Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Increased Apoptosis during Morphogenesis of the Lower Cheek Teeth in Tabby/EDA Mice

In wild-type (WT) mice, epithelial apoptosis is involved in reducing the embryonic tooth number and the mesial delimitation of the first molar. We investigated whether apoptosis could also be involved in the reduction of tooth number and the determination of anomalous tooth boundaries in tabby (Ta)/EDA mice. Using serial histological sections and computer-aided 3D reconstructions, we investigated epithelial apoptosis in the lower cheek dentition at embryonic days 14.5–17.5. In comparison with WT mice, apoptosis was increased mainly mesially in Ta dental epithelium from day 15.5. This apoptosis showed a similar mesio-distal extent in all 5 morphotypes (Ia,b,c and IIa,b) of Ta dentition and eliminated the first cheek tooth in morphotypes IIa,b. Apoptosis did not appear to play any causal role in positioning inter-dental gaps. Analysis of the present data suggests that the increased apoptosis in Ta mice is a consequence of impaired tooth development caused by a defect in segmentation of dental epithelium.
Comparison of single-phase and three-phase dual-active bridge DC-DC converters with various semiconductor devices for offshore wind turbines

This paper topics the effect of the phase-number and the semiconductor-device selection on the volume and weight of a medium-voltage (MV) DC-DC converter intended for offshore wind turbines. In recent years, many papers have discussed the transposition from MVAC to MVDC collector grids in offshore wind, where the main motivation is to reduce losses of the system. The authors have identified that the MV DC-DC converter can achieve the efficiency of 98.5% with the three-phase dual-active bridge (DAB) topology and the hybrid pair of 5th- and 6th-generation IGBTs at the switching frequency of 1.5 kHz. Following the efficiency, the volume and weight of the MV DC-DC converter are also important factors in offshore wind turbines. However, from the intuitive point of view, it seems that the single-phase configuration with less number of components and the latest IGBTs with lower losses and better thermal conductivity take less volume and weight than the proposed configuration. In order to clarify the doubt, this paper carries out volume and weight analysis of the MV DC-DC converter with various arrangements of the phase number and semiconductor devices. In the analysis, the worst operation point of the input and output voltages and the required thermal resistance of the cooling system as well as the semiconductor and transformer losses are considered. Moreover, regarding the medium-frequency transformer, the high-frequency loss characteristics of the magnetic cores and windings are taken into account by dimensional analysis. Finally, the analysis elucidates that the MV DC-DC converter with the three-phase DAB topology and the hybrid pair of 5th- and 6th-generation IGBTs can obtain both high efficiency of 98.5% and less volume and weight compared to other configurations.
Fractal dimension can distinguish models and pharmacologic changes in liver fibrosis in rats

Fractal analysis measures the complexity of geometric structures. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of fractal analysis in liver fibrosis. A total of 77 rats were included: 10 sham, 46 with fibrosis secondary to bile duct ligation (BDL), and 21 with fibrosis due to CCl4 intoxication. Measurements included the fractal dimension of Kolmogorov (Dk), histologic lesions, the area of fibrosis by image analysis, liver hydroxyproline content, messenger RNA fibronectin, serum hyaluronate level, and portal pressure. Fibrotic rats were given placebo, octreotide, or O2‐vinyl 1‐(pyrrolidin‐1‐yl)diazen‐1‐ium‐1,2‐diolate (V‐PYRRO/NO). Intraobserver agreement of Dk was excellent with the intraclass (ic) correlation coefficient ric = 0.91 (P < .0001) as well as the interobserver agreement with ric = 0.88 (P < .001). Dk was correlated with other measurements or markers of fibrosis: the area of fibrosis (r = 0.75; P < .0001), hydroxyproline content (r = 0.51; P < .001), serum hyaluronate level (r = 0.52; P < .001), and portal pressure (r = 0.52; P < .01). Dk was significantly different between the 2 models of fibrosis (P < .0001), unlike the area of fibrosis, and this relationship was independent of other histologic lesions. The significant decrease in fibrosis observed with octreotide or V‐PYRRO/NO was similarly reflected by Dk or the area of fibrosis. The diagnostic accuracy for the fibrosis model was 97% with the 5 main measurements or markers of fibrosis studied, with Dk isolated at the first step by stepwise analysis. In conclusion, fractal analysis is suitable for analyzing liver fibrosis and has excellent reproducibility. This is the only quantitative morphometric method that can discriminate among the models of fibrosis and is sensitive enough to detect pharmacologically induced changes in liver fibrosis.
Measurement of metal cation compartmentalization in tissue by high-resolution metal cation NMR.

PERSPECTIVES AND OVER.VIEW 375 DETERMINATION OF METAL CATION DISTRIBUTIONS IN TISSUE . 376 Straightforward Chemical Analysis 377 Electron Microprobe X-Ray Analysis 377 Compartmental Volume Determination 378 Values Jor Volumes and Concentrations 378 Ion-Selective Microelectrodes 378 NMR SPECTROSCOPY OF METAL CATIONS 379 Isochronicity oj Comljartmental Resonances . 380 NMR Invisibility oj 'Na and '9K Signals 381 USE OF SHIFT REAGENTS FOR METAL CATION NMR OF TISSUE 387 Chemistry oj Shift Reagents 388 Use oj Shift Reagents with Suspensions oj Cells 389 Use oj Shift Reagents with Intact Tissue 393 Use oj Shift Reagents In Vivo 397
Progress in the understanding of the protein C anticoagulant pathway

A natural anticoagulant pathway denoted the protein C system provides specific and efficient control of blood coagulation. Protein C is the key component of the system and circulates in the blood as a zymogen to an anticoagulant serine protease.Activation of protein C is achieved on the surface of endothelial cells by thrombin bound to the membrane protein thrombomodulin. The endothelial protein C receptor stimulates the activation of protein C on the endothelium. Activated protein C (APC) modulates blood coagulation by cleaving a limited number of peptide bonds in factor VIIIa (FVIIIa) and factor Va (FVa), cofactors in the activation of factor X and prothrombin, respectively.Vitamin K—dependent protein S stimulates the APC-mediated regulation of coagulation. Not only is protein S involved in the degradation of FVIIIa, but so is FV, which in recent years has been found to be a Janusfaced protein with both procoagulant and anticoagulant potentials.A number of genetic defects affecting the anticoagulant function of the protein C system, eg,APC resistance (Arg506Gln or FV Leiden) and deficiencies of protein C and protein S constitute major risk factors of venous thrombosis.The protein C system also has anti—inflammatory and antiapoptotic potentials, the molecular mechanisms of which are beginning to be unraveled.APC has emerged in recent years as a useful therapeutic compound in the treatment of severe septic shock.The beneficial effect of APC is believed be due to both its anticoagulant and its anti-inflammatory properties.
A PRESCRIPTION FOR LONGER LIFE? BOT FLY PARASITISM OF THE WHITE-FOOTED MOUSE

Investigation of host-parasite interactions typically reveals a negative impact of parasitism on the host species. In contrast, mounting evidence indicates that bot fly (Cuterebra sp.) infestation enhances the survival of white-footed mice ( Peromyscus leu- copus). We propose that life history trade-offs, namely, between reproduction and survival, can explain this counterintuitive observation. By using an extensive data set spanning a decade, 12 sites in two states, and over 30 000 mouse captures, we offer a new perspective on the effects of bot fly parasitism on white-footed mice. Analysis of persistence time corroborated earlier studies that showed significantly higher survival rates of infested mice. Although a higher proportion of infested than uninfested females were in breeding condition, secondary reproductive success appeared to be negatively impacted by parasitism via de- clines in the number of litters and the total number of offspring produced by infested females. Population growth rates were negatively correlated with infestation prevalence, further indicating a negative effect of parasitism. Based on the negative impact of parasitism on reproduction, we propose that enhanced survival of infested mice can be explained by the diversion of resources from reproduction to body maintenance. Parasite-induced life history shifts in which mice decrease current reproduction to promote future reproduction, such as increasing the age at maturity, may also contribute to the decline in population growth rate observed in years of high infestation prevalence.
Sending Money Home: Worldwide Remittance Flows to Developing Countries

Remittances, the portion of migrant workers' earnings sent back home to their families, have been a critical means of financial support for generations. But, for the most part, these flows have historically been -hidden in plain view-, often uncounted and even ignored. All that is now changing -as the scale of migration increases, the corresponding growth in remittances is gaining widespread attention. This report has been elaborated based on a study commissioned by IFAD to the Inter-American Dialogue in collaboration with the Multilateral Investment Fund of the IDB and contributions from the European Union, Government of Spain, Government of Luxembourg, CGAP and UNCDF.
Surgery residency training programmes have greater impact on outcomes after pancreaticoduodenectomy than hospital volume or surgeon frequency.

BACKGROUND Hospital volume of pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) and surgeon frequency of PD have been shown to impact outcomes. The impact of surgery residency training programmes after PD is unknown. This study was undertaken to determine the impact of surgery training programmes on outcomes after PD, as well as their importance relative to hospital volume and surgeon frequency of PD. METHODS The State of Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration Database was queried for patients undergoing PD during 2002-2007. Measures of outcome were compared for patients undergoing PD at centres with vs. without surgery residency training programmes. RESULTS A total of 2345 PDs were identified, of which 1478 (63%) were undertaken at training centres and 867 (37%) were performed at non-training centres. Patients undergoing PD at training centres had shorter lengths of stay, lower hospital charges and lower in-hospital mortality. Relative to surgeon frequency of PD, training centres had a greater favourable impact on hospital length of stay, hospital charges and in-hospital mortality (P < 0.001 for each, ancova). Relative to hospital volume of PDs undertaken, training centres had a greater impact on hospital charges (P < 0.001, ancova). CONCLUSIONS Surgery residency training programmes have a favourable effect on outcomes following PD and their impact on outcome is greater than the impact of hospital volume or surgeon frequency of PD.
Human DDX 3 functions in translation and interacts with the translation initiation factor eIF 3

The conserved RNA helicase DDX3 is of major medical importance due to its involvement in numerous cancers, human hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV. Although DDX3 has been reported to have a wide variety of cellular functions, its precise role remains obscure. Here, we raised a new antibody to DDX3 and used it to show that DDX3 is evenly distributed throughout the cytoplasm at steady state. Consistent with this observation, HA-tagged DDX3 also localizes to the cytoplasm. RNAi of DDX3 in both human and Drosophila cells shows that DDX3 is required for cell viability. Moreover, using RNAi, we show that DDX3 is required for expression of protein from reporter constructs. In contrast, we did not detect a role for DDX3 in nuclear steps in gene expression. Further insight into the function of DDX3 came from the observation that its major interaction partner is the multi-component translation initiation factor eIF3. We conclude that a primary function for DDX3 is in protein translation, via an interaction with eIF3.
Stapedectomy. A report on 1,014 operations.

THE material for this paper is based upon 1,014 successive otosclerosis operations performed in the period of 1960 to 1966. The study consists of 894 patients, 284 (31.8%) men and 610 (68.2%) women. Some of the patients were operated on bilaterally. The primary object of the surgery was, of course, to improve the patients' hearing though—because of advanced age, severity of the impairment of hearing, and high degree of sensorineural loss—a very successful result did not appear likely in some cases. Figure 1 shows the age distribution. The majority of the patients were between 31 and 60 years of age. Surgical Techniques At the time of operation our aim was to remove the whole, or as much as possible, of the stapes plate. The principle of interposition was followed, ie, one or both crura were preserved and brought into contact with the material closing the oval window. If the stapes
Watch Me Play

A look at the revolution in game live streaming and esports broadcasting Every day thousands of people broadcast their gaming live to audiences over the internet using popular sites such as Twitch, which reaches more than one hundred million viewers a month. In these new platforms for interactive entertainment, big esports events featuring digital game competitors live stream globally, and audiences can interact with broadcasters-and each other-through chat in real time. What are the ramifications of this exploding online industry? Taking readers inside home studios and backstage at large esports events, Watch Me Play investigates the rise of game live streaming and how it is poised to alter how we understand media and audiences. Through extensive interviews and immersion in this gaming scene, T. L. Taylor delves into the inner workings of the live streaming platform Twitch. From branding to business practices, she shows the pleasures and work involved in this broadcasting activity, as well as the management and governance of game live streaming and its hosting communities. At a time when gaming is being reinvented through social media, the potential of an ever-growing audience is transforming user-generated content and alternative distribution methods. These changes will challenge the meaning of ownership and intellectual property and open the way to new forms of creativity. The first book to explore the online phenomenon Twitch and live streaming games, Watch Me Play offers a vibrant look at the melding of private play and public entertainment.
Single Reduct Generation Based on Relative Indiscernibility of Rough Set Theory

In real world everything is an object which represents particular classes. Every object can be fully described by its attributes. Any real world dataset contains large number of attributes and objects. Classifiers give poor performance when these huge datasets are given as input to it for proper classification. So from these huge dataset most useful attributes need to be extracted that contribute the maximum to the decision. In the paper, attribute set is reduced by generating reducts using the indiscernibility relation of Rough Set Theory (RST). The method measures similarity among the attributes using relative indiscernibility relation and computes attribute similarity set. Then the set is minimized and an attribute similarity table is constructed from which attribute similar to maximum number of attributes is selected so that the resultant minimum set of selected attributes (called reduct) cover all attributes of the attribute similarity table. The method has been applied on glass dataset collected from the UCI repository and the classification accuracy is calculated by various classifiers. The result shows the efficiency of the proposed method.
Managing Service Quality: Call for a Network Mechanism

Studies on service quality management is primarily based on the service quality management theories raised in the West in 1980s. Their mutual research perspective is mainly reflected at the business (employee) - customer level, and their study focus is on the technical operational level of enterprises, by solving major issues such as "what should enterprises do to evaluate and improve the services quality". This study suggests that the service sector is essentially a temporary collaborative production system consisting of enterprises and customers as different interest parties, and the opportunism incentives of enterprises and customers, as well as some external factors would affect the output quality of this production system. Therefore, it is necessary to include more participating parties into the system to establish a multi-level network management mechanism, so as to enforce greater influence and binding on the completion of the collaborative service production by enterprises and customers, and provide some new thinking and approaches for a broader, more active community participation in the service quality management.
Requirement of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor β2 subunit for the anatomical and functional development of the visual system

In the mammalian visual system the formation of eye-specific layers at the thalamic level depends on retinal waves of spontaneous activity, which rely on nicotinic acetylcholine receptor activation. We found that in mutant mice lacking the β2 subunit of the neuronal nicotinic receptor, but not in mice lacking the α4 subunit, retinofugal projections do not segregate into eye-specific areas, both in the dorso-lateral geniculate nucleus and in the superior colliculus. Moreover, β2−/− mice show an expansion of the binocular subfield of the primary visual cortex and a decrease in visual acuity at the cortical level but not in the retina. We conclude that the β2 subunit of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor is necessary for the anatomical and functional development of the visual system.
Sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) in South Africa: A limited adoption of environmental criteria

ABSTRACT This paper explores whether Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) products and strategies in South Africa take environmental sustainability into account. It is based on a qualitative, empirical survey of 22 organisations which are signatories to the United Nation's Principle for Responsible Investment or offering an SRI product. By looking at how environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria are practically used in investment decision making and share ownership decisions, we found that most SRI products and strategies largely focus on social developmental goals whereas environmental criteria do not yet receive comparable attention from the SRI South African fund management industry.
Las instituciones mexicanas en la creación y consolidación de las Pymes

espanolEl marco institucional al que se enfrentan las micro, pequenas y medianas empresas desde la creacion en Mexico es extenso, pero ? Como afectan o benefician dichas instituciones? La presente investigacion tiene como objetivo el analisis de instituciones formales e informales sobre las mipymes en Mexico. Debido a las multiples instituciones formales y los tramites que exigen para el funcionamiento de la empresa, ademas de factores como inseguridad y corrupcion, un gran numero de empresas no logran consolidarse y tienden a desaparecer tiempo despues de su creacion. EnglishThe institutional framework that micro, small and medium enterprises face since the creation in Mexico is extensive, but how do these institutions affect or benefit? The present research aims at the analysis of formal and informal institutions on MSMEs in Mexico. Due to the multiple formal institutions and procedures required for the operation of the company, in addition to factors such as insecurity and corruption, a large number of companies fail to consolidate and tend to disappear long after its creation.
Predicting Anastomotic Disruption after Emergent Small Bowel Surgery

Background/Aims: Small bowel anastomoses performed in the emergent setting have a high risk of leakage. Attention to technical detail is imperative but does not guarantee success in these situations. We sought out factors that could play a role in the process of anastomotic dehiscence under these conditions. Methods: 70 patients underwent 74 emergency small bowel anastomoses over a 21-month period in our institution during this prospective study. Patients with anastomotic disruption formed the case group and those without, the control group. Several preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative variables identified at the outset of the study were analyzed for possible associations with anastomotic dehiscence. Results: Suture line disruption occurred in 26 of 74 anastomoses (35%). The duration of symptoms before presentation did not differ significantly between groups. Hypoalbuminemia (p = 0.004), hyponatremia at presentation (p = 0.012), and intraoperative hypotension (p = 0.042) were found to be significantly associated with disruption. Neither the nature of the primary pathology in the bowel nor the anastomotic level had a significant bearing on anastomotic leakage. Conclusion: Risk factors for leakage of emergent small bowel anastomoses include hypoalbuminemia, hyponatremia at presentation, and intraoperative hypotension. Under these circumstances, the creation of a temporary stoma or exteriorization may be a wiser option than primary anastomosis.
Visualization of High-Dimensional Data with Polar Coordinates

Many applications in science and business such as signal analysis or costumer segmentation deal with large amounts of data which are usually high dimensional in the feature space. As a part of preprocessing and exploratory data analysis, visualization of the data helps to decide which kind of data mining method probably leads to good results or whether outliers or noisy data need to be treated before (Barnett & Lewis, 1994; Hawkins, 1980). Since the visual assessment of a feature space that has more than three dimensions is not possible, it becomes necessary to find an appropriate visualization scheme for such data sets. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) is a family of methods that seek to present the important structure of the data in a reduced number of dimensions. Due to the approach of distance preservation that is followed by conventional MDS techniques, resource requirements regarding memory space and computation time are fairly high and prevent their application to large data sets. In this work we will present two methods that visualize high-dimensional data on the plane using a new approach. An algorithm will be presented that allows applying our method on larger data sets. We will also present some results on a benchmark data set.