Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integrative medicine for subacute stroke rehabilitation: a study protocol for a multicentre, randomised, controlled trial

Introduction Many patients with stroke receive integrative medicine in China, which includes the basic treatment of Western medicine and routine rehabilitation, in conjunction with acupuncture and Chinese medicine. The question of whether integrative medicine is efficacious for stroke rehabilitation is still controversial and very little research currently exists on the integrated approach for this condition. Consequently, we will conduct a multicentre, randomised, controlled, assessor-blinded clinical trial to assess the effectiveness of integrative medicine on stroke rehabilitation. Methods and analysis 360 participants recruited from three large Chinese medical hospitals in Zhejiang Province will be randomly divided into the integrative medicine rehabilitation (IMR) group and the conventional rehabilitation (CR) group in a 1:1 ratio. Participants in the IMR group will receive acupuncture and Chinese herbs in addition to basic Western medicine and rehabilitation treatment. The CR group will not receive acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. The assessment data will be collected at baseline, 4 and 8 weeks postrandomisation, and then at 12 weeks’ follow-up. The primary outcome is measured by the Modified Barthel Index. The secondary outcomes are the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), Fugl-Meyer Assessment, the mini-mental state examination and Montreal Cognitive, Hamilton's Depression Scale and Self-Rating Depression Scale, and the incidence of adverse events. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval was obtained from ethics committees of three hospitals. The results will be disseminated in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at international congresses. The results will also be disseminated to patients by telephone, during follow-up calls inquiring on patient's post-study health status. Trial registration number Chinese Clinical Trial Register: ChiCTR-TRC-12001972, http://www.chictr. org/en/proj/show.aspx? proj=2561
Performance analysis of the Flutter VRP1 under different flows and angles.

BACKGROUND The Flutter VRP1 device is used for airway clearance. Its performance is based on 4 basic effects: positive expiratory pressure (PEP), forced exhalations (huff), high-frequency airway flow oscillation, and modification of mucus viscoelasticity. The purpose of this study was to determine the flow and angle conditions in which these effects are optimized. METHODS In an experimental setting, a Flutter VRP1 was fixed at angles of -30 degrees , -15 degrees , 0 degrees , +15 degrees , and +30 degrees , and submitted to flows ranging from 0.2 L/s to 2.0 L/s. The flows and angles that resulted in higher and lower values of mean pressure, mean flow, oscillation frequency, and flow amplitude were determined. In addition, it was defined which angles facilitated achieving "ideal" mean pressure of 10 cm H2O and 20 cm H2O and oscillation frequency of 12 Hz. RESULTS At all flows, +15 degrees produced higher mean pressure (p < 0.01), whereas lower values were produced at -30 degrees at lower flows, 0 degrees at intermediate flows, and +30 degrees at higher flows (p < 0.01). Higher oscillation frequencies were produced at +30 degrees and +15 degrees (p < 0.01), and lower values were produced at -30 degrees and -15 degrees at all flows (p < 0.01). Higher flow-amplitude values were produced at +30 degrees , +15 degrees , and 0 degrees (p < 0.01), and lower values were produced at -30 degrees and -15 degrees (p < 0.01). Mean pressure of 10 cm H2O was reached with the lowest flow (0.2 L/s) at +30 degrees , and mean pressure of 20 cm H2O was produced at +15 degrees (1.0 L/s), whereas an oscillation frequency of 12 Hz was reached at 0 degrees , +30 degrees , and +15 degrees , at 0.2 L/s. CONCLUSIONS Positive inclinations optimize positive expiratory pressure and flow-amplitude effects, whereas negative inclinations optimize huff effect. This theoretical knowledge may help optimize the use of the device when applied to different conditions.
Power and delay analysis of 4:2 compressor cells

Several low power and high speed 4:2 compressor designs of various digital logic styles are studied in this paper. HSPICE simulation results are provided giving a clear picture of the performance of these circuits in terms of power dissipation and delay. To carry out the analysis, a methodology for proper power measurement of pass-logic circuits has been developed and is presented. Finally, recommendations are made as per which circuits are most suitable depending on the needs of the system in which they will be implemented.
Enforcing Cooperation in Networked Societies

Which social norms and networks maximize cooperation in bilateral relationships? We study a network of players in which each link is a repeated bilateral partnership with two-sided moral hazard. The obstacle to community enforcement is that each player observes the behavior of her partners in their partnerships with her, but not how they behave in other partnerships. We introduce a new metric for the rate at which information diffuses in a network, which we call viscosity, and show that it provides an operational measure for how conducive a network is to cooperation. We prove that clique networks have the lowest viscosity and that the optimal equilibrium of the clique generates more cooperation and higher average utility than any other equilibrium of any other network. This result offers a strategic foundation for the perspective that tightly knit groups foster the most cooperation.
Older persons' experiences of their own decision making about their care: a systematic review of qualitative evidence protocol

REVIEW QUESTION/OBJECTIVE: The overall objective of this systematic review is to identify and synthesize the best available qualitative evidence of how older persons go about making decisions regarding their own health care. INCLUSION CRITERIA: Types of participants: This review will consider studies that include people 65 years or over who are living in the community. Studies that include participants under 65 years of age will be excluded. Studies focusing on decision making with participants with dementia, who are cognitively impaired; who are undergoing palliative care or who are terminally ill will be excluded. Phenomena of interest: This review will consider studies where the phenomena of interest are the experiences of older people in regards to decision making about their health care. Context: The review will consider studies that investigate the experiences of older persons’ living in community based settings. These settings may include: the older persons’ home, a community living environment and a retirement village setting, but exclude residential aged care facilities.
Sry: the master switch in mammalian sex determination

SRY, the mammalian Y-chromosomal testis-determining gene, induces male sex determination. Recent studies in mice reveal that the major role of SRY is to achieve sufficient expression of the related gene Sox9, in order to induce Sertoli cell differentiation, which in turn drives testis formation. Here, we discuss the cascade of events triggered by SRY and the mechanisms that reinforce the differentiation of the testes in males while actively inhibiting ovarian development.
A recursive connectionist approach for predicting disulfide connectivity in proteins

We are interested in the prediction of disulfide bridges in proteins, a structural feature that conveys important information about the protein conformation and that can therefore help towards the solution of the folding problem. We assume here that the disulfide bonding state of cysteines is known and we focus on the subsequent problem of disulfide bridges pairings assignment. In this paper, disulfide connectivity is modeled by undirected graphs. A graphspace search algorithm is employed to explore alternative disulfide bridges patterns and prediction consists of selecting the 'best' graph in the search space. The core of the proposed method is a recursive neural network architecture trained to score candidate graphs. We report experiments on previously published data showing that our algorithm outperforms the known alternative methods for most proteins. Furthermore, we assess the generalization capabilities testing the model on previously unpublished data.
What does research reproducibility mean?

The language and conceptual framework of “research reproducibility” are nonstandard and unsettled across the sciences. The language and conceptual framework of “research reproducibility” are nonstandard and unsettled across the sciences. In this Perspective, we review an array of explicit and implicit definitions of reproducibility and related terminology, and discuss how to avoid potential misunderstandings when these terms are used as a surrogate for “truth. ”
Authors as markers of Intellectual Space: Co‐citation in studies of Science, Technology and Society

Interrelations of writings in a complex field such as studies of science, technology and society, turn out to be highly patterned when data on author co‐citations are statistically analysed and mapped. For both authors and specialities, the maps reveal structures of subject matter and intellectual impact, based on the perceptions of hundreds of citers since 1972. A new tool thus is available to historians and others concerned with a field's intellectual development.
Cigarette packet warning labels can prevent relapse: findings from the International Tobacco Control 4-Country policy evaluation cohort study

Objectives To investigate the links between health warning labels (WLs) on cigarette packets and relapse among recently quit smokers. Design Prospective longitudinal cohort survey. Setting Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA. Participants 1936 recent ex-smokers (44.4% male) from one of the first six waves (2002–2007) of the International Tobacco Control 4-Country policy evaluation survey, who were followed up in the next wave. Main outcome measures Whether participants had relapsed at follow-up (approximately 1 year later). Results In multivariate analysis, very frequent noticing of WLs among ex-smokers was associated with greater relapse 1 year later (OR: 1.52, 95% CI 1.11 to 2.09, p<0.01), but this effect disappeared after controlling for urges to smoke and self-efficacy (OR: 1.29, 95% CI 0.92 to 1.80, p=0.135). In contrast, reporting that WLs make staying quit ‘a lot’ more likely (compared with ‘not at all’ likely) was associated with a lower likelihood of relapse 1 year later (OR: 0.65, 95% CI 0.49 to 0.86, p<0.01) and this effect remained robust across all models tested, increasing in some. Conclusions This study provides the first longitudinal evidence that health warnings can help ex-smokers stay quit. Once the authors control for greater exposure to cigarettes, which is understandably predictive of relapse, WL effects are positive. However, it may be that ex-smokers need to actively use the health consequences that WLs highlight to remind them of their reasons for quitting, rather than it being something that happens automatically. Ex-smokers should be encouraged to use pack warnings to counter urges to resume smoking. Novel warnings may be more likely to facilitate this.
FastRank: Practical Lightweight Tolerance to Rational Behaviour in Edge Assisted Streaming

Edge-computing is one of the most promising techniques to leverage the excess capacity that exists at users' premises. Unfortunately, edge-computing may be vulnerable to free-riding, i.e., to nodes that attempt to benefit from the system without providing any service in return. Traditional approaches model free-riders as rational nodes that strive to maximize a utility and apply Game Theory concepts to devise mechanisms that deny any utility gain to nodes that deviate from the protocol. These mechanisms impose significant overheads. This paper proposes a new approach that avoids these overheads, which applies concepts of evolutionary game theory. We propose to devise lightweight mechanisms targeted for the optimistic setting where the vast majority of nodes adopts one of a small number of behaviours. More precisely, we assume that most nodes are altruistic or follow non-sophisticated behaviours such as free-riding or white-washing. If a small fraction of nodes follows alternative behaviours, then our lightweight mechanism limits the utility gain of these nodes, making it unlikely that the number of nodes exploiting sophisticated behaviours increases at a fast pace. This allows altruistic nodes to detect their presence in time to switch to more robust mechanisms, before the system reaches a state where the lightweight mechanisms can no longer cope with the existing behaviours. We apply this approach in the context of edge-assisted streaming.
Shear induced collateral artery growth modulated by endoglin but not by ALK1

Transforming growth factor‐beta (TGF‐β) stimulates both ischaemia induced angiogenesis and shear stress induced arteriogenesis by signalling through different receptors. How these receptors are involved in both these processes of blood flow recovery is not entirely clear. In this study the role of TGF‐β receptors 1 and endoglin is assessed in neovascularization in mice. Unilateral femoral artery ligation was performed in mice heterozygous for either endoglin or ALK1 and in littermate controls. Compared with littermate controls, blood flow recovery, monitored by laser Doppler perfusion imaging, was significantly hampered by maximal 40% in endoglin heterozygous mice and by maximal 49% in ALK1 heterozygous mice. Collateral artery size was significantly reduced in endoglin heterozygous mice compared with controls but not in ALK1 heterozygous mice. Capillary density in ischaemic calf muscles was unaffected, but capillaries from endoglin and ALK1 heterozygous mice were significantly larger when compared with controls. To provide mechanistic evidence for the differential role of endoglin and ALK1 in shear induced or ischaemia induced neovascularization, murine endothelial cells were exposed to shear stress in vitro. This induced increased levels of endoglin mRNA but not ALK1. In this study it is demonstrated that both endoglin and ALK1 facilitate blood flow recovery. Importantly, endoglin contributes to both shear induced collateral artery growth and to ischaemia induced angiogenesis, whereas ALK1 is only involved in ischaemia induced angiogenesis.
Local Perceptions of Hydrocarbon Exploitation Operations in the Northeastern Region of Mexico

espanolResumen En este trabajo se estudian las percepciones de los habitantes de la cuenca de Burgos acerca de la explotacion de hidrocarburos en dicha region ubicada al noreste de Mexico. Se emplea una muestra de 1 549 personas y un modelo de regresion logistica para el analisis. Los resultados indican que 90.7 por ciento de las personas que perciben un efecto, lo asocian con algo negativo. Y que el acceso a los medios de comunicacion, y a la informacion en torno al tema, tiene un efecto sobre la formacion de las percepciones. Debido a la inseguridad en las localidades, el instrumento no fue aplicado de manera aleatoria y sistematica. A pesar de ello, el trabajo expone, desde una perspectiva poco estudiada en el pais, las percepciones que los habitantes presentan sobre las actividades extractivas que se practican en la region y sus determinantes. EnglishAbstract This work studies the perceptions of the inhabitants of the Burgos Basin about the exploitation of hydrocarbons in that region in Mexico’s northeast. It uses a sample of 1 549 people and a logistic regression model for the analysis. The results show that 90.7 percent of the people who perceive an effect associate it with something negative. The findings also show that access to means of communication, and information about the issue, have an effect on the formation of perceptions. Because of insecurity in the localities, the survey was not carried out in a random and systematic way. Still, this study, utilizing a little-used approach in Mexico, shows the perceptions, and the driving factors behind them, that inhabitants have about the extractive operations that take place in the region.
Dental Calculus Reveals Unique Insights into Food Items, Cooking and Plant Processing in Prehistoric Central Sudan

Accessing information on plant consumption before the adoption of agriculture is challenging. However, there is growing evidence for use of locally available wild plants from an increasing number of pre-agrarian sites, suggesting broad ecological knowledge. The extraction of chemical compounds and microfossils from dental calculus removed from ancient teeth offers an entirely new perspective on dietary reconstruction, as it provides empirical results on material that is already in the mouth. Here we present a suite of results from the multi-period Central Sudanese site of Al Khiday. We demonstrate the ingestion in both pre-agricultural and agricultural periods of Cyperus rotundus tubers. This plant is a good source of carbohydrates and has many useful medicinal and aromatic qualities, though today it is considered to be the world's most costly weed. Its ability to inhibit Streptococcus mutans may have contributed to the unexpectedly low level of caries found in the agricultural population. Other evidence extracted from the dental calculus includes smoke inhalation, dry (roasting) and wet (heating in water) cooking, a second plant possibly from the Triticaceae tribe and plant fibres suggestive of raw material preparation through chewing.
Collective intelligence for idea management with Internet-based information aggregation markets

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of information aggregation markets (IAMs) for community‐based idea management and to present IDeM, a novel Internet‐based software tool that can be used for generating and evaluating new ideas utilizing the concept of IAMs.Design/methodology/approach – Starting with a review of existing methods for collective intelligence, IAMs are identified as a prominent method for collective intelligence. Specific requirements for exploring IAMs for idea management are derived. Based on these requirements, a software tool for implementing IAMs in the context of idea management is developed (IDeM). IDeM has been evaluated and evaluation results are used to identify IDeM's benefits and limitations. A review of related work points out the innovative characteristics of IDeM.Findings – Evaluation results indicate that IAMs is an efficient method for idea generation and evaluation. Moreover IDeM is perceived both as easy to use and efficient in supporting idea genera.
Coastal Flood Modeling Challenges in Defended Urban Backshores

Coastal flooding is a significant and increasing hazard. There are multiple drivers including rising coastal water levels, more intense hydrologic inputs, shoaling groundwater and urbanization. Accurate coastal flood event prediction poses numerous challenges: representing boundary conditions, depicting terrain and hydraulic infrastructure, integrating spatially and temporally variable overtopping flows, routing overland flows and incorporating hydrologic signals. Tremendous advances in geospatial data quality, numerical modeling and overtopping estimation have significantly improved flood prediction; however, risk assessments do not typically consider the co-occurrence of multiple flooding pathways. Compound flooding refers to the combined effects of marine and hydrologic processes. Alternatively, multiple flooding source–receptor pathways (e.g., groundwater–surface water, overtopping–overflow, surface–sewer flow) may simultaneously amplify coastal hazard and vulnerability. Currently, there is no integrated framework considering compound and multi-pathway flooding processes in a unified approach. State-of-the-art urban coastal flood modeling methods and research directions critical to developing an integrated framework for explicitly resolving multiple flooding pathways are presented.
Direct Interaction of the EpsL and EpsM Proteins of the General Secretion Apparatus in Vibrio cholerae

ABSTRACT The general secretion pathway of gram-negative bacteria is responsible for extracellular secretion of a number of different proteins, including proteases and toxins. This pathway supports secretion of proteins across the cell envelope in two distinct steps, in which the second step, involving translocation through the outer membrane, is assisted by at least 13 different gene products. Two of these components, the cytoplasmic membrane proteins EpsL and EpsM ofVibrio cholerae, have been purified and characterized. Based on gel filtration analysis, both purified EpsM(His)6 and wild-type EpsL present in anEscherichia coli Triton X-100 extract are dimeric proteins. EpsL and EpsM were also found to interact directly and form a Triton X-100 stable complex that could be precipitated with either anti-EpsL or anti-EpsM antibodies. In addition, when the L and M proteins were coexpressed in E. coli, they formed a stable complex and protected each other from proteolytic degradation, indicating that these two proteins interact in vivo and that no other Eps protein is required for their association. Since EpsL is predicted to contain a large cytoplasmic domain, while EpsM is predominantly exposed on the periplasmic side, we speculate that these components might be part of a structure that is involved in bridging the inner and outer membranes. Furthermore, since EpsL has previously been shown to interact with the autophosphorylating cytoplasmic membrane protein EpsE, we hypothesize that this trimolecular complex might be involved in regulating the opening and closing of the secretion pore and/or transducing energy to the site of outer membrane translocation.
Breakthrough Inventions and Migrating Clusters of Innovation

We investigate the speed at which clusters of invention for a technology migrate spatially following breakthrough inventions. We identify breakthrough inventions as the top one percent of US inventions for a technology during 1975-1984 in terms of subsequent citations. Patenting growth is significantly higher in cities and technologies where breakthrough inventions occur after 1984 relative to peer locations that do not experience breakthrough inventions. This growth differential in turn depends on the mobility of the technology's labor force, which we model through the extent that technologies depend upon immigrant scientists and engineers. Spatial adjustments are faster for technologies that depend heavily on immigrant inventors. The results qualitatively confirm the mechanism of industry migration proposed in models like Duranton (2007).