Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bar orientation discrimination in the cat

Abstract We have measured orientation-discrimination thresholds of 4 deg in the cat, confirming an earlier study of Vandenbussche and Orban (1983). Unlike Vandenbussche and Orban (1983), we found that orientation-discrimination performance is not better at principal, as compared to oblique, reference orientations (no oblique effect). Despite the absence of the oblique effect, and despite the discrimination thresholds which were elevated by a factor of 4 compared to humans, orientation-discrimination performance of cats and humans is qualitatively similar in a number of aspects. First, orientation-discrimination performance as a function of length and contrast is qualitatively similar to human performance. Second, as in humans, detection and discrimination of the stimuli are closely related. Finally, randomizing the contrast between the stimuli does not affect orientation-discrimination performance. This suggests that similar computations underlay orientation-discrimination performance in both species. In summary, our results confirm that the cat is a useful model for human orientation-discrimination performance.
[Analysis of the therapeutic effect and the safety of glutamine granules per os in patients with severe burns and trauma].

OBJECTIVE To observe the therapeutic effect and possible side effects of glutamine granules per os in patients with trauma, burns and major operations. METHODS Patients inflicted with severe burns, trauma and major operations were enrolled in the study. One hundred and twenty patients were randomly divided into two groups, 60 in control group (C) and 60 in glutamine group (Gln). Randomized double blind and placebo control methods were employed in the study. All the patients in both groups were given diet with equal calories and equal nitrogen content. The patients in Gln group received glutamine granules in dose of 0.5 g.kg(-1). d(-1) orally or by gavage, while those in C group received same dose of placebo (glycine) for 7 days. The changes in the intestinal mucosal barrier function, the protein metabolism, the immune function, hepatic and renal functions, and the incidence of side effects of the medication in both groups of patients were observed and compared before and after the supplementation of glutamine or glycine. RESULTS The plasma contents of glutamine, proteins and interleukin 2 in both groups were all lower than normal values. But the plasma diamine oxidase (DAO) activity, endotoxin content, intestinal mucosal permeability (urine lactose/mannitol, L/M) and urine excretion of nitrogen increased obviously in both groups. The plasma glutamine concentration in Gln group increased by 38.04% after the administration of Gln for 7 days (P < 0.01). The plasma contents of pro-albumin, transferrin, and IL-2 were obviously higher than those in the C group (the increase rates were 21.19%, 51.11%, 57.54%, respectively, P < 0.01). The plasma DAO activity, L/M ratio, endotoxin content and urine nitrogen excretion in Gln group were evidently lower than those in C group (the decrease rates were 47.26%, 52.18, 22.22% and 27.78%, respectively, P < 0.05 or 0.01). There was no obvious difference in the plasma levels of total protein and albumin, the indices in blood and urine test, or the hepatic and renal functions between the two groups before and after the amino acid supplementation. Mild side effects such as nausea, diarrhea, constipation occurred in both groups, but all of them disappeared spontaneously afterwards (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION Oral administration of glutamine could be helpful to increase plasma concentration of glutamine and to ameliorate obviously the intestinal mucosal injury, to promote systemic protein synthesis and to inhibit protein catabolism and to upgrade systemic immune function with little side effect in patients with severe injury.
Applying the wavelet transform to derive sea surface elevation from acceleration signals

The current work develops a procedure for carrying out the theories of continuous wavelet transform and inverse wavelet transform to derive sea surface level from acceleration records. Wave signals were applied to verify the practicability of the wavelet algorithm. It is revealed the accuracy of sea surface elevation is influenced by the margins of wave signals, noise in the low frequency band, and the mother wavelet function. After discussing cases of regular and irregular wave signals, this investigation confirms the method for deriving sea surface elevation from the acceleration signal using the wavelet transform.
Mothers' responses during the child's stem cell transplantation: pilot study.

PURPOSE Examine the relationships between the mothers' anxiety and depressive symptomatology and resources (problem-solving orientation and style, coping, and social support) during their child's stem cell transplantation (SCT). METHOD A prospective correlation design was used. A convenience sample of 23 mothers completed State-Anxiety Inventory, Center of Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Revised, and Stress Support Scale at the child's admission and 10 days after the stem cells infusion. FINDINGS Significant relationships were found between mothers' negative problem-solving orientation and emotional responses, coping and depressive symptomatology, and between social support and emotional responses but in an inverse direction. CONCLUSION Health care professionals need to increase their understanding of mothers' stress responses during the SCT. These responses may affect the mother/child interactions and the mother's ability to provide childcare. A psychosocial intervention that includes these resources may assist the mothers during their child's SCT.
Question Paraphrase Generation for Question Answering System

The queries to a practical Question Answering (QA) system range from keywords, phrases, badly written questions, and occasionally grammatically perfect questions. Among different kinds of question analysis approaches, the pattern matching works well in analyzing such queries. It is costly to build this pattern matching module because tremendous manual labor is needed to expand its coverage to so many variations in natural language questions. This thesis proposes that the costly manual labor should be saved by the technique of paraphrase generation which can automatically generate semantically similar paraphrases of a natural language question. Previous approaches of paraphrase generation either require large scale of corpus and the dependency parser, or only deal with the relation-entity type of simple question queries. By introducing a method of inferring transformation operations between paraphrases, and a description of sentence structure, this thesis develops a paraphrase generation method and its implementation in Chinese with very limited amount of corpus. The evaluation results of this implementation show its ability to aid humans to efficiently create a pattern matching module for QA systems as it greatly outperforms the human editors in the coverage of natural language questions, with an acceptable precision in generated paraphrases.
[Establishment of blood β-hydroxybutyrate threshold for diagnosis of type 2 diabetes ketoacidosis].

OBJECTIVE To establish of blood beta hydroxybutyrate (βOHB) threshold for diagnosing type 2 diabetes ketoacidosis (DKA) and explore the relationship between βOHB levels and the severity of DKA. METHODS Correlation analysis was performed between serum βOHB and [HCO(3)] in type 2 diabetic patients admitted in the emergency department in the past year. Regression equation was used to calculate the concentration of βOHB corresponding to a [HCO(3)] level of 18.0, 15, and 10.0 mmol/L, and βOHB concentration corresponding to a [HCO(3)] level of 18.0 mmol/l was used as the DKA diagnostic threshold. RESULTS The serum βOHB level and [HCO3] concentration showed a good correlation (R²=0.7023, P<0.001). βOHB concentrations that corresponded to a [HCO(3)] level of 18.0, 15, and 10.0 mmol/L were 3.0, 4.70, and 7.5 mmol/L, respectively, in accordance with the severity of DKA. Combined with the blood glucose concentration ≥ 13.9 mmol/L, a blood βOHB≥3.0 mmol/L showed a sensitivity of 99%, specificity of 86%, and total effectiveness of 92.81% for diagnosing DKA. CONCLUSION A serum βOHB level above 3.0 mmol/L can be used as the diagnostic threshold of DKA. βOHB can serve as an index for assessing the severity of DKA.
Stimulant Use Under a Prison Treatment Protocol for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Although stimulant medications are the mainstay of effective intervention for attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), their use presents a daunting scenario for psychiatry, nursing, and custody staff in correctional settings, where reported prevalence rates range from 9% to 45%. The reported rates, however, may overestimate actual prevalence in general and need for treatment in particular. Under a monitored protocol that required documentation of history, diagnosis, lack of response to nonstimulant treatment, and significant functional impairment, less than 1% of male inmates in the Massachusetts state prison system met criteria for treatment with stimulants. Although this protocol did not attempt to determine overall ADHD prevalence rates, the relatively low number of inmates with compelling reasons for stimulant treatment may provide a more realistic idea of the likely consequences of allowing access to this intervention.
Block MMV for the reconstruction of multiband signals

In this paper, we present the exact recovery condition of block multiple measurements vectors (BMMV) algorithm using block-coherence that is easy to compute. We also use the BMMV algorithm to reconstruct multiband signals even there is not the knowledge of the number of bands and the bandwidth. The numerical experiments show that BMMV is validity when the sampling rate is small.
ANÁLISE DO LÍQUIDO ASCÍTICO DE PACIENTES PORTADORES DE DOENÇA HEPÁTICA.

Descreve-se o perfil bioquimico e citologico do liquido ascitico de pacientes portadores de doenca hepatica, estimando a ocorrencia de peritonite bacteriana espontânea, quantificando os pacientes que estavam em uso de antibiotico antes da realizacao da paracentese e correlacionando as etiologias das doencas hepaticas com os valores do GASA. Trata-se de um estudo prospectivo, transversal e observacional envolvendo pacientes com doenca hepatica cronica descompensada e ascite admitidos na enfermaria de clinica medica do Hospital Universitario Alcides Carneiro (HUAC). Os dados obtidos foram organizados no programa Microsoft Office Excel® versao 2010. Realizou-se analise estatistica, incluindo a distribuicao de frequencias, medias, desvio padrao, valores minimos e maximos, e porcentagens das variaveis em estudo. A analise bioquimica e citologica do liquido ascitico dos pacientes mostrou resultados semelhantes aos encontrados na literatura. Dos 36 participantes, 52,77% (n=19) foram rastreados para peritonite bacteriana espontânea (PBE) e desses, 31,57% (n=6) estavam em uso de antibioticos no momento da paracentese. O diagnostico de PBE foi confirmado em 15,79% (n=3). Os valores de GASA foram calculados em 50% (n=18) dos pacientes. Dentre esses, 88,8% (n=16) apresentaram GASA ≥ 1,1 g/dL. Os resultados mostraram-se compativeis ao descrito em outros estudos. O uso indiscriminado de antibioticos pode subestimar o numero de pacientes com PBE, alem de aumentar a resistencia a esses medicamentos. Os resultados do GASA foram compativeis com a presenca de hipertensao portal, mecanismo presente nas etiologias encontradas.
Longitudinal Relationship Among Physical Fitness, Walking-Related Physical Activity, and Fatigue in Children With Cerebral Palsy

Background A vicious circle of decreased physical fitness, early fatigue, and low physical activity levels (PAL) is thought to affect children with cerebral palsy (CP). However, the relationship of changes in physical fitness to changes in PAL and fatigue is unclear. Objective The objective of this study was to investigate the associations among changes in physical fitness, walking-related PAL, and fatigue in children with CP. Design This study was a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial with measurements at baseline, 6 months (after the intervention period), and 12 months. Methods Twenty-four children with bilateral spastic CP and 22 with unilateral spastic CP, aged 7 to 13 years, all walking, participated in this study. Physical fitness was measured by aerobic capacity, anaerobic threshold, anaerobic capacity, and isometric and functional muscle strength. Walking-related PAL was measured using an ankle-worn activity monitor for 1 week. Fatigue was determined with the Pediatric Quality of Life (PedsQL) Multidimensional Fatigue Scale. Longitudinal associations were analyzed by random coefficient regression analysis. Results In children with bilateral CP, all fitness parameters showed a positive, significant association with walking-related PAL, whereas no associations between physical fitness and walking-related PAL were seen in children with unilateral CP. No clinically relevant association between physical fitness and fatigue was found. Limitations Although random coefficient regression analysis can be used to investigate longitudinal associations between parameters, a causal relationship cannot be determined. The actual direction of the association between physical fitness and walking-related PAL, therefore, remains inconclusive. Conclusions Children with bilateral spastic CP might benefit from improved physical fitness to increase their PAL or vice versa, although this is not the case in children with unilateral CP. There appears to be no relationship between physical fitness and self-reported fatigue in children with CP. Interventions aimed at improving PAL may be differently targeted in children with either bilateral or unilateral CP.
High performance controller for multiphase brushless DC motor

This paper proposes a high performance controller in a phase variable approach for multiphase brushless DC motors. Initially, a BLDC model is presented, where the uncertainties and disturbances intrinsic to the system are accounted as perturbation terms added to the nominal model. Then a controller design procedure that guarantees the BLDC stability is presented in detail. It is demonstrated that a very fast dynamic behavior can be obtained with the proposed controller; which improves the transient response of the motor, particularly under conditions of parameter uncertainties and strong coupling between the phases. Simulation results are given to support the theoretical analysis and to illustrate the performance of the BLDC with the proposed controller. Experimental results of PI control are presented.
Molecular classification of mucoepidermoid carcinomas—Prognostic significance of the MECT1–MAML2 fusion oncogene

Mucoepidermoid carcinomas (MECs) of the salivary and bronchial glands are characterized by a recurrent t(11;19)(q21;p13) translocation resulting in a MECT1–MAML2 fusion in which the CREB‐binding domain of the CREB coactivator MECT1 (also known as CRTC1, TORC1 or WAMTP1) is fused to the transactivation domain of the Notch coactivator MAML2. To gain further insights into the molecular pathogenesis of MECs, we cytogenetically and molecularly characterized a series of 29 MECs. A t(11;19) and/or an MECT1–MAML2 fusion was detected in more than 55% of the tumors. Several cases with cryptic rearrangements that resulted in gene fusions were detected. In fusion‐negative MECs, the most common aberration was a single or multiple trisomies. Western blot and immunohistochemical studies demonstrated that the MECT1–MAML2 fusion protein was expressed in all MEC‐specific cell types. In addition, cotransfection experiments showed that the fusion protein colocalized with CREB in homogeneously distributed nuclear granules. Analyses of potential downstream targets of the fusion revealed differential expression of the cAMP/CREB (FLT1 and NR4A2) and Notch (HES1 and HES5) target genes in fusion‐positive and fusion‐negative MECs. Moreover, clinical follow‐up studies revealed that fusion‐positive patients had a significantly lower risk of local recurrence, metastases, or tumor‐related death compared to fusion‐negative patients (P = 0.0012). When considering tumor‐related deaths only, the estimated median survival for fusion‐positive patients was greater than 10 years compared to 1.6 years for fusion‐negative patients. These findings suggest that molecularly classifying MECs on the basis of an MECT1–MAML2 fusion is histopathologically and clinically relevant and that the fusion is a useful marker in predicting the biological behavior of MECs. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Serum Ferritin as a Component of the Insulin Resistance Syndrome

OBJECTIVE In epidemiological studies, serum ferritin was the second-strongest determinant of blood glucose (after BMI) in regression models and the third-strongest determinant of serum insulin (after BMI and age). Its concentration also correlated positively with plasma triglycerides and apolipoprotein B concentrations, and negatively with HDL2 cholesterol. We hypothesized that serum ferritin could be a marker of insulin resistance. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Oral glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity (SI, minimal model method) were prospectively evaluated in 36 healthy subjects. The relationship between serum ferritin and metabolic control (as measured by HbA1c levels) was also studied in 76 consecutive NIDDM patients. RESULTS In healthy subjects, log-transformed serum ferritin (LOGFER) correlated with basal serum glucose (r = 0.44, P = 0.007), but not with BMI, age, systolic or diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, VLDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, total triglycerides, VLDL triglycerides, serum insulin, or HbA1c (all P = NS). Identical results were obtained when the two lowest quartiles of serum ferritin were evaluated separately. However, in the two highest quartiles, LOGFER correlated with BMI (0.50, P = 0.02), diastolic blood pressure (r = 0.8, P < 0.0001), serum LDL cholesterol (r = 0.57, P = 0.01), VLDL cholesterol (r = 0.48, P = 0.03), total cholesterol and HDL2 and HDL3 subtractions of HDL cholesterol (r = −0.68, −0.76, −0.55, P = 0.001. < 0.0001, and 0.01, respectively), total triglycerides (r = 0.60, P = 0.006), HDL2/HDL3 quotient (P = −0.71, P = 0.001), VLDL triglycerides (r = 0.65, P = 0.004), and serum uric acid (r = 0.51, P = 0.03), but not with systolic blood pressure (r = 0.38, P = 0.15). After adjusting for BMI, only the correlations between LOGFER and diastolic blood pressure (r = 0.7, P = 0.002) and HDL2/HDL3 quotient (r = −0.63, P = 0.01) remained significant. Strong correlations between LOGFER and glucose area under the curve during oral glucose tolerance test (Pearson's r = 0.73, P = 0.001) and S1 (r = −0.68, P = 0.001), which remained significant after controlling for BMI, were observed. LOGFER (β = −0.44, P = 0.01) and BMI (β = −0.52, P = 0.004) constituted independent predictors of insulin sensitivity in a multivariate analysis (R2 = 0.68). In 76 consecutive NIDDM outpatients, serum glucose (P < 0.00001) and LOGFER (P = 0.03) independently predicted the value of HbA1c (R2 = 0.40) in a multiple linear regression analysis. CONCLUSIONS The correlations among serum ferritin and diastolic blood pressure, HDL quotient, glucose area under the curve, and S1 suggest that serum ferritin could be a marker of the insulin resistance syndrome. Serum ferritin may also be an independent determinant of poor metabolic control in the diabetic patient.
Activation of coagulation system in preterm labor and preterm premature rupture of membranes

Objective: Thrombin, originally discovered as a coagulation factor, is a multifunctional protease capable of inducing myometrial contractions in vitro and in vivo. This enzyme has been implicated in the mechanisms of premature labor. Plasma concentrations of thrombin-antithrombin (TAT) complexes are an index of in vivo thrombin generation. The purpose of this study was to determine whether patients with premature labor and preterm premature rupture of membranes (PROM) have evidence of increased thrombin generation in maternal blood, as determined by the TAT complex concentrations. Methods: A cross-sectional study was designed to determine plasma concentrations of TAT complexes in 110 women in the following groups: non-pregnant women (n = 20); normal pregnant women (n = 30); women in preterm labor with intact membranes (n = 30); and women with preterm PROM (n = 30). TAT complex concentrations were determined with a sensitive and specific immunoassay. Statistical analysis was conducted with non-parametric statistics. Results: Patients with preterm labor and intact membranes had a significantly higher median plasma TAT complex concentration than normal pregnant women (women in preterm labor, median 19.1 μg/l; range 7.4-406 vs. normal pregnant women, median 15 μg/l; range 6.8-32.5; p = 0.03). Patients with preterm PROM had a higher median TAT complex concentration than normal pregnant women (preterm PROM, median 19.1 μg/l; range 4.7-738.6 vs. normal pregnant women, median 15 μg/l; range 6.8-32.5; p = 0.03). Normal pregnancy was associated with a higher median plasma TAT complex concentration than the non-pregnant state (normal pregnant women, median 15 μg/l; range 6.8-32.5 vs. non-pregnant women, median 2.7 μg/l; range 0.9-14.2; p < 0.001). Conclusion: Preterm labor and preterm PROM are associated with an excess generation of thrombin.
Psychosis and Antipsychotic Medications in Alzheimer’s Disease: Clinical Management and Research Perspectives

Psychosis is common in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and contributes substantially to patient morbidity and caregiver distress. Antipsychotic medications are used to treat psychosis and other psychiatric or behavioral symptoms in AD, although optimal treatment guidelines have been elusive. Choosing the most advantageous medication for an individual patient is challenging. This article provides an overview of clinical management principles and medication treatment strategies for patients with AD and psychosis. Effects of individual medications are also described. Medications in the conventional neuroleptic, atypical antipsychotic, cholinesterase inhibitor, and serotonergic classes have been shown to ameliorate psychosis and behavioral symptoms in patients with AD, although the evidence is not conclusive for many medications. Side effects vary substantially across medication classes and modestly among individual patients. Improvement in agitation, aggression, or other behaviors with antipsychotic medication treatment may not depend on distinct antipsychotic effects. In contrast, there is preliminary evidence that delusions and hallucinations may respond to treatment with medications outside the antipsychotic class. Many important clinical questions warrant further research study. In particular, studies to compare how individual symptoms respond to different medications, and to examine how to best manage overlapping symptoms or incomplete treatment response are needed.
Chloride channels and tight junctions. Focus on "Expression of the chloride channel ClC-2 in the murine small intestine epithelium".

a major goal in cystic fibrosis (CF) research is the identification of alternate chloride channels that might substitute for the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), the anion channel that is encoded by the CF gene ([2][1], [10][2]). CFTR localizes primarily to the luminal