Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parechoviruses, a novel group of human picornaviruses

Parechoviruses are a recently established group of human viral pathogens. At the time of their first isolation, parechoviruses were classified among the enterovirus genus in the picornavirus family, but based on their different biological properties they were separated into their own genus. The type member is human parechovirus 1 (HPEV1), which frequently infects humans, in particular small children. The parechovirus genus also includes HPEV2 and the Ljungan virus, which was recently isolated from rodents, is a candidate for the group. Seroepidemiological studies have shown that the prevalence of HPEV1 antibodies is surprisingly high, exceeding 95% in adult populations. According to present data, HPEV1 causes mainly gastrointestinal and respiratory infections: however, severe disease conditions, such as myocarditis and encephalitis, have also been reported. HPEV2 infections appear to be rare, and it is currently not known whether the Ljungan virus can infect humans.
Advance directives: questionnaire survey of NHS trusts

An advance directive gives patients the legal right to give or withhold consent to specific medical treatments prospectively. This provides them with some reassurance about the dying process being managed in accordance with their wishes. Apprehension could be further allayed if it were known that the legal status of advance directives was consistently applied across the NHS. Guidance on advance statements about medical treatment was initially published by the BMA in 1995.1 The legally binding status of advance directives was reiterated by Luttrell in 1996.2 Nevertheless, in 1998 a survey of 214 general practitioners found that only 49% were aware that advance directives carry legal force.3 In 1999 the NHS Executive issued guidance on withholding consent to treatment4 and the General Medical Council issued guidance on the current legal position on advance directives.5 It remains unclear how NHS trusts have responded to this guidance and to …
Multi-agent Highway Toll Collection System

This article describes Highway Electronic Toll Collection (HETC), technologies and interoperability issues, and suggests possible solution to interoperability issues based on multi-agent technology and newly defined HETC ontologies. The RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) technology is used as a foundation for a HETC system user identification. The unique HETC standards are not defined yet so the problem of HETC systems interoperability related to vehicle class definition and user identification is still unresolved issue. The problem of interoperability is emerging from the implementation of different tolling models among different highway operators. There is a need to define the structure of an adaptable system implementing newly defined HETC ontologies that can be used for toll calculation based on different business solutions. The proposed method results in clear specification and realisation of interoperable HETC.
Proof search in Lax Logic

A Gentzen sequent calculus for Lax Logic is presented, the proofs in which correspond naturally in a 1–1 way to the normal natural deductions for the logic. The propositional fragment of this calculus is used as the basis for another calculus that uses a history mechanism in order to give a decision procedure for propositional Lax Logic.
The Eye in Childhood

Normal visual development is rapid during the first six months of life and continues through the first decade. Young children are uniquely sensitive to conditions that interfere with vision and visual development. Amblyopia, or functionally defective development of the central visual system, may be caused by common vision problems such as strabismus, uncorrected refractive errors and deprivation secondary to occlusion. Prematurity is especially associated with eye pathology, including retinopathy of prematurity, amblyopia, strabismus and refractive errors. When detected early, amblyopia and many other childhood vision abnormalities are treatable, but the potential for correction and normal visual development is inversely related to age. Since many affected children are asymptomatic, early detection of abnormal visual function requires effective screening throughout early childhood. Special considerations apply to screening examinations of children born prematurely.
A Modified Dual Input DC-DC Converter for Hybrid Energy Application

Power electronic interface has reached a new level in the area of hybrid energy integration nowadays. The existence for the concept of hybrid energy integration is truly questionable without a proper power electronic interface. In this paper, a modified dual input DC-DC converter which is capable of incorporating two distinct V-I characteristic sources such as solar-PV, battery, fuel cell, etc., is proposed. The converter has the ability to operate in both unidirectional and bidirectional mode with buck, buck-boost and boost operation. The software simulation of the proposed converter has been conducted in MATLAB/Simulink platform in a detailed manner and an experimental prototype of the propsed converter has been built to validate the simulation results.
Fostering Reflection and Metacogniton through Student Generated Podcasts

A group of volunteer students who had previously completed a first year undergraduate information technology subject were tasked with producing audio supplementary material for new students undertaking the subject, to be disseminated through podcasting. The production process, from inception and scriptwriting through to the final recording, was driven by the studentproducers, with minimal intervention from the lecturer. A combination of focus group interviewing and content analysis was used to study the levels of reflection and metacognition that occurred as a result of their participation in the podcasting exercise. The findings suggest that placing students in the roles of producers of educational podcasts encourages them to engage in metacognitive thinking about learning, as they create podcast episodes for beginning students.
[The investigation of ischemic myocardial damage in patients with carbon monoxide poisoning].

OBJECTIVE Poisoning with carbon monoxide (CO) due to flash gas heater or stove being an important health problem in our region, causes significant pathologies in the body as well as death by decreasing oxygen-carrying capacity of blood. This study was planned to assess whether or not myocardial damage occurs in patients with CO poisoning. METHODS Forty consecutive adult patients with CO poisoning (30 females and 10 males) were included in this study. The mean age of the patients was 28.5+/-9.9 years (range: 15-56). The demographic characteristics, vital signs, the origin of CO gas, risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD) and smoking habit of the patients were recorded. The evaluation of Glasgow Coma Scale score, electrocardiogram (ECG), peripheral arterial blood gases, complete blood count, creatine kinase (CK), creatine kinase-myocardial band (CKMB), troponin-T measurements were performed in all cases. Additionally, myocardial perfusion SPECT was performed in three cases with carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) levels over 50%. RESULTS Sinus tachycardia, was observed in 9 cases. Ventricular bigeminy was seen in a case with troponin-T positive test. Six of 40 cases (15%) had significantly increased CK and CK-MB levels with normal troponin-T measurements. High troponin-T levels (0.13 ng/ml) were detected only in 1 case with COHb level of 61.3%. Myocardial SPECT was performed in 3 cases with COHb levels higher than 50% and no images compatible with defects could be identified. CONCLUSION The results suggested that significant myocardial damage and life-threatening cardiac hemodynamic changes do not develop in CO-poisoned patients with COHb level below 60 % and without any known underlying CAD. It is not necessary to routinely measure CK, CK-MB and troponin-T, and perform myocardial perfusion SPECT in acute CO poisoning cases without any ECG abnormality, ischemic cardiac symptoms or known CAD.
Measurement setup for characterizing low-voltage and outdoor electric distribution grids for PLC systems

This paper describes a measurement setup that characterizes low-voltage electric distribution grids as a medium for data communication when the frequency band is between 1.7 and 50 MHz. This setup is constituted by several equipment and algorithms that allow to extract the following information from the measured data: i) channel frequency response, ii) additive noise, iii) access impedance, and iv) radio signals. A brief report about the use of this setup in a measurement campaign carried out at Juiz de Fora city is presented. This report reveals the usefulness and applicability of this measurement setup to characterize electric distribution grids for data communication (power line communication - PLC).
Impact of adiponectin gene polymorphisms on plasma lipoprotein and adiponectin concentrations of viscerally obese men Published, JLR Papers in Press, November 16, 2004. DOI 10.1194/jlr.M400135-JLR200

The aim of this study was first to examine the relationships between adiponectin gene (Apm1) polymorphisms and anthropometric indices as well as plasma adiponectin and lipoprotein/lipid levels, and then to investigate whether the presence of visceral obesity or insulin resistance may modulate the impact of these polymorphisms on metabolic risk variables. Molecular screening of the Apm1 gene was achieved, and a sample of 270 unrelated men recruited from the greater Quebec City area and selected to cover a wide range of body fatness values was genotyped. Sequencing of the Apm1 gene revealed two previously reported polymorphisms (c.45T>G and c.276G>T) as well as two newly identified genetic variations (−13752delT and −13702G>C). Carriers of the c.276T allele had higher LDL-cholesterol and lower HDL-triglyceride concentrations than did 276G/G homozygotes (P = 0.02 and P = 0.01, respectively). Carriers of the c.45G allele exhibited higher plasma adiponectin concentrations than did 45T/T homozygotes (P = 0.04). After dividing each genotype group into subgroups for visceral AT, homozygotes for the normal allele at position −13752delT, carriers of the c.45G allele, and carriers of the c.276T allele had similar total apolipoprotein B (apoB) concentrations, whether they were viscerally obese or not. These results suggest that some Apm1 gene polymorphisms influence plasma adiponectin concentrations and lipoprotein/lipid levels. In addition, the impact of these polymorphisms is modulated by the presence of visceral obesity.
Tendon-bone attachment unit is formed modularly by a distinct pool of Scx- and Sox9-positive progenitors

The assembly of the musculoskeletal system requires the formation of an attachment unit between a bone and a tendon. Tendons are often inserted into bone eminences, superstructures that improve the mechanical resilience of the attachment of muscles to the skeleton and facilitate movement. Despite their functional importance, little is known about the development of bone eminences and attachment units. Here, we show that bone eminence cells are descendants of a unique set of progenitors and that superstructures are added onto the developing long bone in a modular fashion. First, we show that bone eminences emerge only after the primary cartilage rudiments have formed. Cell lineage analyses revealed that eminence cells are not descendants of chondrocytes. Moreover, eminence progenitors were specified separately and after chondroprogenitors of the primary cartilage. Fields of Sox9-positive, Scx-positive, Col2a1-negative cells identified at presumable eminence sites confirm the identity and specificity of these progenitors. The loss of eminences in limbs in which Sox9 expression was blocked in Scx-positive cells supports the hypothesis that a distinct pool of Sox9- and Scx-positive progenitors forms these superstructures. We demonstrate that TGFβ signaling is necessary for the specification of bone eminence progenitors, whereas the SCX/BMP4 pathway is required for the differentiation of these progenitors to eminence-forming cells. Our findings suggest a modular model for bone development, involving a distinct pool of Sox9- and Scx-positive progenitor cells that form bone eminences under regulation of TGFβ and BMP4 signaling. This model offers a new perspective on bone morphogenesis and on attachment unit development during musculoskeletal assembly.
EEG Classification by Learning Vector Quantization - EEG-Klassifikation mit Hilfe eines Learning Vector Quantizers

EEG classification using Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ) is introduced on the basis of a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) built in Graz, where a subject controlled a cursor in one dimension on a monitor using potentials recorded from the intact scalp. The method of classification with LVQ is described in detail along with first results on a subject who participated in four on-line cursor control sessions. Using this data, extensive off-line experiments were performed to show the influence of the various parameters of the classifier and the extracted features of the EEG on the classification results.
A resolução de anáforas pronominais da língua portuguesa com base no algoritmo de Mitkov.

Um dos problemas encontrados em sistemas de processamento de linguas naturais e conseguir manter a coesao referencial de um texto, propriedade que permite estabelecer as ligacoes entre os seus constituintes, tornando-o inteligivel. Dentre os fatores de coesao referencial destacamos a anafora, que ocorre quando duas ou mais expressoes de um texto estabelecem uma relacao de referencia entre si, isto e, a interpretacao da anafora depende de um antecedente ao qual ela se refere no texto. Diversos algoritmos na literatura foram propostos para a resolucao automatica de anaforas pronominais, que consiste em: 1) identificar a anafora, 2) determinar o conjunto de possiveis antecedentes e 3) identificar e selecionar o antecedente da anafora. A ausencia da resolucao anaforica em aplicacoes como extracao de informacao, traducao automatica e sumarizacao textual, dentre outras, pode levar a descontinuidade referencial de seus resultados, tornando-os nao-coesos. Nesse contexto, apresentamos uma adaptacao do algoritmo de Mitkov, originalmente aplicado no ingles, para resolver anaforas da lingua portuguesa, especialmente as determinadas por pronomes pessoais de terceira pessoa cujo antecedente seja um sintagma nominal. Essa abordagem foi avaliada com base em corpora anotados com informacoes morfossintaticas e coreferenciais, utilizando-se como medida de avaliacao de desempenho a taxa de sucesso, que determina o numero de anaforas resolvidas corretamente pelo sistema automatico em relacao ao numero de anaforas presentes no corpus avaliado. Alem disso, fez-se uma comparacao de desempenho entre essa abordagem e o algoritmo de Lappin & Leass adaptado para o portugues. Os resultados dessa avaliacao sao discutidos ao final do trabalho.
The Impact of Multidisciplinary Care in a Large Volume Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy Program: A Paradoxical Stage Migration toward More Aggressive Disease

Introduction: With the widespread use of robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP), a stage migration to less aggressive prostate cancer (CaP) may be expected in pathological specimens due to over-treatment of low risk disease. It is unclear whether implementation of a multidisciplinary clinic (MDC) model would offset this phenomenon. We sought to analyze our database for possible stage migration in prostatectomy specimens in the setting of MDC. Methods: A total of 262 patients who underwent open prostatectomy (OP) from 2004 to 2006 and 757 patients who underwent RARP from 2007 to 2011 were identified from our prospective database. The implementation of MDC occurred concurrently at the time of RARP initiation. Demographic data, pathology, positive margin rates along with standard CaP reporting data were recorded. The two groups were com- pared with regards to percentage of cases stratified by Gleason grade. Results: The number of CaP cases managed at our institution increased considerably after the introduction of robotics and MDC. There was a significant decrease in the patients with Gleason 6 CaP undergoing RARP as compared with OP (p = 0.001). Additionally, RARP was performed on a significantly greater percentage of Gleason 7 disease (p < 0.001). When comparing pathological stage, there was a significant increase in the incidence of pT3 disease following RARP (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: The introduction of a MDC and minimally invasive radical prostatectomy did not result in an increased application of surgery for the treatment of low risk prostate cancer. This highlights the impor- tance of MDC in a large volume RARP program. * Corresponding author.
Acute exercise stress promotes Ref1/Nrf2 signalling and increases mitochondrial antioxidant activity in skeletal muscle

What is the central question of this study? How does acute exercise affect the redox effector factor‐1 (Ref1) and nuclear factor erythroid 2‐related factor 2 (Nrf2) signalling and its association with mitochondrial H2O2 production and antioxidant capacity? What is the main finding and its importance? Ref1/Nrf2 signalling in skeletal muscles was activated by acute exercise, and this activation was correlated with increased mitochondrial H2O2 content and antioxidant capacity (reduced glutathione and manganese superoxide dismutase). The finding indicates that the oxidative stress induced by acute exercise in skeletal muscle mitochondria is associated with the upregulation of Ref1/Nrf2 signalling and enhancement of antioxidant defense pathways. This mechanism may play a role in preventing cellular oxidative stress resistance during acute exercise.
Cognitive-affective assets and vulnerabilities: Two factors influencing adaptation to Fibromyalgia

This study set to explore whether variables related to cognitive-affective assets would complement measures of psychological vulnerability for the prediction of physical functioning and pain tolerance in 138 women with Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS). Depression, anxiety, stress response and negative affect were defined a priori as measures of vulnerability, while pain self-efficacy, internality and positive affect were identified as assets. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the validity of the hypothesised two-factor structure in FMS. A structural equation model (SEM) revealed that the two factors were associated with different outcomes in FMS as predictors. Pain and associated symptoms appeared related to psychological vulnerabilities in FMS patients, whereas physical functioning and tolerance for pain were better predicted by assets. These results are discussed with reference to current theoretical models concerning the role of psychological factors in FMS, and intervention methods designed to improve quality of life and reduce pain in FMS patients.
An acutely swollen knee

A 77 year old retired man presented in a wheelchair to the emergency department with severe, constant pain and progressive swelling of the left knee. His symptoms had suddenly occurred two days before at night after he had gone to bed feeling well. He could not recall any injury to the knee. There was no history of joint disease or joint surgery. His medical history was unremarkable, and he was not taking any regular medication. He was not aware of any family history of arthritis. He smoked five cigarettes a day and drank two glasses of wine a day. On examination, the patient did not have a fever and had a heart rate of 82 beats/min and a blood pressure of 130/75 mm Hg. His body mass index was within normal limits. His left knee was red, hot, swollen, and tender with minimal range of motion. No other joint involvement was detected and there were no extra-articular findings. Synovial fluid was taken from the joint (fig 1⇓) and studied under compensated polarised light microscopy (fig 2⇓). A radiograph of the knee was also taken (fig 3⇓). All other system examinations were normal. Blood tests showed an erythrocyte sedimentation rate of 55 mm/h (normal <25 mm/h) and a C reactive protein concentration of 1.2 mg/dl (normal <0.5 mg/dl). Peripheral white blood cell count, platelet count, and haemoglobin concentration were within normal limits. Kidney and liver function parameters, and electrolytes and serum urate levels, were normal. Fig 1 Macroscopic appearance of the synovial fluid Fig 2 Wet preparation of the synovial fluid under compensated polarised light microscopy Fig 3 Radiograph of the left knee
Proteomic Identification of Lower Apolipoprotein A-I in Alzheimer’s Disease

Many researches have been trying to find the potential biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We hereby used the proteomics method to search for protein expression differences in the serum between AD patients and controls. We enrolled 59 AD patients and 74 age- and sex-matched controls in this study. Ten AD patients and 10 controls were selected for proteomic analysis. Apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I) was found to have a lower expression in the AD group by a proteomics two-dimensional gel electrophoresis study. We further measured the serum ApoA-I level which was significantly lower in the AD patients (112.29 ± 21.33 mg/dl) in comparison to the controls (144.53 ± 19.91 mg/dl; p < 0.0002). Lower serum ApoA-I levels might be a potential biomarker for AD.
Does Free Word Order Hurt? Assessing the Practical Lexical Function Model for Croatian

The Practical Lexical Function (PLF) model is a model of computational distributional semantics that attempts to strike a balance between expressivity and learnability in predicting phrase meaning and shows competitive results. We investigate how well the PLF carries over to free word order languages, given that it builds on observations of predicate-argument combinations that are harder to recover in free word order languages. We evaluate variants of the PLF for Croatian, using a new lexical substitution dataset. We find that the PLF works about as well for Croatian as for English, but demonstrate that its strength lies in modeling verbs, and that the free word order affects the less robust PLF variant.
MEASUREMENTS OF THERMAL DAMAGE IN BIOLOGICAL TISSUE USING POLARIZED LIGHT SIMULATION

Recently, thermal treatment has been used for collagen tightening and tissue contour enhancement. It is important to monitor the condition of collagenous tissue during and immediately after thermal treatment. When collagen is denatured, birefringence is reduced and a change in polarization state occurs. In this study, Monte Carlo simulation for polarized light was used to calculate the degree of linear polarization (DOLP) of backscattered light from thermally damaged porcine skins and the results were evaluated by comparison with the Mueller matrix. We observed a decrease in the DOLP and a rapid change in the colored regions of the Mueller matrix at temperatures ranging from 55 to 65°C. This could be attributed to the reduction of birefringence from thermal denaturation in the tissue. The DOLP method has a potential implementation in a real-time closed-loop feedback system with various thermal treatment methods by measuring the birefringence change in target tissue. KeywordsMonte Carlo simulation, polarized light, birefringence, collagen denaturation.