Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In vivo effects of single intra-articular injection of 0.5% bupivacaine on articular cartilage.

BACKGROUND Single intra-articular injections of local anesthetics are commonly used clinically. Recent in vitro studies have demonstrated chondrotoxic effects of local anesthetics, with the greatest emphasis on bupivacaine toxicity. This in vivo study was conducted to determine whether a single intra-articular injection of 0.5% bupivacaine results in chondrocyte morbidity and rapid chondrolysis. METHODS Forty-eight Sprague-Dawley rats received a 100-microL injection of sterile 0.9% saline solution (negative control) into one stifle joint and 100 microL of either preservative-free 0.5% bupivacaine (experimental group) or 0.6 mg/mL monoiodoacetate (positive control) into the contralateral joint. The rats were killed at one week, four weeks, twelve weeks, or six months. Live and dead cells were quantified with use of three-dimensional confocal reconstructions of fluorescent-stained tissues at standardized locations on the distal part of the femur. Histological findings were graded with use of a modified Mankin score, and cell density was quantified with use of custom image-analysis software. RESULTS In the specimens injected with bupivacaine, the chondral surfaces remained intact as seen with gross and histological examination. No differences in superficial chondrocyte viability or modified Mankin scores were observed between the saline-solution and bupivacaine groups at any location or time point (p > 0.05). Quantitative histological analysis of the bupivacaine-treated knees at six months revealed an up to 50% reduction in chondrocyte density compared with that of the saline-solution-treated knees (p < or = 0.01). Monoiodoacetate injection resulted in death of up to 87% of the superficial chondrocyte cells at one week and chondrolysis at six months. Despite severe histological abnormalities by four weeks after monoiodoacetate injection, cartilage injury was not evident on gross inspection until six months. CONCLUSIONS This in vivo study showing reduced chondrocyte density without cartilage tissue loss six months after a single intra-articular injection of 0.5% bupivacaine suggests bupivacaine toxicity. The effects of bupivacaine were milder than those of an injection of 0.6% monoiodoacetate, which resulted in chondrolysis over the same time period.
Asymptomatic versus symptomatic persistent atrial fibrillation: clinical and noninvasive characteristics

Abstract. Frykman V, Frick M, Jensen‐Urstad M, Östergren J, Rosenqvist M (South Hospital and Karolinska Hospital, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden). Asymptomatic versus symptomatic persistent atrial fibrillation: clinical and noninvasive characteristics. J Intern Med 2001; 250: 390–397.
Evaluation of a word recognition system using syntax analysis

A speech recognition system has been implemented which accepts reasonably natural English sentences spoken as isolated words. The major components of the system are a speaker-dependent word recognizer, a programmed grammar, and a syntax analyzer. The system permits formulation of complete sentences from a vocabulary of 127 words. The set of sentences selected for investigation is intended for use as requests in an automated travel information system. Results are presented of evaluations for speakers using their own stored reference patterns, the reference patterns of other speakers, and composite reference patterns averaged over several speakers. For speakers using their own reference patterns the median error rate for acoustic recognition of the individual words is 11.7 percent. When syntax analysis is applied to the complete sentence, word recognition errors can be corrected and the error rate reduced to 0.4 percent.
Optical coherence tomographic angiography of choroidal neovascularization ill-defined with fluorescein angiography

Purpose To evaluate the morphological structure of ill-defined choroidal neovascularisation (CNV) with traditional fluorescein angiography (FA) compared with optical coherence tomographic angiography (OCTA). Methods A retrospective case series study of 11 eyes with ill-defined CNV on FA was performed. Eyes were scanned with commercially available spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) (70 000 A-scans/s). The split-spectrum amplitude-decorrelation angiography (SSADA) algorithm was used to distinguish blood flow from static tissue. En face OCT angiograms were compared with FA. Results Eleven cases of ill-defined CNV on FA were identified from 10 study participants. Mean age of the participants was 74.5±6.8 years. Six cases had late leakage from undetermined source (LLUS) and five had fibrovascular pigment epithelial detachment (FVPED). Combining cross-sectional structural OCT with OCT angiograms, all cases were found to have type 1 CNV that corresponded to occult CNV with FA. In all cases of occult CNV on FA, distinct vascular structures were visible with OCTA in the outer retinal/retinal pigment epithelium slab. The mean CNV vessel area was 2.61±3.65 mm2. The mean CNV vessel area in cases with FVPED was larger than that in cases with LLUS (4.69±4.72 mm2 compared with 0.85±0.90 mm2, Mann-Whitney p value=0.04). Conclusions Although the sample size is small to draw conclusions and the nature of work is retrospective and descriptive, OCTA has the potential to improve visualisation of ill-defined CNV with dye-based angiography, including occult CNV.
Fact or fiction? Welfare cuts and fiscal adjustments

Abstract Governments in the industrialised western democracies have repeatedly been advised to curb the welfare state when adjusting public finances in order to stabilise public debt in the long run and to create economic growth. This recommendation has been founded on a vast body of research on fiscal adjustments, which has come to the conclusion that cutting social expenditures leads to expansionary and more sustainable budget consolidations. This paper adds to the existing literature suggesting a more nuanced view, which challenges the simplicity of the “cutting-welfare” advice: first, we find that whereas less social spending is indeed associated with expansionary and successful adjustments, this is not the case for overall welfare state generosity. Second, disaggregating the welfare state in its components reveals that a reduction of pension generosity is indeed related to successful adjustments whereas reducing unemployment generosity does not seem to play a major role.
Keyword detection in conversational speech utterances using hidden Markov model based continuous speech recognition

Abstract This paper describes a set of modeling techniques for detecting a small vocabulary of keywords in running conversational speech. The techniques are applied in the context of a hidden Markov model (HMM) based continuous speech recognition (CSR) approach to keyword spotting. The word spotting task is derived from the Switchboard conversational speech corpus, and involves unconstrained conversational speech utterances spoken over the public switched telephone network. The utterances in this task contain many of the artifacts that are characteristic of unconstrained speech as it appears in many telecommunications based automatic speech recognition (ASR) applications. Results are presented for an experimental study that was performed on this task. Performance was measured by computing the percentage correct keyword detection over a range of false alarm rates evaluated over 2·2 h of speech for a 20 keyword vocabulary. The results of the study demonstrate the importance of several techniques. These techniques include the use of decision tree based allophone clustering for defining acoustic subword units, different representations for non-vocabulary words appearing in the input utterance, and the definition of simple language models for keyword detection. Decision tree based allophone clustering resulted in a significant increase in keyword detection performance over that obtained using tri-phone based subword units while at the same time reducing the size of the inventory of subword acoustic models by 40%. More complex representations of non-vocabulary speech were also found to significantly improve keyword detection performance; however, these representations also resulted in a significant increase in computational complexity.
Mechanical characterization of RCC and FR4 laminated PCBs and assessment of their board level reliability

The role of electronic packaging is becoming more important and now constitute a much bigger percentage of the development of package with high evolution due to strong and competing demands for increased functionality and performance, further miniaturization, heightened reliability, and lower costs. Various types of packages like BGA and Quad Flat No-Lead (QFN) are widely used. Ball Grid Array package was developed out of the need to have a more robust and convenient package for integrated circuits with large numbers of interconnects. Moreover, BGA uses efficient board space, improved thermal and electrical performance, reduced package thickness and improved reworkability resulting from larger pad size. The different layers with different material properties inside the PCB (Printed Circuit board) make the PCB highly orthotopic. Additionally, prepreg materials are viscoelastic and they provide some sort of stress relaxation and creep characteristics. Currently, there are two types of boards that are used with BGA packages. One of the types has RCC film as the uppermost and lowermost prepreg substrate while the second type has FR4 film as the uppermost and lowermost prepreg substrate. By using Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer (DMA), time and temperature-dependent viscoelastic properties of the board are obtained. Using Thermomechanical Analyzer (TMA), Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTEs) of the boards are obtained. In summary, in this study, the mechanical characterization of BGA PCBs with FR4 and RCC is presented along with the thermal cycling simulation results from ANSYS and the reliability of two types of boards were compared. The computational analysis includes lumped and layered model for detail analysis. The Volume averaging technique is implemented to calculate the strain energy density. The Critical solder joint is determined from the static structural analysis under thermal loading.
Large-Scale Orbital Angular Momentum Radar Pulse Generation With Rotational Antenna

The electromagnetic (EM) wave with orbital angular momentum (OAM) has helical phase structure. This phase difference to the plane wave makes OAM wave with different backscattering coefficient, which can bring radar cross section (RCS) diversity for the radar application. However, due to the long distance in radar detection, e.g., even thousands of kilometers, the diversity gain fundamentally depends on large-scale OAM mode signal. Meanwhile, the OAM mode number in EM wave even reaches several thousands, which is quite difficult for traditional OAM wave generator. In this letter, large-scale OAM radar pulse generation with rotational antenna is proposed, so that RCS with different large-scale OAM wave can be achieved and the outstanding diversity gain is obtained.
Violent behavior among military reservists

Large numbers of British and American Reservists have been deployed to operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Little is known about the impact of deployment and combat exposure on violent behavior in Reservists. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of self-reported violent behavior among a representative sample of United Kingdom Reservists, the risk factors associated with violence and the impact of deployment and combat exposure on violence. This study used data from a large cohort study of randomly selected UK military personnel and included Reservists who were in service at the time of sampling (n = 1710). Data were collected by questionnaires that asked about socio-demographic and military characteristics, pre-enlistment antisocial behavior, deployment experiences, post-deployment mental health, and self-reported interpersonal violent behavior. The prevalence of violence among Reservists was 3.5%. Deployment was found to be a risk factor for violent behavior even after adjustment for confounders. The association with violence was similar for those deployed in either a combat role or non-combat role. Violence was also strongly associated with mental health risk factors (PTSD, common mental disorders, and alcohol misuse). This study demonstrated higher levels of self-reported post-deployment violence in UK Reservists who had served in either Iraq or Afghanistan. Deployment, irrespective of the role was associated with higher levels of violent behavior among Reservists. The results also emphasize the risk of violent behavior associated with post-deployment mental health problems. Aggr. Behav. 43:273-280, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Testing intertemporal budget constraints: theory and applications to U. S. federal budget and current account deficits

This paper extends previous tests of intertemporal budget balance and present value relationships by expanding the set of allowable deficit processes and by deriving a testable condition that is sufficient to ensure intertemporal budget balance as long as the expected discount rate is strictly positive. Using these tests, the authors find that both the postwar federal budget deficit process and the process governing accumulation of U.S. assets by foreigners are consistent with intertemporal budget balance. Copyright 1991 by Ohio State University Press.
Enzymatic Treatment of Whey Proteins in Cow’s Milk Results in Differential Inhibition of IgE-Mediated Mast Cell Activation Compared to T-Cell Activation

Background: Cow’s milk (CM) hydrolysates are frequently used as milk substitutes for children with CM allergy. In hydrolysates, allergenic epitopes within CM proteins are diminished by enzymatic treatment. The aim of this study was to examine the allergenic and immunogenic properties of whey proteins during hydrolysis. Methods: During hydrolysis, samples were obtained at 0, 10, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90 min. Degradation was checked by HPLC and SDS-PAGE. Allergenic potential was analyzed by IgE crosslinking capacity of human Fcε receptor type 1-transduced rat basophilic leukemia cells sensitized with serum of CM-allergic patients. Whey-sensitized C3H/HeOuJ mice were ear challenged intracutaneously with the hydrolysates. Immunogenicity was tested using whey-specific human T-cell clones and T-cell lines at the level of proliferation and release of IL-4, IL-10, IL-13 and IFN-γ. Results: After 15 min of hydrolysis, the majority of the proteins were degraded. Hydrolysis for 15 min resulted in 92% inhibition of mast cell degranulation and in 82% reduction of ear swelling in the mouse model. In contrast, T-cell-stimulatory capacity was less affected by hydrolysis: reduction of human T-cell proliferation was only 9%. This was further reduced to 57 and 74% after 30 and 45 min of hydrolysis, respectively. Cytokine production followed the pattern of T-cell proliferation. Conclusion: Via differential analysis of allergenic versus immunogenic properties of the time kinetics of hydrolysis of whey proteins, we have demonstrated specific hydrolysis conditions with reduced IgE-crosslinking responses but retained T-cell activating properties. This approach might be useful in better defining CM hydrolysates.
FRF measurements on slowly time-varying systems using multisines with non-uniformly spaced harmonics

Recently [1] a method has been developed to detect and quantify the influence of time-variation in frequency response function measurements using random excitations. This method can also be applied to random phase multisine excitations, provided uniformly spaced excited harmonics. However, in quite some applications a non-uniform harmonic spacing is required, for example, a quasi logarithmic spacing to cover a large frequency range, and a random spacing to detect and quantify nonlinear distortions. In this paper we extend the results of [1] to random phase muItisines with non-uniformly spaced harmonics.
Child gender and father involvement in fragile families

In this article, we use data from the first two waves of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the effects of child gender on father involvement and to determine if gender effects differ by parents’ marital status. We examine several indicators of father involvement, including whether the father acknowledges “ownership” of the child, whether the parents live together when the child is one year old, and whether the father provides financial support when the child is one year old. We find some evidence that child gender is associated with unmarried father involvement around the time of the child’s birth: sons born to unmarried parents are more likely than daughters to receive the father’s surname, especially if the mother has no other children. However, one year after birth, we find very little evidence that child gender is related to parents’ living arrangements or the amount of time or money fathers invest in their children. In contrast, and consistent with previous research, fathers who are married when their child is born are more likely to live with a son than with a daughter one year after birth. This pattern supports an interpretation of child gender effects based on parental beliefs about the importance of fathers for the long-term development of sons.
Respiratory response of guinea pigs during acrolein inhalation and its modification by drugs.

The respiratory response of guinea pigs inhaling low concentrations of acrolein was characterized by an increase in total respiratory flow resistance, accompanied by decreased respiratory rates and increased tidal volumes. The magnitude of these effects increased with increasing acrolein concentrations studied, up to 1 ppm. The changes in respiratory function were reversible when the animals were returned to clean air. Atropine, aminophylline, isoproterenol and epinephrine partially or completely reversed the acrolein-induced increase in respiratory resistance, whereas tripelennamine and pyrilamine were without effect. The mechanism of increased resistance during acrolein-inhalation appears to be one of bronchoconstriction mediated through reflex cholinergic stimulation.
Induction of Symbiotically Defective Auxotrophic Mutants of Rhizobium fredii HH303 by Transposon Mutagenesis

Symbiotically defective auxotrophic mutants were isolated by transposon Tn5 mutagenesis of Rhizobium fredii HH303, a fast-growing microsymbiont of North American commercial soybean cultivars such as Glycine max cv. Williams. Three different Tn5-carrying suicide vectors, pBLK1-2, pSUP1011, and pGS9, were used for mutagenesis with transposition frequencies of 4 × 10−5, 3 × 10−6, and 1 × 10−6, respectively, while the frequency of background mutation resistant to 500 μg of kanamycin per ml was 1 × 10−8. From 2,600 Tn5-induced mutants, 14 auxotrophic mutants were isolated and classified in seven groups including adenosine (four), aspartate (two), cysteine or methionine (two), isoleucine and valine (two), nicotinic acid (one), pantothenic acid (one), and uracil (two). All the auxotrophs induced nodulation on soybean, but the symbiotic effectiveness of each mutant was different. Three auxotrophs (two cysteine or methionine and one pantothenic acid) formed effective nodules similar to those of the wild type. Three auxotrophs (one nicotinic acid and two aspartate) produced mature nodules like those of the wild type, but the nodules lacked the characteristic pink color inside and were unable to fix nitrogen. Four auxotrophs (two adenosine and two uracil) induced pseudonodules unable to fix nitrogen. The other four auxotrophs repeatedly induced both effective and ineffective nodules, but bacteroids isolated from the effective nodules were prototrophic revertants. The symbiotic phenotype and the degree of effectiveness of the auxotrophic mutants varied with the type of mutation.
Utility of complete blood count and blood culture screening to diagnose neonatal sepsis in the asymptomatic at risk newborn

Background. In May 1996, the CDC recommended obtaining a complete blood count and blood culture (BC) from all asymptomatic “at risk” newborns; those ≥35 weeks gestation born to mothers with group B streptococcal vaginal colonization or those with maternal fever, premature rupture of membranes or previous infant with group B streptococcal disease; who did not receive adequate intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis. Design/methods. During the study period (May 1996 to July 1999), a complete blood count and BC were obtained within 4 h from all asymptomatic at risk newborns of ≥35 weeks gestation. White blood cell count (WBC) and BC results and prevalence of clinical or culture-proven sepsis were obtained by chart review. We determined the sensitivity/specificity and likelihood ratios of an abnormal WBC (total >30 000 or <5000/mm3; absolute neutrophil count <1500/mm3, or a band form-polymorphonuclear cell ratio of >0.2) to distinguish between clinically septic vs. nonseptic term at risk newborns. Results. Of 20 554 deliveries 1665 were initially asymptomatic at risk newborns; 17 (1.0%) developed early onset sepsis, all within 48 h. WBC was abnormal in 7 of 17 (41%) and in 447 of 1648 (27%) who remained nonseptic. None of the 1665 term at risk newborns had a positive BC. The sensitivity and specificity of an abnormal WBC in predicting which at risk newborns would develop sepsis were 41 and 73%, respectively. The positive likelihood ratio was 1.52, whereas the negative likelihood ratio was 0.81, with an odds ratio of 1.88. Conclusions. Since the implementation of the CDC guidelines for maternal intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis, culture-proved sepsis has become rare at our institution. Although BC did not aid in the diagnosis of sepsis among asymptomatic at risk newborns, close observation in the first 24 h remained critically important.
Balancing International Insurance Portfolios and Exchange Risks

This paper examines the balancing of the investment and liability portfolios of a (re)insurance firm operating in the international market. The model captures two effects which are ignored by traditional analysts. (a) According to the Interest Parity Theorem, the expected changes in the exchange rates should already be reflected in the expected rate of return on foreign investments. Therefore, an insurer operating in a perfect market should be indifferent to the currency denomination of its financial assets. (b) A second effect which has often been ignored is related to the additional risk resulting from the unexpected fluctuations of the exchange rates. The multi-index model suggested in this paper is capable of capturing these effects. The model can be used to examine and analyze alternative policies of the firm operating in international markets. For example, the model can be used to examine whether an insurer should take positions in certain currencies, or rather take a “full-hedge” policy.