Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sony’s Emotionally Charged Chip

While Intel and the PC industry stumble around in search of some need for the processing power they already have, Sony has been busy trying to figure out how to get more of it—lots more. The company has apparently succeeded: at the recent International Solid-State Circuits Conference (see MPR 4/19/99, p. 20), Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) and Toshiba described a multimedia processor that will be the heart of the next-generation PlayStation, which—lacking an official name—we refer to as PlayStation 2000, or PSX2. Called the Emotion Engine (EE), the new chip upsets the traditional notion of a game processor. Whereas game CPUs have typically been cheap and wimpy compared with those in PCs, the EE is neither. At a whopping 240 mm2 in a 0.25-micron process, the 10.5-million-transistor chip will cost more than $100 to manufacture, according to our cost model. Never mind the companion 279-mm2 rendering chip, called the graphics synthesizer (GS), or the I/O processor (IOP), which includes a complete first-generation PlayStation CPU for backward compatibility, as Figure 1 shows. The EE and GS die sizes are frightening; vendors of PC processors break out in a cold sweat at the mere thought of a die larger than about 180 mm2. How Toshiba and SCE intend to build two chips larger than that for a consumer game console is unclear. But the companies are intent on doing so; two large fabs are now being readied for just this purpose. While the EE is not cheap, neither is it wimpy. The 300-MHz part packs a floating-point punch of 6.2 GFLOPS, three times that of Intel’s top-of-the-line 500-MHz Pentium III with SSE (see MPR 3/8/99, p. 1) and 15 times that of a Celeron-400 (which lacks SSE). With the EE pumping out 75 million polygons per second and the GS drawing polygons at 2.4 billion pixels per second, the PlayStation 2000 will bring Toy Story–like realism to home games, says SCE.
Cardiac surgery in patients with haemophilia

Abstract. Today the populations of haemophilia patients in many countries have a higher life expectancy than previously known, and age‐related disorders such as arterial disease are expected to become more prevalent, calling for surgical intervention. Cardiac surgery constitutes a major haemostatic challenge because of sternotomy, the need of total heparinization, extracorporal circulation, mild hypothermia and cardiac arrest. To evaluate our current experience and results with cardiac surgery in patients with haemophilia the present case series report on six patients with haemophilia A (Severe = 1, Moderate = 1, Mild = 4) undergoing cardiac surgery (coronary artery bypass grafting; CABG = 2, aortic valve replacement = 1, CABG + aortic valve replacement = 2, ventricular resection + mitral valve reconstruction = 1). The present paper provides detailed information on the haemostatic treatment regimens adopted (factor concentrate dosages, timing and duration) and postoperative thromboprophylaxis (dosing and duration of low molecular weight heparin). Moreover, we present data on concomitant disorders (hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, atrial fibrillation and diabetes), left ventricle ejection fraction (30–60%), type of anaesthesia, total amount of heparin (34 500–53 500 IU) and duration of extracorporeal circulation (80–115 min). Clinical outcomes included: re‐operation because of bleeding (none), transfusion requirements, peri‐ and postoperative blood loss and complications and postoperative development of inhibitors (none). Clinical outcomes were compared with a control group of patients (n = 5993) without haemophilia and we found no difference in postoperative morbidity. Adopting meticulously supervised haemostatic treatment regimens, we have successfully performed major cardiac surgery in patients with haemophilia A. The clinical outcome as well as the severity and incidence of postoperative complications were similar to patients without haemophilia.
Vibration Influence of Tactile Walking Surface Indicators on the Running of Manual Wheelchairs and Walking Frames

The riding comfort of manual wheelchairs is greatly influenced by tactile walking surface indicators (TWSIs) that are usually set on sidewalks for visually impaired person. The goal of our research is to understand how block patterns and their vertical vibrations influence the ride of manual wheelchairs. This paper also presents a system that easily measures the vibration characteristic of the walking frame. Using various tactile walking surface indicators as a rugged path, this system measured the vibration when using various walking frames. This paper, therefore, considers the vibration influence of TWSIs on wheelchairs with and without suspension equipped wheels and various walking frames
Number Counts of GALEX Sources in Far-Ultraviolet (1530 Å) and Near-Ultraviolet (2310 Å) Bands

Number counts of galaxies in two Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) bands [far-UV (FUV: 1530 Å) and near-UV (NUV: 2310 Å); both in AB magnitudes] are reported. They provide for the first time in the literature homogeneously calibrated number counts of UV galaxies continuously covering a very wide range in UV magnitude (14-23.8). Both the FUV and NUV counts are inconsistent with a nonevolution model, whereas they are in good agreement with evolution models (essentially luminosity evolution) derived from the high-z UV luminosity functions of Arnouts et al. We find that the contribution from GALEX-detected galaxies to the UV background is 0.68 ± 0.10 nW m-2 sr-1 at 1530 Å and 0.99 ± 0.15 nW m-2 sr-1 at 2310 Å. These are 66% ± 9% and 44% ± 6% of the total contributions of galaxies to the UV background at 1530 Å (1.03 ± 0.15 nW m-2 sr-1) and at 2310 Å (2.25 ± 0.32 nW m-2 sr-1), respectively, as estimated using the evolution models. Galaxy counts and star counts in seven regions, each containing a few square degrees of GALEX coverage in an area of ~4-13 deg2, are compared with each other to study the region-by-region variance. This shows that for the galaxy counts, the cosmic variance is comparable to the net error due to other uncertainties. The star counts increase with decreasing absolute Galactic latitude |b|.
Introduction to the Special Section on Contactless Energy Transfer Systems

The 18 papers in this special section focus on contactless energy transfer (CET) systems. These papers can be grouped into the following categories: 1) a review paper on acoustic CET systems; 2) capacitive coupled CET systems; 3) novel control methods applied for CET systems: adaptive sliding mode, phase-locked loop based, etc.; and 4) modern inductive coupled CET systems with uni- and bidirectional energy flow directions, multiple and individual users, etc.
T Cell Memory in the Context of Persistent Herpes Viral Infections

The generation of a functional memory T cell pool upon primary encounter with an infectious pathogen is, in combination with humoral immunity, an essential process to confer protective immunity against reencounters with the same pathogen. A prerequisite for the generation and maintenance of long-lived memory T cells is the clearance of antigen after infection, which is fulfilled upon resolution of acute viral infections. Memory T cells play also a fundamental role during persistent viral infections by contributing to relative control and immuosurveillance of active replication or viral reactivation, respectively. However, the dynamics, the phenotype, the mechanisms of maintenance and the functionality of memory T cells which develop upon acute/resolved infection as opposed to chronic/latent infection differ substantially. In this review we summarize current knowledge about memory CD8 T cell responses elicited during α-, β-, and γ-herpes viral infections with major emphasis on the induction, maintenance and function of virus-specific memory CD8 T cells during viral latency and we discuss how the peculiar features of these memory CD8 T cell responses are related to the biology of these persistently infecting viruses.
Reliability of the Frostig Test of Visual Perception in a South African Sample

The Marianne Frostig Developmental Test of Visual Perception was administered to 31 preschool children (19 boys and 12 girls) whose mean age was 68 mo. An item analysis showed that 52% of the test items satisfied the requirements with regard to degree of difficulty and discrimination. KR-20 reliability coefficients varied between 0.31 and 0.58 for the different subtests, with r = 0.72 for the full scale.
Thromboembolic Complications in Gynecologic Surgery

More than a century ago, Rudolf Virchow identified a triad of factors that predisposed to venous thrombosis: endothelial injury, hypercoagulability, and venous stasis. Many of these factors are present during and after gynecologic surgery, particularly surgery involving gynecologic malignancy. By considering these factors, clinicians can develop and execute strategies for the optimal management of perioperative thromboembolic disease. After gynecologic surgery, thromboembolic complications are a common and significant source of complications and are largely preventable. Up to 20% of perioperative deaths after gynecologic surgery are attributed to pulmonary embolism. Deep venous thrombosis is of concern because of the attendant risk of pulmonary embolism and to a lesser extent the risk of acute and chronic venous insufficiency. Pulmonary embolism is a medical emergency because of the risk of immediate cardiopulmonary compromise, and there are long-term risks of pulmonary hypertension.
Joint spatial-temporal access scheme of multi-hop cognitive radio sensor networks

This paper studies a novel channel access scheme for delay-sensitive multi-hop cognitive radio sensor networks (CRSNs) with fixed decode-and-forward relaying. We first formulate a two-dimensional spatial-temporal opportunity model wherein free and sharing opportunities are defined, and then propose a joint spatial-temporal access scheme (JSTAS) to achieve successive channel access for continuous data transmission. By spatial sensing and temporal sensing, the cognitive sensors with JSTAS control the transmission powers by fully considering their maximum transmission powers, the interference constraints of multiple primary receivers and the interference from one primary transmitter. To evaluate JSTAS, we derive the closed-form outage probability under Rayleigh fading channels and make comparisons among five different schemes. Simulation results demonstrate that JSTAS has better outage performance than that of pure spatial or temporal access scheme under all considered scenarios.
Risk factors for diabetes and coronary heart disease

Body mass index at follow-up and relative risk for type 2 diabetes in participants in nurses' health study. Data derived from Colditz et al (see Further Reading box) Many cross sectional and prospective studies have confirmed the association between obesity and type 2 diabetes. Most people with type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese: more than 85% of people with type 2 diabetes in southeast Scotland in 2005 had a body mass index (weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared) of over 25. Recent evidence indicates that high waist circumference may be an even better indicator than body mass index (BMI) of increased risk of type 2 diabetes. The risk of developing diabetes over a 14 year follow-up period (among nurses aged 30-55 years at baseline) in the nurses' health study was 49 times higher among women whose baseline BMI was >35 than among women whose baseline BMI was <22. Even a a slightly raised BMI (22.0-22.9) at follow-up was associated with an age adjusted relative risk of diabetes that was three times higher than that in women with a BMI of <22.0 at follow-up. Distribution of body mass index in people with diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in past two years, by age at diagnosis (based on 371, 1466, 1302 people aged 25-44, 45-64, and ≥65 respectively at diagnosis, in population based diabetes register in Lothian, Scotland) Similar findings have been reported for men from a United States cohort of 51 529 male health professionals aged 40-75 in 1986 who were followed until 1992. Those with a BMI of ≥35 had a relative risk of developing diabetes of 42 (95% confidence interval 22.0-80.6) compared with men with a BMI of <23.0 at age 21, after adjustment for age, smoking, and family history of diabetes. Moreover, earlier onset …
7-84 PTH or aluminum antagonism in the resistance of uremic bone to the remodeling effect of endogenous PTH?

To the Editor: To accept the explanation of Slatopolsky et al1 that the antagonism of 7-84 parathyroid hormone (PTH) versus 1-84 PTH could explain the propensity of dialysis patients to develop adynamic bone disease (ABD), it would be necessary to document a lower proportion of non–1-84 PTH measured by the Nichols PTH immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) in transplanted patients than in dialysis patients. Therefore, we wonder why the contrary is reported by the authors since this proportion is 44% in transplanted patients and 34% in dialysis patients.
Implications arising from the use of Cymbopogen proximus ; proximal on placenta of pregnant Albino rats

Halfa-bar (Cymbopogon proximus), is an aromatic grass widely growing in Upper Egypt. This herb is recommended for medical purposes as an effective diuretic, renal or abdominal antispasmodic agent. Objectives of this study: Evaluate the potential effects of Halfa-bar on the pregnant albino rats during the gestation period. Material and methods: The virgin female rats mated with male then the pregnant rats treated orally with Human Equivalent Dose (HED) of the proximol which equivalent 0.05 mg/ kg rat from 5th -18th Gestational Day (GD). At day 20 of pregnancy, all rats were anesthetized and killed to obtained maternal -fetal data (placenta). Results: The current study indicated that, there is statistically significant (P ≤ 0.05) reduction in the treated placental weight. Also, the light microscopic examination of the placental specimens using haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining revealed the presence of various vacuoles in the cytoplasm and nuclei of the giant cells. There is an increase in the number of apoptotic cells and irregular dilatation of maternal sinusoids in the labyrinth zone. Else, microscopic investigation showed a depletion of the glycogen content in the basal and labyrinth layers and a positive caspase-3 in the spongitrophoblast cells. In the treated group, reduction in level of catalase activity (CAT) and significant elevation (P ≤ 0.05) in the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) were recorded. Conclusion: The pathological effects in placenta may be due to the accumulation of proximal and transplacental passage.
Adolescents' perceptions of a mobile cell phone text messaging-enhanced intervention and development of a mobile cell phone-based HIV prevention intervention.

PURPOSE This study examined African American adolescents' perceptions of a mobile cell phone (MCP)-enhanced intervention and development of an MCP-based HIV prevention intervention. DESIGN AND METHODS One focus group was conducted with 11 adolescents who participated in the Becoming a Responsible Teen Text Messaging project. RESULTS Adolescents said they benefited from the MCP-enhanced approach and were receptive to the idea of developing an MCP-based intervention. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS Nurses can use the findings of this report as a starting point in examining the development of MCP-based sexuality education with parents and adolescents.
Our Experience After 1765 Intravitreal Injections of Bevacizumab: The Importance of Being Part of a Developing Story

This retrospective report describes our 20 months'experience using intravitreal injections of bevacizumab for the treatment of several retinal diseases. We describe our experience after 1765 intravitreal injections of bevacizumab in the treatment of different proliferative retinopathies – retinopathy of prematurity, choroidal neovascularization, diabetic retinopathy, among others. We believe that the findings reported in this study move us closer to a better treatment for different pathologies. However, further studies need to be performed in order to determine the safety and long-term efficacy of intravitreal bevacizumab either as first line therapy, after failure of conventional therapy, or in combination with conventional therapy.
Effects Of Display Gamma And Illuminant On The Appearance Of Colours Viewed On Lcd Monitors

The ciecam02 colour appearance model was developed to allow prediction of accurate colour appearance under various viewing conditions. In this study, a software module, based on mathematical transformations of the ciecam02 model, was designed and implemented. Unlike the previous software modules, which were allowing use of only a limited choice of common standardized icc display profiles, the developed module also allows the use of optimized profiles created by the user. This paper presents prediction of the appearance of test images with assigned different display profiles after changing illuminant. The two used optimized profiles, created by software characterization of specific lcd display, have a different display gamma value (1.8 and 2.2). It is observed that, after changing the initial cie d50 to a higher colour temperature illuminant (d65), the colours of images will be shifted to the blue hues, and, in the case of illuminant temperature less than d50 (a and f11), to yellow hues. It is also observed that the intensity of colour shifts in the simulated images with associated profiles which have different gamma value will be significantly different, which implies that the icc display profile and display gamma value have the great impact on the prediction of the accurate colour appearance under various viewing conditions.
Structural and mechanical basis of exercise-induced muscle injury.

It is well documented in both animal and human studies that unaccustomed, particularly eccentric, muscle exercise may cause damage of muscle fiber contractile and cytoskeletal components. These injuries typically include: Z-band streaming and dissolution, A-band disruption, disintegration of the intermediate filament system, and misalignment of the myofibrils. The mechanical basis for this damage is suggested to be due to the fiber strain magnitude rather than the absolute stress imposed on the fiber. We hypothesize that eccentric contraction-induced damage occurs early in the treatment period, i.e., within the first few minutes. The structural abnormalities predominate in the fast-twitch glycolytic fibers. In the final section of this paper, we hypothesize a damage scheme, based on the muscle fiber oxidative capacity as a determining factor.
Norepinephrine Is Lateralized Within the Olfactory Bulbs of Male Mice

Abstract: Concentrations and in vitro release of norepinephrine were determined from left and right olfactory bulbs of adult male CD‐1 mice. Norepinephrine concentrations from the left olfactory bulbs were significantly greater than those of the right (p < 0.01). No statistically significant differences were obtained for dopamine, nor were there differences in tissue weights between the left and right olfactory bulb tissue samples. To verify further this asymmetry, release rates of norepinephrine were measured from superfused left and right olfactory bulbs. Norepinephrine output from the left olfactory bulb was significantly greater than that from the right (p < 0.05). These results show that norepinephrine is lateralized within the olfactory bulbs of male mice. This asymmetry shows a clear catecholamine specificity with regard to concentrations and may be related to the lateralized olfactory processing that has been reported to occur in humans.
The Downstream Regulatory Element of the proU Operon of Salmonella typhimurium Inhibits Open Complex Formation by RNA Polymerase at a Distance*

The intracellular concentration of K+-glutamate, chromatin-associated proteins, and a downstream regulatory element (DRE) overlapping with the coding sequence, have been implicated in the regulation of theproU operon of Salmonella typhimurium. The basal expression of the proU operon is low, but it is rapidly induced when the bacteria are grown in media of high osmolarity (e.g. 0.3 m NaCl). It has previously been suggested that increased intracellular concentrations of K+-glutamate activate the proU promoter in response to increased extracellular osmolarity. We show here that the activation of the proU promoter by K+-glutamatein vitro is nonspecific, and the in vivoregulation cannot simply be mimicked in vitro. In vivospecificity requires both the chromatin-associated protein H-NS and the DRE; they are both needed to maintain repression of proU expression at low osmolarity. How H-NS and the DRE repress the proUpromoter in vivo has so far been unclear. We show that,in vivo, the DRE acts at a distance to inhibit open complex formation at the proU promoter.
An Updated Protocol for High Throughput Plant Tissue Sectioning

Quantification of the tissue and cellular structure of plant material is essential for the study of a variety of plant sciences applications. Currently, many methods for sectioning plant material are either low throughput or involve free-hand sectioning which requires a significant amount of practice. Here, we present an updated method to provide rapid and high-quality cross sections, primarily of root tissue but which can also be readily applied to other tissues such as leaves or stems. To increase the throughput of traditional agarose embedding and sectioning, custom designed 3D printed molds were utilized to embed 5–15 roots in a block for sectioning in a single cut. A single fluorescent stain in combination with laser scanning confocal microscopy was used to obtain high quality images of thick sections. The provided CAD files allow production of the embedding molds described here from a number of online 3D printing services. Although originally developed for roots, this method provides rapid, high quality cross sections of many plant tissue types, making it suitable for use in forward genetic screens for differences in specific cell structures or developmental changes. To demonstrate the utility of the technique, the two parent lines of the wheat (Triticum aestivum) Chinese Spring × Paragon doubled haploid mapping population were phenotyped for root anatomical differences. Significant differences in adventitious cross section area, stele area, xylem, phloem, metaxylem, and cortical cell file count were found.
Clinical management of gastrointestinal stromal tumors: before and after STI-571.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is the most common mesenchymal neoplasm of the gastrointestinal tract. Until recently, surgery has been the only effective therapy for GIST. However, even after complete resection of tumor, many patients still eventually die of disease recurrence. Conventional chemotherapy and radiation therapy have been of limited value. Within the last few years, it was discovered that most GISTs have a gain-of-function mutation in the c-kit proto-oncogene. This results in ligand-independent activation of the KIT receptor tyrosine kinase and an unopposed stimulus for cell growth. STI-571 is a small molecule that selectively inhibits the enzymatic activity of the ABL, platelet-derived growth factor receptor, and KIT tyrosine kinases and the BCR-ABL fusion protein and is a landmark development in cancer therapy. Its clinical development marks a new era of rational and targeted molecular inhibition of cancer that emanates from direct collaborations between scientists and clinicians. It provides proof of the principle that a specific molecular inhibitor can drastically and selectively alter the survival of a neoplastic cell with a particular genetic aberration. The advent of STI-571 has markedly altered the clinical approach to GIST. It has proven to be effective in metastatic GIST and is also under investigation as a neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapy.