Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Force platform measures for evaluating postural control: reliability and validity.

The reliability and validity of force platform measures used to evaluate steadiness of stance were investigated in a group of 28 healthy subjects in four basic stance positions: two-legged, step, tandem, and one-legged stance. In each stance position five indices of steadiness were obtained by sampling the three orthogonal force signals and the two horizontal center of pressure (CP) signals for 15 seconds and computing the standard deviation for each signal. Correlations between these five indices derived from the force platform showed that the relationship between force and CP measures was generally weak. In fact, approximately 40% of the correlations were nonsignificant (p greater than .05). There was a strong trend for the retest reliability of force measures to be higher than the retest reliability of CP measures. The difference was statistically significant in three stances (p less than .05). Force measures were more sensitive than CP measures in discriminating the changes in steadiness which resulted from alterations to the base of support in the four stance positions. Factor analysis showed that force measures were the best predictors of steadiness in each stance, but the axis varied according to the particular stance condition. Although it may be appropriate in some cases to justify the choice of measure according to the nature of the clinical condition being studied, these results provide a rationale for choosing force measures in preference to CP measures on the fundamental principles of reliability and validity.
Sex‐based differences in brain alterations across chronic pain conditions

Common brain mechanisms are thought to play a significant role across a multitude of chronic pain syndromes. In addition, there is strong evidence for the existence of sex differences in the prevalence of chronic pain and in the neurobiology of pain. Thus, it is important to consider sex when developing general principals of pain neurobiology. The goal of the current Mini‐Review is to evaluate what is known about sex‐specific brain alterations across multiple chronic pain populations. A total of 15 sex difference and 143 single‐sex articles were identified from among 412 chronic pain neuroimaging articles. Results from sex difference studies indicate more prominent primary sensorimotor structural and functional alterations in female chronic pain patients compared with male chronic pain patients: differences in the nature and degree of insula alterations, with greater insula reactivity in male patients; differences in the degree of anterior cingulate structural alterations; and differences in emotional‐arousal reactivity. Qualitative comparisons of male‐specific and female‐specific studies appear to be consistent with the results from sex difference studies. Given these differences, mixed‐sex studies of chronic pain risk creating biased data or missing important information and single‐sex studies have limited generalizability. The advent of large‐scale neuroimaging databases will likely aid in building a more comprehensive understanding of sex differences and commonalities in brain mechanisms underlying chronic pain. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Proteinuria and risk for stroke and coronary heart disease during 27 years of follow-up: the Honolulu Heart Program.

BACKGROUND Urinary protein excretion has been linked to coronary heart disease (CHD); the relationship to stroke is less clear. We assessed whether urine dipstick screening for protein predicted stroke and CHD in the Honolulu Heart Program cohort. METHODS Prospective, observational study of 6252 Japanese American men in Honolulu aged 45 to 68 years. Proteinuria was detected by means of urine dipstick screening during the first and third examinations. Subjects were classified as having no proteinuria if results were negative at both examinations, transient proteinuria if results were positive at 1 examination, and persistent proteinuria if results were positive at both examinations. Relative risk was derived using those subjects with no proteinuria as the reference. Outcomes were assessed through 27 years. RESULTS No proteinuria was found in 92.8% of subjects, transient proteinuria in 6.1%, and persistent proteinuria in 1.1%. The age-adjusted incident stroke rates were 3.7, 7.3, and 11.8 per 1000 person-years in subjects with no, transient, or persistent proteinuria, respectively (P<.001). Age-adjusted rates of incident CHD were 9.4, 15.8, and 35.2 events per 1000 person-years, respectively (P<.001). Using Cox proportional hazards models, adjusting for age, body mass index, physical activity, smoking status, cholesterol level, presence of hypertension or diabetes mellitus, and alcohol consumption, the relative risk for 27-year incident stroke was 1.66 (95% confidence interval, 1.21-2.30; P = .002) with transient proteinuria and 2.84 (95% confidence interval, 1.51-5.34; P = .001) with persistent proteinuria, and relative risk for 27-year incident CHD was 1.48 (95% confidence interval, 1.19-1.83; P<.001) with transient proteinuria and 3.72 (95% confidence interval, 2.62-5.27; P<.001) with persistent proteinuria. CONCLUSION Proteinuria detected at urine dipstick screening independently predicted increased risk for incident stroke and incident CHD over 27 years in this cohort.
Stratification with Honors: A Case Study of the “High” Track within United States Higher Education

At present, U.S. postsecondary sorting is best evidenced by an increasingly stratified system of higher education. However, very little attention is paid to even deeper levels of stratification within colleges and universities where academic tracking and its consequences are manifest. Given this significant lack of attention to deepening levels of stratification within many of the most “accessible” postsecondary institutions in the U.S., the purpose of this article is threefold: (1) to introduce readers to the notion of academic tracking within the postsecondary sector, (2) to situate honors education within the U.S. postsecondary tracking structure, and (3) to demonstrate the depths of stratification within a system that is lauded as the contemporary architect of social mobility. Based upon qualitative data collected during the 2016–2017 academic year at one public 4-year “accessible” university, findings illustrate the persistence, structure, and depths of stratification as an unintended consequence of one university’s efforts to reconcile the competing goals of excellence and equity.
New insights into an old issue – examining the influence of tourism on economic growth: evidence from selected small island developing states

This paper uses relatively new heterogeneous panel autoregressive distributed lag cointegration methods to re-examine the long-run equilibrium and Granger causality relationship between tourism and economic growth for the small island developing states (SIDSs). In addition, the study incorporates energy consumption and foreign direct investment (FDI) as alternative growth determinants, during the period 1995–2014. After allowing for the heterogeneous country effect, a positive and statistically significant long-run equilibrium relationship between tourism, energy consumption, FDI, and gross domestic product, with a moderate convergence rate towards the long-run path is confirmed. The panel Granger causality test as proposed by Dumitrescu and Hurlin [(2012). Testing for Granger non-causality in heterogeneous panels. Economic Modelling, 29(4), 1450–1460. ] shows bidirectional causality running from tourism to economic growth, from tourism to energy consumption and from energy consumption to economic growth, and unidirectional causality between FDI and tourism, between economic growth and FDI, and between FDI and energy consumption. Our empirical findings provide support for tourism-induced growth, tourism-induced energy consumption, tourism-induced investment, and the energy consumption-economic growth relationship in the case of SIDSs. Our empirical results resonate with the existing findings with major policy implications for the SIDSs.
Increased Frequency of Nontuberculous Mycobacteria Detection at Potable Water Taps within the United States.

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTMs) are environmental microorganisms that can cause infections in humans, primarily in the lung and soft tissue. The prevalence of NTM-associated diseases is increasing in the United States. Exposure to NTMs occurs primarily through human interactions with water (especially aerosolized). Potable water from sites across the U.S. was collected to investigate the presence of NTM. Water from 68 taps was sampled 4 times over the course of 2 years. In total, 272 water samples were examined for NTM using a membrane filtration, culture method. Identification of NTM isolates was accomplished by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the 16S rRNA and hsp65 genes. NTMs were detected in 78% of the water samples. The NTM species detected most frequently were: Mycobacterium mucogenicum (52%), Mycobacterium avium (30%), and Mycobacterium gordonae (25%). Of the taps that were repeatedly positive for NTMs, the species M. avium, M. mucogenicum, and Mycobacterium abscessus were found to persist most frequently. This study also observed statistically significant higher levels of NTM in chloraminated water than in chlorinated water.
The Helicobacter pylori Chemotaxis Receptor TlpB (HP0103) Is Required for pH Taxis and for Colonization of the Gastric Mucosa

ABSTRACT The location of Helicobacter pylori in the gastric mucosa of mammals is defined by natural pH gradients within the gastric mucus, which are more alkaline proximal to the mucosal epithelial cells and more acidic toward the lumen. We have used a microscope slide-based pH gradient assay and video data collection system to document pH-tactic behavior. In response to hydrochloric acid (HCl), H. pylori changes its swimming pattern from straight-line random swimming to arcing or circular patterns that move the motile population away from the strong acid. Bacteria in more-alkaline regions did not swim toward the acid, suggesting the pH taxis is a form of negative chemotaxis. To identify the chemoreceptor(s) responsible for the transduction of pH-tactic signals, a vector-free allelic replacement strategy was used to construct mutations in each of the four annotated chemoreceptor genes (tlpA, tlpB, tlpC, and tlpD) in H. pylori strain SS1 and a motile variant of strain KE26695. All deletion mutants were motile and displayed normal chemotaxis in brucella soft agar, but only tlpB mutants were defective for pH taxis. tlpD mutants exhibited more tumbling and arcing swimming, while tlpC mutants were hypermotile and responsive to acid. While tlpA, tlpC, and tlpD mutants colonized mice to near wild-type levels, tlpB mutants were defective for colonization of highly permissive C57BL/6 interleukin-12 (IL-12) (p40−/−)-deficient mice. Complementation of the tlpB mutant (tlpB expressed from the rdxA locus) restored pH taxis and infectivity for mice. pH taxis, like motility and urease activity, is essential for colonization and persistence in the gastric mucosa, and thus TlpB function might represent a novel target in the development of therapeutics that blind tactic behavior.
Spatial and Temporal Inhomogeneities During Ca2+ Release From the Sarcoplasmic Reticulum in Pig Ventricular Myocytes

Abstract— The [Ca2+]i transient of ventricular myocytes during normal excitation-contraction coupling is the summation of primary Ca2+ release events, which originate at the junction of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) and the T-tubular system. Studies in small mammals have shown a high density of release sites, but little is known of larger mammals. We have studied the spatial distribution of SR Ca2+ release in pig ventricular myocytes using a confocal microscopy. In 69 of 107 cells, large inhomogeneities of Ca2+ release were observed along the longitudinal scan line. Areas where the increase of [Ca2+]i was delayed (time to 50% of peak F/F0 [where F indicates fluorescence intensity, and F0 indicates F at rest] was 26±1 ms in delayed areas versus 11±2 ms in early areas) and smaller (peak F/F0 was 2.27±0.10 for delayed areas versus 2.69±0.13 for early areas; n=13 cells, P <0.05) could be up to 26 &mgr;m wide. The sum of all delayed areas could make up to 55% of the line scan. The spatial pattern was constant during steady-state stimulation and was not altered by enhancing Ca2+ channel opening or SR Ca2+ content (Bay K8644, isoproterenol). Imaging of sarcolemmal membranes revealed several areas devoid of T tubules, but SR Ca2+ release channels were homogeneously distributed. In contrast, compared with pig myocytes, mouse myocytes had a very dense T-tubular network, no large inhomogeneities of release, and a faster rate of rise of [Ca2+]i. In conclusion, in pig ventricular myocytes, areas of delayed release are related to regional absence of T tubules but not ryanodine receptors. This lower number of functional couplons contributes to a slower overall rate of rise of [Ca2+]i.
Modeling House Prices

This paper develops some novel models of housing markets based on price posting, using both noisy search and directed search. The models generate price dispersion and price stickiness -- i.e., they are consistent with the observation that some sellers do not adjust listed prices when market conditions change, something commentators say is puzzling and challenging for standard economic theory. We also contribute to the literature on price dispersion, in general, by considering big-ticket durable goods and agents that trade infrequently. The framework is tractable: comparative statics are characterized and parametric examples are solved explicitly. Using English housing data, we show the empirical relevance of the directed search model. This contributes to the literature of directed-search by showing how to identify and estimate a directed-search model.
On the Accuracy of Phasor Angle Measurements in Power Networks

As known, phasor measurement units (PMUs) greatly enhance smart grid monitoring capabilities with advantageous impacts on power network management. Generally, PMUs accuracy is expressed in terms of total vector error, which comprises the joint effect of both angle and magnitude errors, thus possibly concealing the algorithm ability to measure phase. Some recent research works emphasize the importance of measuring current or voltage phasor angle with high accuracy (in the order of a few milliradians) at the distribution level. Because this issue is seldom considered in the literature, in this paper the phase measurement accuracy of three algorithms, namely the basic DFT, the windowed Taylor-Fourier filter, and the interpolated dynamic DFT (IpD2 FT) estimator, is extensively analyzed by means of simulations performed in various conditions described in the Standards IEEE C37.118. 1:2011 and EN 50160:2010. In addition, some meaningful considerations about the uncertainty contributions due to imperfect synchronization are reported.
Black, Hispanic, and White women's knowledge of the symptoms of acute myocardial infarction.

OBJECTIVE To examine Black, Hispanic, and White women's knowledge of the symptoms of acute myocardial infarction. DESIGN Descriptive, nonexperimental design. SETTING Detroit, Michigan, and San Antonio, Texas, metropolitan areas. PARTICIPANTS A convenience sample of 78 ethnically diverse women. Hispanics (n = 26) were recruited from San Antonio, Texas; Blacks (n = 26) were recruited from Detroit, Michigan; and Whites were recruited from San Antonio, Texas (n = 13), and Detroit, Michigan (n = 13). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Participants ranked 10 acute symptoms they believed represented a myocardial infarction: anxiety, arms ache, change in thinking, chest pain, cough, fatigue, decreased appetite, headache, indigestion, and shortness of breath. Next, participants assigned a likelihood score for each acute symptom as representing a myocardial infarction. RESULTS Hispanic women were more likely than Black women to perceive the symptom of headache as indicative of a myocardial infarction. Women older than age 45 were more likely to assign a higher likelihood score to the symptom of shortness of breath than were women age 45 or younger. CONCLUSIONS Age and ethnic differences were noted in women's perception of the signs and symptoms indicative of a myocardial infarction.
Studies on the epidemiology of sarcoidosis in the United States: the relationship to soil areas and to urban-rural residence.

During World War II, there were 350 recognized cases of sarcoidosis among American Armed Forces personnel. These cases, chosen in a relatively unselected manner, afford an admirable opportunity for investigation into some of the aspects of the epidemiology of this disease. Preliminary studies of this group have demonstrated a striking concentration of patients' birthplaces in the Southeastern United States (1, 2). Although cases in negroes predominated, the observed geographic localization could not be accounted for solely by the distribution of the negro population in the United States. The present investigation, which was concerned with factors which might have influenced this unusual case distribution, revealed an association between the distribution of the cases and certain soil areas. Furthermore, a higher incidence of the disease was found among servicemen from the more rural areas of the Southeast. These correlations may serve as additional localizing factors for further studies on the epidemiology of sarcoidosis.
Plasma cell proliferation in the chicken Harderian gland

Studies to examine the percentages of proliferating plasma cells (PPC) in the Harderian gland (HG) were carried out in chicks between 5 and 12 weeks of age. Two methods, 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdUrd) incorporation into DNA and flow cytometric analysis of propidium iodide (PI) stained cells, were employed in control and emetine dihydrochloride treated birds. Flow cytometric analysis of PI stained cells showed the percentages of plasma cells in S phase were highest between 6 and 8 weeks of age. After this period of time, the number of S phase plasma cells decreased and remained low through 12 weeks of age. The lowest percentages of plasma cells in G0 + G1 were found at 6 and 8 weeks of age, and all ages had equal percentages of plasma cells in G2 + M phase. After administration of the protein synthesis inhibitor emetine dihydrochloride a common pattern of plasma cell depletion and repopulation in the HG was observed. At 3 and 5 days post-treatment the plasma cell population in the gland decreased and by 7 days post-treatment repopulation of the gland with plasma cells had taken place. Anti-BrdUrd staining of frozen sections revealed that the number of PPC were decreased at 3 days after emetine treatment but were as high as, or higher than, controls at 5 and 7 days post-treatment. Flow cytometric analysis indicated that some birds were more severely affected by emetine. Namely, the percentages of plasma cells in S phase were lower at 3 and 5 days post-treatment. Even though most birds were severely affected by emetine treatment during the experiments, they possessed a cell population with the proliferative capacity to quickly repopulate the HG by 7 days post-emetine treatment.
Eating disorders symptomatology and inpatient treatment experience in eating-disordered subjects.

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to examine whether eating disorder (ED) subjects with and without a history of inpatient treatment differ in the severity of symptoms as measured by the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI-1). METHOD In a sample of 222 women (66 women with anorexia nervosa, 126 women with bulimia nervosa, and 30 women with eating disorders not otherwise specified), the history of inpatient treatment was assessed and the EDI was administered. RESULTS Fifty percent of the participants had received previous inpatient treatment. The group with past inpatient treatment had significantly higher scores on the EDI subscales Body Dissatisfaction, Ineffectiveness, and Interpersonal Distrust than the group without inpatient treatment experience. DISCUSSION ED subjects with and without inpatient treatment showed different profiles on the EDI subscales. The fact that these two groups differ in specific ED symptoms may represent a bias in ED studies when samples with heterogeneous treatment contact history are recruited.
Software modularization using Combination of Multiple Clustering

Clustering is a useful technique to group similar data entities based on their features. Clustering uses similarity or distance measures to find groups among entities. Many clustering algorithms and measures have been proposed in the literature. These algorithms and measures have their own strengths and weaknesses in the software clustering domain. To combine the strengths of various algorithms/measures, researchers have inte- grated more than one algorithm/measure in a single clustering process. This approach allowing cooperation between actors, is called Combination of Multiple Clustering approach (CMC). Although the use of CMC has been explored in various disciplines, little work has been done using CMC in the software domain. In this paper, we explore the idea of Cooperative Clustering (CC), a type of CMC, for software modularization. Our CC combines the strengths of similarity and distance measures together in a single clustering process. Software modularization is very important for architectural understanding. Modularization is the breaking down of a software system into modules so that similar entities (e.g. classes or functions) are collected together. We expect high quality results of CC in terms of authoritativeness. which is very important for architectural understanding.
Mechanically reconfigurable slotted-waveguide antenna array for 5G networks

This paper proposes a high-gain mechanically reconfigurable antenna array based on a ring-shaped slotted-waveguide antenna for mm-wave applications. A full scanning range in the azimuthal plane is ensured by proper mechanically rotating a metallic jacket, which partially covers the array radiating structure. The technique provides a beamwidth of 37° in the azimuth plane and gain of 17.41 dBi at the operating frequency of 27.3 GHz. Significantly, unlike a conventional phased array, this approach does not suffer from: scan loss, beam broadening or SLL degradation. Experimental results of the array element and numerical results of the antenna array demonstrate its applicability in 5G cellular networks.
Systematic Review: Predisposing, Precipitating, Perpetuating, and Present Factors Predicting Anticipatory Distress to Painful Medical Procedures in Children.

OBJECTIVE To conduct a systematic review of the factors predicting anticipatory distress to painful medical procedures in children. METHODS A systematic search was conducted to identify studies with factors related to anticipatory distress to painful medical procedures in children aged 0-18 years. The search retrieved 7,088 articles to review against inclusion criteria. A total of 77 studies were included in the review. RESULTS 31 factors were found to predict anticipatory distress to painful medical procedures in children. A narrative synthesis of the evidence was conducted, and a summary figure is presented. CONCLUSIONS Many factors were elucidated that contribute to the occurrence of anticipatory distress to painful medical procedures. The factors that appear to increase anticipatory distress are child psychopathology, difficult child temperament, parent distress promoting behaviors, parent situational distress, previous pain events, parent anticipation of distress, and parent anxious predisposition. Longitudinal and experimental research is needed to further elucidate these factors.