Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Shoe Heel Height and Total-Contact Insert on Muscle Loading and Foot Stability While Walking

Background: Women wearing high-heeled shoes often complain of foot instability and low-back pain. Previous studies have demonstrated that using total-contact inserts (TCIs) in running shoes reduces impact on leg muscles and alters rearfoot motion. This study investigated how shoe heel height and use of TCIs in high-heeled shoes affect the wearer’s rearfoot complex, muscle loading, and subjective comfort. Methods: Fifteen inexperienced high heel wearers walked under 6 test conditions formed by the cross-matching of shoe insert (with and without TCI) and heel height (1.0, 5.1, and 7.6 cm) at a speed of 1.3 m/s. The measures of interest were rearfoot kinematics; muscle activities by electromyography (EMG) of the tibialis anterior (TA), medial gastrocnemius (MG), quadriceps (QUA), hamstrings (HAM), and erector spinae (ES); and subjective comfort rating by visual analogue scale for each test condition. Results: The statistical results showed that elevated heel height significantly increased plantar flexion (P < .001) and inversion (P < .01) at heel strike, prolonged TA-MG co-contraction (P < .001) and QUA activation period (P < .001), and increased root mean square (RMS) EMG in all measured muscles (TA, MG, QUA, ES: P < .001; HAM: P < .01). The use of TCIs reduced the rearfoot inversion angle (P < .01) and RMS EMG in both QUA and ES muscles (P < .01) and increased comfort rating (P < .001). Conclusions: These findings suggest that wearing high-heeled shoes adversely affects muscle control and reduces loads in QUA and ES muscles. Clinical Relevance: The use of a TCI may improve comfort rating and foot stability.
On the Significance of Cutmark Distributions at the Badger Hole Folsom Bison Arroyo Trap, Southern Plains, USA

ABSTRACT This study assesses the components of the Cooper model of Folsom-age subsistence and mobility patterns on the North American southern Plains, through the analysis of the Badger Hole arroyo trap bison kill butchery patterns. The Cooper model proposes that a dichotomy exists in the size and seasonality of Folsom-age bison kill sites. The butchery programs associated with this dichotomy vary from limited selection of high-valued meat packages leaving nearly completely articulated skeletons at late summer/fall large-scale communal kills to the full butchery of carcasses leaving predominantly disarticulated bison elements at small kills during the rest of the year. We present the distribution of butchering evidence for the Badger Hole bison assemblage and compare the results with the Cooper site assemblages. The Badger Hole cutmark distribution pattern is consistent with that identified at the Cooper site, and supports the predictions of the Cooper model.
Sources of Success for Information Extraction Methods

In this paper, we examine Boosted Wrapper Induction (BWI) as an exemplar of recent rule-based information extraction techniques by conducting experiments on a wider variety of tasks than has previously been studied, including several natural text document collections. We provide a systematic analysis of how each of BWI’s algorithmic components, particularly boosting, contributes to its performance over comparable methods. We show that the benefit of boosting comes from the ability to reweight examples to learn specific rules (resulting in high precision) combined with the ability to continue learning rules after all positive examples have been covered (resulting in high recall). We also propose the SWI-Ratio as a quantitative measure of the regularity of an extraction task, and show that this ratio is a strong indicator of IE performance. Based on these results, we present an overview of the current successes and limitations of rule-based IE systems as a whole. Specifically, we address limitations in the sources of information made available to IE methods, the current representations used by these system, and the relationship between confidence values returned during extraction and true probabilities. In this analysis, we investigate including grammatical and semantic information for natural text documents, as well as parse tree and attribute-value pair information for XML and HTML documents. We show experimentally that incorporating even limited grammatical information can improve both the regularity and performance of natural INTERNAL DRAFT – NOT FOR PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION Dave Kauchak, Joseph Smarr, Charles Elkan 2 text extraction tasks. We conclude with novel suggestions for enriching the representational power of rule-based IE methods to exploit these and other types of regularities.
Deploying the digital aid framework: a non-traditionalist view of the intrinsic nature of e-business solutions for humanitarian relief

Commercial Fortune 500 companies come readily to mind in any discussion or categorization of global e-businesses. However, organizations within the international humanitarian relief sector such as UNHCR, the UN's refugee agency, are consistently over-looked or underestimated as global `e-Biz' players. This paper acts as a primer for the principles of e-business for humanitarian relief by presenting deployment examples of traditional e-business processes in non-traditional contexts; refugee and internally displaced person (IDP) crises. Preliminary research indicates such illustrated indicative examples detailed in the digital aid framework have potential for easy adoption and integration into future humanitarian (refugee & IDP) relief interventions
Differences by Race in the Rates of Procedures Performed in Hospitals for Medicare Beneficiaries

This study analyzes administrative data from the Medicare program to compare differences by race in the use of 17 major procedures performed in the hospital. In both 1986 and 1992, black beneficiaries were less likely than white beneficiaries to have received these procedures while hospitalized. The largest differences were seen for “referral-sensitive surgeries” such as percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, total knee replacement, and total hip replacement. These differences by race suggest that there are barriers to these services. In contrast, black beneficiaries were found to have substantially higher rates than white beneficiaries in the use of four procedures performed in the hospital: amputation of part of the lower limb, surgical debridement, arteriovenostomy, and bilateral orchiectomy. The types of procedures for which black beneficiaries have higher rates raise questions about whether there is a need for more comprehensive and continuous ambulatory care for the underlying health conditions associated with these procedures.
Oxidative Stress–Related Genetic Variants, Pro- and Antioxidant Intake and Status, and Advanced Prostate Cancer Risk

Background: Increased oxidative stress has been linked to prostate cancer. We investigated oxidative stress–related genetic variants in relation to advanced prostate cancer risk and examined potential interactions with pro- and antioxidant exposures. Methods: A case-cohort analysis was conducted in the prospective Netherlands Cohort Study, which included 58,279 men ages 55 to 69 years. Cohort members completed a baseline questionnaire and provided toenail clippings, which were used to isolate DNA. Advanced prostate cancer cases were identified during 17.3 years of follow-up. The analysis included 14 genetic variants and 11 exposures. Cox regression models were used for analysis and FDR Q-values were calculated. Results: Complete genotyping data were available for 952 cases and 1,798 subcohort members. CAT rs1001179 was associated with stage III/IV and stage IV prostate cancer risk, with HRs per minor allele of 1.16 [95% confidence intervals (CI), 1.01–1.33; P = 0.032] and 1.25 (95% CI, 1.07–1.46; P = 0.006), respectively. We tested 151 gene–environment interactions in relation to both stage III/IV and IV prostate cancer risk. Seven interactions were statistically significant after adjusting for multiple testing (FDR Q-value <0.20); for stage III/IV prostate cancer, these involved intake of β-carotene (GPX1 rs17650792, hOGG1 rs1052133) and heme iron (GPX1 rs1800668 and rs3448), and for stage IV prostate cancer, these involved intake of catechin (SOD2 rs4880) and heme iron (hOGG1 rs1052133, SOD1 rs10432782). Conclusion: This study of advanced prostate cancer risk showed a marginal association with a CAT polymorphism and seven novel gene–environment interactions in the oxidative stress pathway. Impact: Oxidative stress–related genes and exposures may have a joint effect on advanced prostate cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 24(1); 178–86. ©2014 AACR.
Epitope mapping of four novel CD44 monoclonal antibodies using surface plasmon resonance and soluble CD44

CD44 is a ubiquitous multistructural and multifunctional cell surface adhesion molecule. The molecular diversity of this glycoprotein is generated by both post‐translational modification and the differential use of alternatively spliced exons which play a critical role in determining the exact conformation of the molecule. CD44 isoforms are found in many tissues and in soluble form in plasma. Soluble CD44 was purified by a two‐step purification combining ion exchange and immuno‐affinity chromatography. Our aim was to check that all the known antigenic epitopes are present on sCD44, which could thus be used for the mapping of new anti‐CD44 antibodies. Competitive binding assays using reference antibodies and novel anti‐CD44 monoclonal antibodies were performed by real‐time biospecific interaction analysis. Reference mAbs identified on soluble CD44 the three distinct epitopes previously defined using red blood cell membrane CD44. From the four novel CD44 mAbs, two mAbs (NaM198‐6B5, NaM198‐10B4) mapped to epitope group 1, whereas the others (NaM10‐8F4, NaM77‐9D6) mapped to epitope group 2. Immunopurified sCD44 obtained from the plasma of healthy donors appears to be a usable tool for the mapping of anti‐CD44 mAbs.
Evidence that cochlear-implanted deaf patients are better multisensory integrators

The cochlear implant (CI) is a neuroprosthesis that allows profoundly deaf patients to recover speech intelligibility. This recovery goes through long-term adaptative processes to build coherent percepts from the coarse information delivered by the implant. Here we analyzed the longitudinal postimplantation evolution of word recognition in a large sample of CI users in unisensory (visual or auditory) and bisensory (visuoauditory) conditions. We found that, despite considerable recovery of auditory performance during the first year postimplantation, CI patients maintain a much higher level of word recognition in speechreading conditions compared with normally hearing subjects, even several years after implantation. Consequently, we show that CI users present higher visuoauditory performance when compared with normally hearing subjects with similar auditory stimuli. This better performance is not only due to greater speechreading performance, but, most importantly, also due to a greater capacity to integrate visual input with the distorted speech signal. Our results suggest that these behavioral changes in CI users might be mediated by a reorganization of the cortical network involved in speech recognition that favors a more specific involvement of visual areas. Furthermore, they provide crucial indications to guide the rehabilitation of CI patients by using visually oriented therapeutic strategies.
Rotator cuff Disease: Aspects and Implications

El objetivo del estudio fue analizar las caracteristicas de los portadores de la afeccion del manguito rotador y sus implicancias por el cuadro de la lesion. Fueron entrevistadas 112 personas, con diagnostico inicial de afeccion del manguito rotador, la mayoria compuesta por mujeres de alrededor de 51 anos, siendo el lado derecho mas afectado, con evidencia de ser el mas perjudicado (p=0,00) y con gran incapacidad de mover los miembros superiores (p<0,05). La patologia mas frecuente fue la ruptura parcial del tendon del musculo supraespinal, con tratamiento de 26,16 meses y sin asociacion con los estados de la patologia. La mayoria de los casos fueron tratados con fisioterapia, y solo el 19% fue sometido a procedimiento quirurgico. Se verifico que esta patologia provoca grandes perjuicios funcionales, afectando tanto el ambito social como laboral, produciendo altas incapacidades en los miembros superiores, aun despues del tratamiento
Effectiveness of Surgical Release in Patients With Neglected Congenital Muscular Torticollis According to Age at the Time of Surgery

Objective To identify the correlation between change in spinal deformities after surgical release and age at the time of surgery, and the effectiveness of surgical release in patients with neglected congenital muscular torticollis (CMT). Methods This was a retrospective study of 46 subjects with neglected CMT who had undergone surgical release at age ≥5 years at a tertiary medical center between January 2009 and January 2014. Spinal deformities were measured on anteroposterior plain radiographs of the cervical and whole spine, both preoperatively and postoperatively, to assess 3 parameters: cervicomandibular angle (CMA), lateral shift (LS), and Cobb angle (CA). We analyzed the change in spinal deformities after surgical release in consideration of age at the time of surgery. Results The median age at the time of surgery was 12.87 years. All 3 parameters showed significant improvement after surgical release (median values, pre- to post-surgery: CMA, 12.13° to 4.02°; LS, 18.13 mm to 13.55 mm; CA, 6.10° to 4.80°; all p<0.05). There was no significant correlation between age at the time of surgery and change in CMA (R=0.145, p=0.341) and LS (R=0.103, p=0.608). However, CA showed significant improvement with increasing age (R=0.150, p=0.046). Conclusion We assessed the correlation between change in spinal deformities after surgical release and age at the time of surgery. We found that that surgical release is effective for spinal deformities, even in older patients. These findings enhance our understanding of the effectiveness and timing of surgical release in patients with neglected CMT.
Adenovirus‐mediated overexpression of follistatin enlarges intact liver of adult rats

Under normal physiologic conditions, liver size is under strict regulatory control. Activin, a member of the transforming growth factor β (TGF‐β) superfamily, is expressed in the intact adult liver and is an inhibitor of hepatocyte growth. However, the exact role played by endogenous activin in maintaining the size of a normal adult liver has yet to be completely examined in vivo. Here, we report the development of an adenoviral vector (AdexCAFS288) that expressed human follistatin‐288, which binds to activin and neutralizes its biologic activities. AdexCAGFP, a control virus, expressed green fluorescent protein. AdexCAFS288 effectively expressed follistatin‐288, as measured both in HepG2 cell lysate and conditioned medium and blocked activin signaling and its biologic functions in vitro. Intraperitoneal injection of AdexCAFS288 in vivo resulted in significant liver growth (146% of control) in intact liver of adult male rats 12 days following treatment without significant dysfunctions. The increase in liver size was attributed to increased hepatocyte proliferation, as monitored by the mitotic index. Furthermore, there was a significant correlation between serum follistatin levels and liver weight. In conclusion, our results suggest that activin plays a critical role in maintaining optimal liver size and implicates the endogenous activin system as a therapeutic target in the treatment of liver disease.
The spine neck filters membrane potentials

Dendritic spines receive most synaptic inputs in the forebrain. Their morphology, with a spine head isolated from the dendrite by a slender neck, indicates a potential role in isolating inputs. Indeed, biochemical compartmentalization occurs at spine heads because of the diffusional bottleneck created by the spine neck. Here we investigate whether the spine neck also isolates inputs electrically. Using two-photon uncaging of glutamate on spine heads from mouse layer-5 neocortical pyramidal cells, we find that the amplitude of uncaging potentials at the soma is inversely proportional to neck length. This effect is strong and independent of the position of the spine in the dendritic tree and size of the spine head. Moreover, spines with long necks are electrically silent at the soma, although their heads are activated by the uncaging event, as determined with calcium imaging. Finally, second harmonic measurements of membrane potential reveal an attenuation of somatic voltages into the spine head, an attenuation directly proportional to neck length. We conclude that the spine neck plays an electrical role in the transmission of membrane potentials, isolating synapses electrically.
Autoimmunity to Both Proinsulin and IGRP Is Required for Diabetes in Nonobese Diabetic 8.3 TCR Transgenic Mice1

T cells specific for proinsulin and islet-specific glucose-6-phosphatase catalytic subunit related protein (IGRP) induce diabetes in nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice. TCR transgenic mice with CD8+ T cells specific for IGRP206–214 (NOD8.3 mice) develop accelerated diabetes that requires CD4+ T cell help. We previously showed that immune responses against proinsulin are necessary for IGRP206–214-specific CD8+ T cells to expand. In this study, we show that diabetes development is dramatically reduced in NOD8.3 mice crossed to NOD mice tolerant to proinsulin (NOD-PI mice). This indicates that immunity to proinsulin is even required in the great majority of NOD8.3 mice that have a pre-existing repertoire of IGRP206–214-specific cells. However, protection from diabetes could be overcome by inducing islet inflammation either by a single dose of streptozotocin or anti-CD40 agonist Ab treatment. This suggests that islet inflammation can substitute for proinsulin-specific CD4+ T cell help to activate IGRP206–214-specific T cells.
Correlations Between Morphological Changes in Platelet Aggregates and Underlying Endothelial Damage in Cerebral Microcirculation of Mice

Background and Purpose The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that, once formed, platelet aggregates may injure underlying cerebrovascular endothelium. Such injury could make the same site selectively attractive to the next wave of passing emboli or activated platelets. This vicious circle could account for repetitive, stereotypic symptoms in transient ischemic attacks. Methods In pial arterioles, minor endothelial injury was produced by a laser/dye technique. After various periods of platelet aggregation at the damaged site, the vessels were fixed in situ for electron microscopic study. The degree of platelet activation (rounded and/or degranulated forms) was evaluated by counting these forms in the electron photomicrographs. These counts were related to the degree of endothelial damage ascertained in the micrographs. Other statistical relations were also examined. Results Endothelial damage progressed in parallel with the duration of platelet aggregation and the degree of platelet degranulation at the site. Correlations were number of activated platelets versus degree of damage, r=. 43, P<. 03; duration of aggregation versus damage, r=. 52, P<. 01; and number of degranulated platelets versus the degree of endothelial damage, r=. 83, P<. 001. If an aggregate embolized, endothelial damage did not appear to progress. No correlation existed between the duration of exposure to the laser and the degree of injury. Conclusions The parallel between changes in platelets and endothelial damage could represent either an effect of endothelium on platelets or an effect of platelets on endothelium. Although the former alternative cannot be totally ruled out, the observations seem to fit best the hypothesis that progressive endothelial damage can result from increasing activation and degranulation of overlying platelets.
SUMO engages multiple corepressors to regulate chromatin structure and transcription

Post-translational modification of many transcription factors and cofactors by the small ubiquitin-related modifier SUMO has been correlated with transcriptional repression. Recent investigations of the molecular mechanisms underlying SUMO-dependent repression have identified diverse chromatin modifying enzymes and chromatin associated proteins as effectors of SUMO-dependent changes in chromatin structure and gene expression. A surprising diversity of proteins has been identified to be recruited to promoters in a SUMO-dependent manner, including the histone deacetylase HDAC2, the histone demethylase LSD1, the histone methyltransferase SETDB1, the nucleosome remodeling ATPase Mi-2, and chromatin-associated proteins HP1 and L3MBTL1 and -2. These findings suggest that SUMOylation plays a central role in coordinating histone modifications and chromatin structure important for regulation of gene expression.
Complete Genome Sequencing of Borrelia valaisiana and Borrelia afzelii Isolated from Ixodes persulcatus Ticks in Western Siberia

ABSTRACT Lyme disease, caused by bacteria of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex, is the most frequent tick-borne infection in Eurasia. Here, we report the complete genome sequence of the Borrelia valaisiana Tom 4006 and Borrelia afzelii Tom 3107 strains isolated from Ixodes persulcatus ticks in western Siberia.
Positive Early Life Rainfall Shocks and Adult Mental Health

We study the effect of early life exposure to above average levels of rainfall on adult mental health. While we find no effect from pre-natal exposure, post-natal positive rainfall shocks decrease average Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CESD) mental health scores by 15 percent and increase the likelihood of depression by 5 percent, a more than 20 percent increase relative to the mean. These effects are limited to females. We rule out prenatal stress and income shocks as pathways and find evidence suggestive of increased exposure to disease.
Nitric oxide induced cervical ripening in the human: Involvement of cyclic guanosine monophosphate, prostaglandin F(2 alpha), and prostaglandin E(2).

OBJECTIVE The purpose of the study was to investigate possible mechanisms and morphologic changes involved in nitric oxide-induced cervical ripening. STUDY DESIGN Women scheduled for surgical termination of first trimester pregnancy were randomized to 1 of 3 groups: isosorbide 5-mononitrate 40 mg 4 hours or 10 hours before the operation or no preoperative treatment. Cervical specimens were obtained for the analysis of tissue levels of cyclic guanosine monophosphate, cyclic adenosine monophosphate, cyclo-oxygenase 1, cyclo-oxygenase 2, prostaglandin F(2 alpha), and prostaglandin E(2) or were fixed in glutaraldehyde for microscopy. RESULTS Increased levels of cyclic guanosine monophosphate, cyclo-oxygenase 2, prostaglandin F(2 alpha), and prostaglandin E(2) were found in samples that were exposed to isosorbide 5-mononitrate compared with control samples. Electron microscopy revealed stromal edema and collagen disorganization after isosorbide 5-mononitrate treatment. CONCLUSION Cyclic guanosine monophosphate, prostaglandin F(2 alpha), and prostaglandin E(2) are involved in nitric oxide-induced cervical ripening. Nitric oxide causes morphologic changes similar to those changes seen during spontaneous cervical ripening.