression was both abnormally extensive and abnormally prolonged. Neural crest cells expressing Krox‐20 remained close to the neural tube. Embryos exposed to RA on day 8 1/4 appeared to be morphologically normal. We suggest that early events leading to rhombomeric segmentation and rhombomere‐specific gene expression are specifically vulnerable to raised RA levels, and may require RA levels lower than those in the region of somitic segmentation.
Detection of Fastidious Vaginal Bacteria in Women with HIV Infection and Bacterial Vaginosis

Background. Fastidious bacteria have been associated with bacterial vaginosis (BV) using PCR methods. We assessed the prevalence of these bacteria in HIV-1 infected women and their relationship with vaginal pH and shedding of HIV-1 RNA. Methods. 64 cervicovaginal lavage (CVL) samples were collected from 51 women. Vaginal microbiota were characterized using 8 bacterium-specific quantitative PCR assays. Results. Women with the fastidious bacteria Bacterial Vaginosis Associated Bacterium (BVAB) 1, 2, and 3 showed a trend to increased HIV-1 shedding (OR 2.59–3.07, P = .14–.17). Absence of Lactobacillus crispatus (P < .005) and presence of BVAB2 (P < .001) were associated with elevated vaginal pH. BVAB1, 2, and 3 were highly specific indicators of BV in HIV-infected women, with specificities of 89%–93%. Conclusions. Fastidious bacteria (BVAB 1, 2, and 3) remain specific indicators of BV in HIV-infected women, and BVAB2 may contribute to the elevated vaginal pH that is a hallmark of this syndrome.