Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Concussion and chronic traumatic encephalopathy: International Rugby Board’s response

Concussion and the potential threat of associated chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) have attracted unprecedented media attention. The public debate regarding the link between CTE and head injuries in sport is emotive as well as distracting. This media focus has been positive in that it has raised public awareness of concussion but the same media focus could have negative consequences by Dr Patricios and Dr Kemp have called for leadership from Rugby in this area and have also called for collision sports to unite and provide a unified, unemotive and consistent message regarding possible neurocognitive effects associated with concussion in sport. The International Rugby Board (IRB) supports this call for collision sport unity and outlines below an overview of our risk management strategy related to concussion. The risk of long-term neurodegenerative illness following head injury is unknown.1 This uncertainty is the fuel that fires the public debate. The lack of concrete evidence allows both sides to publically claim a position that is neither supported nor refuted by science. What we do know is that a single moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) can lead not only to acute neurological deficits but also to long-term neurodegenerative issues, in 40–50% of patients.2 We also know that repetitive head injuries in boxers and recently within other sports have been linked with long-term neurological sequelae.3 ,4 What we do not know is Is there a link between concussion (mild TBI) …
Refractive error and visual impairment in urban children in southern china.

PURPOSE To assess the prevalence of refractive error and visual impairment in school-age children in a metropolitan area of southern China. METHODS Random selection of geographically defined clusters was used to identify children 5 to 15 years of age in Guangzhou. Children in 22 clusters were enumerated through a door-to-door survey and examined in 71 schools and 19 community facilities from October 2002 to January 2003. The examination included visual acuity measurements, ocular motility evaluation, retinoscopy, and autorefraction under cycloplegia and examination of the external eye, anterior segment, media, and fundus. RESULTS A total of 5053 children living in 4814 households were enumerated, and 4364 (86.4%) were examined. The prevalence of uncorrected, presenting, and best-corrected visual acuity 20/40 or worse in the better eye was 22.3%, 10.3%, and 0.62%, respectively. Refractive error was the cause in 94.9% of the 2335 eyes with reduced vision, amblyopia in 1.9%, other causes in 0.4%, and unexplained causes in the remaining 2.8%. External and anterior segment abnormalities were seen in 1496 (34.3%) children, mainly minor conjunctival abnormalities. Media and fundus abnormalities were observed in 32 (0.73%) children. Myopia (spherical equivalent of at least -0.50 D in either eye) measured with retinoscopy affected 73.1% of children 15 years of age, 78.4% with autorefraction. The prevalence of myopia was 3.3% in 5-year-olds with retinoscopy and 5.7% with autorefraction. Females had a significantly higher risk of myopia. Hyperopia (+2.00 D or more) measured with retinoscopy was present in 16.7% of 5-year-olds, 17.0% with autorefraction. The prevalence of hyperopia was below 1% in 15-year-olds, with both methods. Astigmatism (cylinder of > or = 0.75 D) was present in 33.6% of children with retinoscopy and in 42.7% with autorefraction. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of reduced vision because of myopia is high in school-age children living in metropolitan Guangzhou, representing an important public health problem. One third of these children do not have the necessary corrective spectacles. Effective strategies are needed to eliminate this easily treated cause of significant visual impairment.
THE DIRECT OBSERVATION OF A PSORALEN‐THYMINE UVA INDUCED SOLID‐STATE CYCLOADDITION REACTION PRODUCT BY SINGLE‐CRYSTAL x‐RAY DIFFRACTOMETRY

Abstract— Single‐crystal x‐ray diffraction methods have been used to directly observe and simultaneously determine the molecular structure of the UVA induced cis‐syn photocycloaddition product in a partially photolyzed single crystal of a psoralen(pyrone ring side)‐DNA(thymine) interaction model compound, 1 ‘‐(8‐oxypsoralen)‐8’(thym‐l“yl)3‘,6’‐dioxaoctane.
Particulate delivery systems for vaccines: what can we expect?

In our attempts to thwart the unwanted attentions of microbes by prophylactic and therapeutic vaccination, the knowledge of interactions at the molecular level may prove to be an invaluable asset. This article examines how particulate delivery systems such as liposomes and polymer micro‐spheres can be applied in the light of recent advances in immunological understanding. Some of the biological interactions of these delivery systems are discussed with relevance for antigen trafficking and molecular pathways of immunogenicity and emphasis on the possible interaction of liposomal components. In particular, traditional concepts such as antigen protection, delivery to antigen presenting cells and depot formation remain important aspects, whilst the inclusion of selected co‐adjuvants and enhanced delivery of these moieties in conjunction with antigen now has a firm rationale.
[The contribution of locked screw-plate fixation with varying angle configurations to stability of osteoporotic fractures: an experimental study].

OBJECTIVES This experimental study was designed to find new ways of improving stabilization of fractures in osteoporotic elderly patients through alterations made in the configuration and geometry of locked screw-plate fixation used in the conventional plate technique. METHODS Four screw configurations with varying angulations were used for plate-bone construction. Forty iron plates of high quality (100x35x3 mm) were divided into four groups and two screw holes, 3 mm in diameter, were drilled on each plate at a distance of 15 mm. In group A, the holes were drilled so that the screws would be vertically sent to the bone interface. In the remaining groups, the holes were drilled for convergent (group B, 15 degrees ) and divergent (group C, 15 degrees ; group D, 30 degrees ) screw orientation. Screw-plate fixation was tested in a modified osteoporotic bone (Osteoporotic Generic Bone, Synbone) on an Instron materials testing system with an axial pullout force of 0.1 mm/sec. Failure loads were read from load-displacement curves and the type of failure was noted. RESULTS Screws placed in divergent orientations showed the highest axial pull-out strength (group C, 83.3 N/mm; group D, 80.8 N/mm), followed by convergent placement (72 N/mm) and vertical placement (66.7 N/mm). The type of failure was breakage of the bone sample in divergent configurations, and screw pull-out in convergent and vertical configurations. CONCLUSION Divergent constructs may be a promising alternative to conventional screw placement in treating osteoporotic fractures.
Spreadsheets: The ideal tool for distance learning in engineering education

Formal Engineering Education has traditionally been delivered using the low technology—high touch lecturing method, in which the lecturer and student meet face to face. Distance education in this field has been quite slow to develop primarily because of difficulty in delivery of practical based instructions and problems on integrity of assessments. Developments in information technology and the increased demand for further education by people already in employment have however changed this even in developing countries. It puts extra demand on Lecturers to guide distance learners in handling numerical computations so prevalent in Engineering. At the campuses, computer based methods are available in the high touch—high tech lecture method. High level and efficient computer software is used to help the student to simulate and solve some problems. However, such software is expensive—and therefore—not readily available to the distant learner. Spreadsheets on the other hand are almost universal on today's computers and they bridge the gap between hand calculations and high level programme computations. This paper therefore makes a case for the use of spreadsheets in Distance Engineering Education. An example in Spring Design, Selection and Adaptation is used to illustrate the simplification and other advantages of their use by practicing distance learners. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 19: 216–223, 2011
Physical Inactivity in a country in transition: a population-based survey in Tirana City, Albania

Aims: This paper describes the work and leisure-time physical activity levels of adults living in Tirana City (Albania). Methods: A cross-sectional survey was undertaken in Tirana City in mid-2001. It included 1120 adults aged 25 years and over (response rate=72.7%). Results: Overall, 19.3% of male and 28.4% of female respondents reported a low level of physical activity at work. During leisure time, 49.5% of men and 57.6% of women (age-standardized prevalence [adjusted to the adult population of Tirana]: 43.4% and 51.9% for men and women respectively) said that they participated in only sedentary activities such as reading and watching television. The gender difference in the likelihood of low physical activity at work and during leisure time was significant even after adjusting for age (age adjusted odds ratios (OR)=1.86 99% confidence interval (CI) 1.12; 3.09 and OR=1.60 99% CI 1.17; 2.22 respectively). The likelihood of leisure-time sedentarity increased with age in both genders but it did not vary significantly with education level or income. Being sedentary during leisure time was also not significantly associated with other unhealthy lifestyle behaviours, including smoking, consumption of vegetables less than six days per week, and daily alcohol intake. Conclusions: In a country such as Albania that has undergone a rapid transition from a largely unmechanized society, characterized inevitably by high levels of exercise, the generalized high prevalence of low physical activity level during leisure time gives cause for concern regarding future health trends.
The Infulence of Water Layer Thickness on Microstructure Changes of Bone Tissue Ablated with Pulse CO2 Laser: An SEM Evaluation

The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of different thickness of water layer on microstructure changes of bone tissue irradiated by pulse CO2 laser. Bovine shank bone was divided into four groups randomly for laser irradiation: without water layer and with a static water layer applied to target tissue surface at thickness of 0.4, 0.8 and 1.2 mm. The wavelength used in the study was 10.64 μm with pulse repetition rate of 60 Hz. The energy density was 50 J/cm2 and the beam diameter of about 400 μm. The microstructure changes of ablation grooves were examined and compared with scanning electron microscope (SEM). It shows that the addition of water layer applied to target tissue surface actually mediated the interaction of laser with tissue and took an important role in microstructure changes. There was a critical thickness of water layer for a given radiant exposure to obtain regular cut profile with sharp-cut edge and smooth inner wall surface.
Immune cells and immunosuppression in a porcine bronchial model of obliterative bronchiolitis.

BACKGROUND To study obliterative bronchiolitis (OB), we have developed a porcine heterotopic bronchial model. Allografts obliterate within 3 weeks, the immunosuppression cyclosporine (CsA)-azathioprine (AZA)-methylprednisolone (MP) delays OB, but OB is prevented when AZA is switched to 40-0-(2-hydroxyethyl)-rapamycin (RAD). To characterize our model, we studied immune cells under various immunosuppressive conditions. METHODS The groups studied were autografts (U), allografts (A), and allografts given either CsA-RAD-MP (R), or CsA-AZA-MP (C). The implants were harvested at 3, 7, 10, 14, 21, 30, 60, and 90 days after transplantation. Epithelial damage and obliteration were graded histologically, and the number of CD4, CD8, MHC class II expressing cells, macrophages, and B lymphocytes were counted (mean+SEM)/high-power visual field. RESULTS In group U, normal epithelium was regained with no obliteration and only few immune cells. In group A, consistent with initially acute ejection, an influx of CD4 (105+23), CD8 (166+23), and class II (92+20) cells was seen up to day 21, when total obliteration preceded by epithelial destruction had already developed. Some macrophages were seen and B cells were scarce. In group R, epithelial damage and obliteration were insignificant, but moderate numbers of CD4, CD8, and class II cells were seen. In group C, epithelial damage and obliteration were only delayed, but the immune cell response was clearly blunted. CONCLUSIONS In our model, rejection with significant immune cell influx was still active when obliteration was total in nontreated allografts. In immunosuppressed allografts, decrease in the number of immune cells alone did prevent OB. These results support OB being T-cell mediated. RAD may have additional important effects on growth factors and proliferation in prevention of OB.
Atomic force microscopy of purple membranes

The surface structure of purple membranes was imaged using an atomic force probe mounted in a scanning tunnelling microscope. One of the two different membrane surfaces showed protruding, disc‐shaped features forming an hexagonal lattice with about 6 nm centre to centre spacing. These are identified as the cytoplasmic surfaces of trimers of bacteriorhodopsin molecules and are correlated with the structural information on bacteriorhodopsin obtained from numerous earlier electron microscope and diffraction studies.
Modulation of Toxicological Effect of Carrageenan-Induced Paw Oedema Using Sage Oil From Salvia Officinalis as Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidant Drug

The available anti-inflammatory drugs exert an extensive variety of side effects. The search for new anti-inflammatory agents (obtained from natural sources such as plant extracts) has been a priority of pharmaceutical industries. It is worth mentioning that, plants represent one of the most important sources of substances with biological activities. Moreover, plants continue to be an important source of new chemical substances with potential therapeutic effects. The aim of the present study was to assess the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant activities and histopathological changes of sage oil from Salvia officinalis in paw oedema model induced by carrageenan (Carr) in mice. Using carrageenan-induced paw oedema model, the experiment included induction of inflammation with injection of 2% carrageenan solution dissolved in 0.9% saline intraplantarily to the right hind paw. The examined pro-inflammatory parameters were nitric oxide (NO) level, interleukin IL-1ß in paw tissue infiltrate and plasma, total and differential leukocytes count and paw volume (thickness). Some antioxidant parametres were examined such as: catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities, in addition to, malondialdehyde (MDA) production in the paw tissue. The data indicated that, there were increase in the amount of nitric oxide level, interleukin IL-1ß in paw tissue infiltrate and plasma, total leukocytes count and that evidence of the occurrence of inflammation in this region. Furthermore, carrageenan administration caused increase in paw oedema volume. Also data indicated that there were decreases in the amount of CAT, SOD and GPx activities. On the other hand, an increase of MDA production in the paw tissue, these results demonstrated that there was an evidence of oxidative stress in the paw tissue after carrageenan induction. Pretreatment with sage oil extracted from the medicinal herb Salvia officinalis administered orally (20 ml/kg) body weight in a single dose 1 hr before injection with carrageenan solution resulted in significant increase of the antioxidant enzymes activity, in contrast, a significant decrease in the pro-inflammatory mediators; NO, IL-1ß and total leukocytes number compared to the treatment with diclofenac which used as a reference drug, administrated orally (50 mg/kg body wt.). of paw oedema sections stained with Harris haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) revealed a significant increase in the infiltration of ploymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) mainly neutrophils, a common occurrence with inflammation. However, pretreatment with sage oil showed a significant reduction in the thickness of oedema and inflammatory cells infiltration compared to the carrageenan inflamed group. The current results denoted that, sage oil may have significant potential for the development of novel anti-inflammatory and antioxidant drug and could be used as pharmacological agent in the treatment of some inflammatory disorders in which free radical formation is a pathogenic factor.
Integrated electricity-heat-gas network modelling for the evaluation of system resilience to extreme weather

Many energy systems rely on natural gas to fulfil their energy demand. In particular, natural gas is often used in the heating sectors as well as for electrical generation. In such systems, a comprehensive analysis of the system's resilience must account for the interdependencies between the electricity, heat, and gas sectors. Furthermore, the development of different gas supply sources can impact their ability to meet the peak day's demand. For example, liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification facilities have a dependence on LNG delivery dates, which impact on the quantity of gas stored on a given day. In this paper, an integrated electricity-heat-gas network model has been developed for a holistic evaluation of the resilience of an energy system. Case studies based on Great Britain evaluate the impacts of gas supply shocks and LNG delivery timetables on the systems' resilience during time of extreme (cold) weather and low electricity outputs from renewable generation. The results highlight the need for gas network flexibility through reverse-flow compressors and diversity of supply sources.
Robots for Search and Rescue Purposes in Urban and Underwater Environments - a survey and comparison

Modern technology has provided robots that can be used for Search and rescue purposes where rescuers have difficulty to locate victims. This is due to problems such as visibility and different environmental conditions. The autonomous mobile ability of robot vehicles makes them ideal platforms for search and rescue purposes. Improvements in communication, navigation and sensory systems provide for efficient mobile robotic platforms. The paper describes two platforms that use similar technologies, but have different applications and operate in different environments. Semi-autonomous and autonomous robots for search and rescue operations also use similar technology to achieve different goals. The way this technology is used can be similar due to the harsh environment that the robots will be entering. Comparisons of the two robots are discussed as to the different modules and material that will be needed for each robot.
Multi-relay cooperative OFDM with amplify-and-forward relaying

In this paper, we investigate a cooperative system with multiple relays and amplify-and-forward relaying over frequency-selective channels. To extract the available rich multipath diversity, we employ orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with precoding. Through the derivation of pairwise error probability (PEP), we demonstrate that the maximum diversity order is given by the summation of the channel length in the direct link and the minimum of channel lengths in each relaying link which is further confirmed by simulation results. Based on the PEP expression, we also propose two relay selection strategies; one is on per-subcarrier basis and the other is on all-subcarriers basis. Our simulation results indicate that both strategies result in performance improvements.
High performance pose of human face recognition for different color channels

This paper proposes a high performance pose face recognition system. A pre-processing phase is employed to isolate the faces from the background to show the robustness of the proposed system in changing background conditions. We compared between color histogram and Discrete Cosine Transform (D.C.T) method as two feature extraction methods. The color histogram performs face recognition by matching cross correlating of the histogram of a given face and that of the faces in the database. In DCT, we compared the feature vector of the selected image with the feature vectors of other faces, under the same nominal size, orientation, position, and illumination conditions using a Euclidean distance nearest-neighborhood method. The proposed system using color histogram achieves 99.8% recognition rate on face database of 150 subjects with varying poses. This rate is down to 93.3% for Discrete Cosine Transform (D.C.T).
Upper Bound on Uplink Sum Rate for Large-Scale Multiuser MIMO Systems With MRC Receivers

In this letter, uplink sum rate of large-scale multiuser MIMO systems with maximum ratio combining receivers is analyzed. To be practical, no perfect channel state information is assumed, and both large scale path loss and small scale Rayleigh fading are considered. The large scale path losses experienced by multiple users are also assumed to be non-identical due to different locations of the users. A tight upper bound is derived in closed-form. Its tightness is verified by simulations. It is shown that the proposed upper bound is tighter than other bounds and the tightness is further improved when the system becomes larger, i.e., more antennas are deployed at the receiver. It thus provides a solid foundation for system design and optimization.
Wide Distribution of a Novel pmoA-Like Gene Copy among Type II Methanotrophs, and Its Expression in Methylocystis Strain SC2

ABSTRACT Experiments were conducted to determine if a novel pmoA-like gene (pmoA2) recently discovered in the methane-oxidizing bacterium Methylocystis strain SC2 (P. F. Dunfield, M. Tchawa Yimga, S. D. Dedysh, U. Berger, W. Liesack, and J. Heyer, FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. 41:17-26, 2002) is present in other methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB), and if it is expressed. A newly developed primer combination (pmoA206f-pmoA703b) allowed a differential detection of pmoA1 and pmoA2. By using this primer combination, we identified pmoA2 in a wide range of type II MOB of the Methylosinus-Methylocystis group. However, screening by PCR and by Southern hybridization using a newly developed pmoA2-specific oligonucleotide probe also showed that closely related type II MOB, exhibiting 16S rRNA gene sequence identities of higher than 97%, may or may not harbor pmoA2. No pmoA2 was detected in five type I MOB tested: Methylococcus capsulatus strain Bath, Methylocaldum strain E10A, Methylobacter luteus, Methylomicrobium album, and Methylomonas strain D1a. In comparative sequence analyses, all pmoA2-like sequences formed a coherent cluster clearly distinct from pmoA1 sequences of type I and type II MOB, and from amoA sequences of the Nitrosomonas-Nitrosospira group. Phylogenetic analysis using the paml model suggested that pmoA2 is subject to strong purifying selection and therefore has an important cellular function. We probed total RNA extracts of Methylocystis strain SC2 for gene expression of pmoA. A strong signal was observed for pmoA1 in Northern hybridization, while the results obtained for pmoA2 were ambiguous. However, reverse transcription-PCR confirmed that pmoA2 was expressed, albeit at lower level than pmoA1. This provided experimental evidence that the gene product of pmoA2 may be a functionally active enzyme.