Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The influence of psychological stressors on myoelectrical signal activity in the shoulder region during a data entry task

Psychological stress is suspected to play a key role in the development of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs), and work pace may be a primary contributor. The purpose of this study was to observe how psychological stress affects muscle activity recorded from key muscles used to support the shoulder (the trapezius and levator scapulae muscles) during keying tasks. We hypothesized that muscle activity [amplitude of the myoelectric signal (MES)] would increase and the number of periodic rests in muscle activity ('EMG gaps') would decrease when computer work was performed at an increased pace, and with distractions in the environment. Ten healthy volunteers performed three typing tasks (N = no stress; I = stress induced by a work pace reward; IS = stress induced by a work pace reward plus irritation/distraction). Both muscles showed significant increases ( p < .05) in MES amplitude when comparing IS to the N and I conditions, whereas N and I were not different. There was significant reduction in the number of gaps observed during the I and IS conditions (essentially no gaps were observed) as compared to the N condition. Interestingly, MES amplitude measures were capable of preferentially detecting changes in activation due to the distraction stress, whereas the number of EMG gaps preferentially detected the stress of the increase in work pace. The effect of these stressors on heart rate and productivity are also discussed.
Evaluation of Antinociceptive Activity of Berberis Vulgaris L. Fruit’s Hydroethanolic Extract in Male Mice

Herbal medicine has an old history with a broad application all over the world. Many researches have focused on the curative as well as antinociceptive effects of herbal extract. The aim of this study was to investigate the analgesic effects of Berberis vulgaris hydroethanolic extract (BVE) in male mice. 30 male mice were divided into 5 groups: control, treated by morphine, treated by BVE (150 & 300 mg/kg) and naloxane plus BVE (300 mg/kg) randomly. To assess the antinociceptive effects of BVE, the animals were examined by employing different pain models such as, tail-flick tests (for acute pain) and acetic acid-induced writhing (for chronic pain) after treatment with morphine, naloxane and BVE. The results indicate that the BVE showed an important antinociceptive effect at doses of 150 and 300 mg/kg (P<0.01 and P<0.001, respectively), administered intraperitoneally in mice, which significantly inhibited the abdominal constrictions (55.73% of inhibition) induced by acetic acid and increase tail-flick latency when compared to control group in the same dose, although they were less effective than morphine in the same assay. The antinociceptive models employed here reveal a potential analgesic effect of the Berberis vulgaris hydroethanolic extract. We suggest that this effect might be caused by anti-inflammatory effect and the stimulation of the opioid receptors.
Multi-Session Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) Causes Inflammatory and Regenerative Processes in the Rat Brain (S14.005)

OBJECTIVE: Hypothesizing that tDCS might elicit the recruitment of cells to the cortex, we here studied the effects of tDCS in the rat brain in vivo. BACKGROUND: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is increasingly being used in human studies as an adjuvant tool to promote recovery of function after stroke. However, its neurobiological effects are still largely unknown. Electric fields are known to influence the migration of various cell types in vitro, but effects in vivo remain to be shown. DESIGN/METHODS: Adult Wistar rats (n = 16) were randomized to either anodal or cathodal stimulation for either 5 or 10 consecutive days (500 μA, 15 min). Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) was given systemically to label dividing cells throughout the experiment. Immunohistochemical analyses ex vivo included stainings for activated microglia and endogenous neural stem cells(NSC). RESULTS: Multi-session tDCS with the chosen parameters did not cause a cortical lesion. An innate immune response with early upregulation of Iba1-positive activated microglia occurred after both cathodal and anodal tDCS. The involvement of adaptive immunity as assessed by ICAM1-immunoreactivity was less pronounced. Most interestingly, only cathodal tDCS increased the number of endogenous NSC in the stimulated cortex. After 10 days of cathodal stimulation, proliferating NSC increased by ∼60%, with a significant effect of both polarity and number of tDCS sessions on the recruitment of NSC. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate a pro-inflammatory effect of both cathodal and anodal tDCS, and a polarity-specific migratory effect on endogenous NSC in vivo. Our data indicate that the therapeutic effect of tDCS in stroke might at least in part result from NSC activation and the modulation of neuroinflammation. Supported by: Koeln Fortune Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Cologne, Germany (143/2011). Disclosure: Dr. Schroeter received personal compensation for activities with Astellas Pharma, Bayer Health Care, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Janssen Cilag, Talecris Biotherapeutics, and Teva as speaker. Dr. Rueger has nothing to disclose. Dr. Keuters has nothing to disclose. Dr. Walberer has nothing to disclose. Dr. Spliess has nothing to disclose. Dr. Graf has nothing to disclose. Dr. Fink has received personal compensation for activities with Teva, GlaxoSmithKline, and Boehringer Ingelheim as a speaker. Dr. Fink has received personal compensation in an editorial capacity for Cortex, Zeitschrift fur Neuropsychologie and Fortschritte der Neurologie Psychiatrie. Dr. Fink has received royalty payments for the publication of Funktionelle MRT in Psychiatrie und Neurologie.
The Effect of High Frequency Sensorineural Hearing Loss on Auditory Temporal Resolution: Gaps-In-Noise Test Performance in Older and Young Adults with Normal Hearing

Received June 18, 2015 Revised August 18, 2015 Accepted August 29, 2015 Address for correspondence Yong-Hwi An, MD Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Eulji Medical Center, Eulji University School of Medicine, 68 Hangeulbiseok-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul 01830, Korea Tel +82-2-970-8276 Fax +82-2-970-8275 E-mail an0072@hanmail.net Background and ObjectivesZZAuditory temporal resolution, which refers to the time-related aspects of acoustic processing, can be evaluated by the Gaps-In-Noise (GIN) test. We investigated whether the presence of high frequency sensorineural hearing loss (HF-SNHL) affects the temporal resolution of GIN performance in older adults with normal hearing. Subjects and MethodZZHearing tests including the GIN test were performed in 87 subjects with normal pure tone average. The GIN threshold and percentage of correct answers were compared among 4 groups of participants; older adults with normal hearing (n=18), older adults with HF-SNHL (n=24), young adults with normal hearing (n=24) and young adults with HF-SNHL (n=21). ResultsZZThere was no significant difference in the mean GIN thresholds between the HFSNHL group (5.8±0.8 msec) and the normal hearing group (6.0±0.8 msec) in older adults, whereas the mean GIN thresholds of HF-SNHL group was higher than that of the normal group in young adults (4.6±0.3 msec vs. 4.2±0.5 msec, p<0.05). The mean percentage of correct answers of HF-SNHL group (62.5±5.5%) was not significantly different from that of the normal hearing group (60.6±3.9%) in the old, unlike in the young (71.3±4.0% with HF-SNHL vs. 76.9±4.3% with normal hearing, p<0.05). Age only showed a significant correlation with the GIN performance. Neither the GIN threshold nor the GIN perception level had any relation with the presence of HF-SNHL in older adults. ConclusionZZWe found no evidence that supported the influence of HF-SNHL on auditory temporal resolution in older adults. These results imply that HF-SNHL may be of little importance in gap detection after age-related changes in central auditory system. Korean J Otorhinolaryngol-Head Neck Surg 2015;58(12):841-7
Estandarización de las pruebas HOTV, Snellen y ETDRS en niños de 5 a 15 años de edad dentro del protocolo REISVO: una prueba piloto

Objetivo : evaluar el nivel de estandarizacion de las pruebas HOTV, Snellen y ETDRS para vision lejana, mediante prueba piloto, en ninos de 5 a 15 anos examinados en la Clinica de Optometria de la Universidad de La Salle. Metodologia : muestra de 19 ninos del Centro Amar con agudeza visual mejor de 20/400. Se escogieron las pruebas y se establecio el nivel de estandarizacion de cada una con la proposicion de protocolos por parte de optometras participantes en la investigacion y ajenos a ella. En la prueba piloto, la agudeza visual fue tomada por dos examinadores en tres dias diferentes. Se aplicaron los test Snellen y ETDRS en todos los ninos y el HOTV solo en los de edades entre 5 y 8 anos, para ojos derecho e izquierdo. Resultados : se hallo una buena correlacion intra- e interexaminadores para HOTV, Snellen y ETDRS. De las tres pruebas, ETDRS se comporto mejor, fue precisa y la mas veraz. Se encontro buena correlacion entre los resultados de Snellen y ETDRS. Conclusiones : la buena correlacion intra- e interexaminadores y la buena precision intermedia de las pruebas HOTV, Snellen y ETDRS permiten evidenciar un nivel de estandarizacion apropiado segun los protocolos propuestos, para ninos entre 5 y 15 anos. Aunque precisos, los test de agudeza visual son susceptibles a cambios que afectan su veracidad.
Fault-tolerant automobile steering based on diversity of steer-by-wire

In order to solve the problems of steer-by-wire(SBW)system failures,the diversity fault-tolerant technology was applied to the SBW system.The fault-tolerant automobile steering based on diversity of SBW was investigated. After the analysis of the stability of the diversity of steer-by-wire,the relationship between the SBW mechanism and backup mechanisms was established. A method was presented to the fault-tolerant design based on diversity of SBW. A test participant was chosen who has no special skill excepts for over 10 years driving experience.On the driving simulator,the stability of SBW which was designed newly was tested.The experimental results show that the driver can maneuver the vehicle with the steering wheel during the SBW failures. Both cost and volume increase by excessive redundancy within SBW is avoided by the diversified design,thus facilitating SBW application on new-generation vehicles.
Alternative pneumococcal vaccination schedules for infants in Fiji and pneumococcal epidemiology

This thesis documents the pneumococcal disease burden and the results of a Phase II pneumococcal vaccine trial in the low middle income country, Fiji. The overall objective was to gather sufficient evidence for the Fiji Ministry of Health to decide whether to introduce the pneumococcal vaccination into its national schedule and define an appropriate and affordable vaccination strategy. The nasopharynx is the main reservoir for pneumococci and plays an important role in the spread of the organism. Studies of nasopharyngeal carriage offer insights into the pneumococcal disease burden in a community, particularly for potential serotypes which may cause pneumonia, and are a convenient way of determining the level of antibiotic resistance among pneumococcal isolates circulating in a population. The first study, a crosssectional pneumococcal nasopharyngeal carriage survey of healthy children aged 3–13 months, was undertaken to document the prevalence of pneumococcal nasopharyngeal carriage, risk factors for carriage, serotypes and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of carried pneumococci in healthy young children in Fiji (Chapter 3). Pneumococcal nasopharyngeal carriage was common in Fijian children. Penicillin resistance was documented for the first time, and, as a result, first-line treatment for meningitis was altered. A low proportion of carriage serotypes were included in the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. Invasive pneumococcal disease is an important cause of morbidity and mortality, particularly in the very young and the elderly. The introduction of the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in the national immunisation schedule in the USA has resulted in an impressive reduction in infant invasive pneumococcal disease. In addition, the vaccine has had a more than expected herd immunity effect on invasive pneumococcal disease in the elderly and other age groups. Chapter 4 reports on a study that aimed to document age-specific burden of invasive pneumococcal disease including clinical syndromes, underlying conditions, serotype distribution, and the potential protection against invasive pneumococcal disease and chest X-ray confirmed pneumonia by 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in Fiji. The annual invasive pneumococcal disease incidence was comparable to countries of similar socioeconomic status. Being indigenous Fijian was an independent risk factor for disease. Underlying conditions were common and the case fatality rate was high particularly in the elderly population. For every 1,930 and 128 infants vaccinated, one death and one case
Linear theory of Faraday instability in viscous liquids

The linear stability of the plane free surface of a viscous liquid on a horizontal plate under vertical sinusoidal oscillation is analysed theoretically. The free surface of a laterally unbounded liquid of any depth h may always be excited to standing waves if the external acceleration is raised above a critical value ac. For a fixed external frequency ω, solutions are possible only within certain bands of wave numbers k for a given forcing amplitude above ac, that is, within tongue-like stability zones in the a-k plane. The analysis for a shallow layer of viscous fluids shows new qualitative behaviours compared to the nearly inviscid theory. It predicts a series of bicritical points, where both harmonic and subharmonic solutions exist for the same forcing amplitude and forcing frequency. This makes harmonic solutions possible at the onset in a laterally large container, which is qualitatively different from the results of nearly inviscid theory. For a low viscosity fluid of small depths, the damping coefficient may be considered proportional to (vω)1/2/h in contrast to vk2 predicted by the nearly inviscid theory. An approximate analytic expression is derived for the lower part of the lowest marginal curve in cases when the depth of the liquid is much larger than the thickness of the viscous boundary layer formed at the bottom plate. This approximate threshold agrees well with that of recent experiments with viscous liquids.
Scientific Opinion on a quantitative estimation of the public health impact of setting a new target for the reduction of Salmonella in laying hens

Public health risks of Salmonella infection in laying hens (Gallus gallus) can be associated with exposure through four different pathways: internally contaminated table eggs, externally contaminated table eggs, egg products and meat from spent hens. In relation to eggs, Salmonella Enteritidis is by far the serovar most frequently associated with human illness, and exposure through eggs that are internally contaminated with this serovar has a higher public health significance than exposure to externally contaminated eggs. A mathematical model, using reported field data from two EU Member States (MSs), suggests a linear relationship between the investigated scenarios of flock prevalence for Salmonella Enteritidis and the number of contaminated eggs that would be laid. However, the absolute public health impact of the assessed flock prevalence scenarios is highly uncertain due to lack of data on the number of contaminated eggs produced by infected flocks and on the true number of egg-related human salmonellosis cases. It is suggested that public health benefits, similar to those obtained reaching lower Salmonella flock prevalences, may be achieved by implementing controls based on more sensitive sampling protocols. Diversion of eggs from flocks that are tested positive in the EU Salmonella control programme to the production of egg products subjected to heat treatment may lead to increased health risks as heat treatment of egg products should not be considered an absolute barrier to Salmonella contamination. Fresh meat from spent laying hens might carry a higher prevalence of Salmonella than meat from broiler flocks, in particular if sourced from Salmonella-positive flocks. The quantification of under-ascertainment and underreporting of human salmonellosis cases, improving knowledge on within-flock dynamics of Salmonella and harvesting data on production of Salmonella contaminated eggs under field conditions would contribute to improving the accuracy of future quantitative estimates.
Determination of The Primary Reasons For Overweight and Obesity Among First Grade Elementary School Students in Shiraz During The Academic Year 2010-2011

Background: The epidemic peak of obesity and overweight began in 1980. Obesity during childhood and adolescence, particularly in the second decade of life, is a strong predictor of obesity in adulthood. The significant risk factors for obesity and overweight in childhood include breastfeeding, obese parents, socioeconomic status, birth weight, physical activities and diet. Breastfeeding is one of the most important strategies for weight loss and reduction in childhood obesity. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between overweight, obesity, breastfeeding patterns and birth weight among first grade elementary school students in Shiraz, Iran. Patients and Methods: This case-control study included 200 obese (case group) and 200 normal weight (control group) children. A sample size of 400 children was determined. Study participants were selected from among elementary schools in Shiraz by multistage sampling. First, schools were chosen according to a stratified random sampling method. Then, we chose all overweight or obese first grade students. For each case, we chose a control student matched in terms of age, sex, grade and elementary school. The General Information Questionnaire, Socioeconomic Questionnaire, Questionnaire of Breastfeeding during Infancy, Physical Activity Questionnaire and 24-Hour Dietary Recall Questionnaire were completed. Mothers’ height and weight were also measured. Data analysis was carried out by SPSSversion 15. Conclusion : Obesity and overweight in first grade elementary school students is related to breastfeeding pattern; however, this may not be an independent relationship. Results: There was a significant difference in breastfeeding duration between the case and control groups. No relationship was found among birth weight, overweight and obesity in the case group. Mother’s body mass index (BMI) and obesity in immediate family members showed a significant difference between case and control groups. There was no significant difference in the socioeconomic status of the two groups. Conclusion: Obesity and overweight in first grade elementary school students is related to breastfeeding pattern; however, this may not be an independant relationship.
Prevalence of Chronic Kidney Disease in Unselected Swedish Patients with Type 2 Diabetes and its Association with Cardiovascular Disease

Aim: To estimate the prevalence of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and albuminuria and its associations to prevalent cardiovascular co-morbidities in patients with type 2 diabetes in a primary care setting in Sweden. Patients and Methods: Cross-sectional data on demography, laboratory measurements, current medication, previous cardiovascular disease and major events of hypoglycaemia during the last 12 months was consecutively recorded from 53 primary care centers. Stage of CKD was defined based on the presence of albuminuria and estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR) according to KDIGO. Albuminuria was measured using the urinary albumin-creatinine ratio. Results: We included 362 men and 226 women aged 68.5±9.3 years with a mean diabetes duration 9.9±7.2 years. 220 patients (37%) were categorized as having CKD stage 1-5, 105 subjects (18%) CKD 1-2, and 115 subjects (20%) CKD 3-5. In the CKD 1-5 categories, micro albuminuria was prevalent in 128 (58.2%) subjects and macro albuminuria in 27 (12.3%) subjects. The Odds Ratio (OR), adjusted for age and gender, for subjects with CKD 3-5 for having retinopathy was 2.71 (95% CI 1.14 to 6.25, p=0.02) and for myocardial infarction 1.91 (95% CI 1.04 to 3.45, p=0.03) compared with CKD 0-2. Levels
Toward invariant functional representations of variable surface fundamental frequency contours: Synthesizing speech melody via model-based stochastic learning

riability has been one of the major challenges for both theoretical understanding and computer synthesis of speech prosody. In this we show that economical representation of variability is the key to effective modeling of prosody. Specifically, we report the develnt of PENTAtrainer—A trainable yet deterministic prosody synthesizer based on an articulatory–functional view of speech. We with testing results on Thai, Mandarin and English that it is possible to achieve high-accuracy predictive synthesis of fundamental ncy contours with very small sets of parameters obtained through stochastic learning from real speech data. The first key compof this system is syllable-synchronized sequential target approximation—implemented as the qTA model, which is designed to simfor each tonal unit, a wide range of contextual variability with a single invariant target. The second key component is the automatic ng of function-specific targets through stochastic global optimization, guided by a layered pseudo-hierarchical functional annotacheme, which requires the manual labeling of only the temporal domains of the functional units. The results in terms of synthesis cy demonstrate that effective modeling of the contextual variability is the key also to effective modeling of function-related vary. Additionally, we show that, being both theory-based and trainable (hence data-driven), computational systems like PENTAtran serve as an effective modeling tool in basic research, with which the level of falsifiability in theory testing can be raised, and also a link between basic and applied research in speech science can be developed. 3 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
The Determination of Snow Albedo from Satellite

Alexander Kokhanovsky1, Jason E. Box2, Baptiste Vandecrux2, Kenneth Mankoff2, Maxim 6 Lamare3, Alexander Smirnov4, and Michael Kern5 7 1 VITROCISET, Bratustrasse 7, D-64293 Darmstadt, Germany; a.kokhanovsky@vitrocisetbelgium.com 8 2 Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Copenhagen, Denmark 9 3 Météo-France, CNRS, CNRM, Centre d'Etudes de la Neige, Grenoble, France 10 4 Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Lanham, Maryland, USA, and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory, NASA 11 GSFC, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA 12 5 ESTEC/ESA, Science, Applications and Climate Department (EOP-SME), Noordwijk, The Netherlands 13 14 A.Kokhanovsky, a.kokhanovsky@vitrocisetbelgium.com 15 J. E. Box, jeb@geus.dk 16 B. Vandecrux, bav@geus.dk 17 K. Mankoff@geus.dk 18 M. Lamare, maxim.lamare@meteo.fr 19 A. Smirnov, alexander.smirnov-1@nasa.gov 20 M. Kern, Michael.Kern@esa.int 21 22 23 * Correspondence: a.kokhanovsky@vitrocisetbelgium.com 24 25 Abstract: We present a simplified atmospheric correction algorithm for the snow/ice albedo retrieval 26 using single view satellite measurements. The validation of the technique is performed using Ocean 27 and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) on board Copernicus Sentinel 3 satellite and ground spectral 28 or broadband albedo measurements from locations on the Greenland ice sheet and in the French Alps. 29 Through comparison with independent ground observations, the technique is shown to perform 30 accurately in a range of conditions from a 2100 m elevation mid-latitude location in the French Alps 31 to a network of 15 locations across a 2390 m elevation range in seven regions across the Greenland 32 ice sheet. Retrieved broadband albedo is accurate within 5% over a wide (0.5) broadband albedo 33 range of the (N = 4,155) Greenland observations and with no apparent bias. 34