Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Incidence and Economic Burden of Osteoporosis‐Related Fractures in the United States, 2005–2025

This study predicts the burden of incident osteoporosis‐related fractures and costs in the United States, by sex, age group, race/ethnicity, and fracture type, from 2005 to 2025. Total fractures were >2 million, costing nearly $17 billion in 2005. Men account for >25% of the burden. Rapid growth in the disease burden is projected among nonwhite populations.
High Oral Prevalence of Candida krusei in Leprosy Patients in Northern Thailand

ABSTRACT Although Candida albicans is the most common human yeast pathogen, other Candida species such as C. krusei are now recognized as emerging agents, especially in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease. C. krusei is inherently resistant to the widely used triazole antifungal fluconazole and poses therapeutic problems, especially in systemic candidiasis. In a surveillance study of leprosy patients (with arrested or burnt-out disease) in a leprosarium in northern Thailand, we found a rate of oral carriage of C. krusei (36%) significantly (P < 0.05) higher than that for a healthy control group (10%). Among the Candida-positive patients, 16 of 35 (46%) carried C. krusei, while C. albicans was the second most common isolate (12 of 35 patients; 34%). The corresponding figures for the control group were 2 of 13 (15%) and 6 of 13 (46%), respectively. Studies of the antifungal resistance of the C. krusei isolates from patients indicated that all except one of the isolates were resistant to fluconazole, two isolates were resistant to ketoconazole, and all isolates were sensitive to amphotericin B. Evaluation of their genetic profiles by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA analysis with three different primers and subsequent analysis of the gel profiles by computerized cluster-derived dendrograms revealed that the C. krusei isolates from patients belonged to 10 disparate clusters, despite the origin from a single locale. These nascent findings indicate an alarmingly high prevalence of a Candida species resistant to a widely used antifungal in a part of the world where HIV disease is endemic.
Intestinal Villus Histological Alterations in Piglets fed Dietary Charcoal Powder Including Wood Vinegar Compound Liquid

To investigate the effects of dietary charcoal powder including wood vinegar compound liquid (CWVC, 4 : 1) on intestinal villus histology, piglets were fed 0, 1, 3 and 5% dietary CWVC diets for 30 days. Feed intake and body weight gain were measured during the experimental period. At the end of the experiments, intestinal villus height, epithelial cell area and cell mitosis were examined using light microscopy (LM), and the duodenal villus tip surface was observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Feed efficiency tended to be improved in the CWVC group. The 3% CWVC group showed the highest value, followed by 1% CWVC group of most LM parameters in most intestinal parts, but the 5% CWVC group showed the almost similar value compared with the control. In addition, on the duodenal villus tip surface, the 3% CWVC group showed a clearer cell outline, larger cells and cells protuberated further into the lumen than those of the 1% CWVC group. However, the 5% CWVC group showed faint SEM features than the 1% CWVC group. The present trend of improved feed efficiency after feedings of dietary CWVC demonstrates that the CWVC could be incorporated into piglet diets up to 3% level, and that the CWVC might activate intestinal functions both at villus and cellular levels.
A regional production network in a predatory state: export-oriented manufacturing at the margins of the law

ABSTRACT As middle-income countries have grown their manufacturing sectors considerably over recent decades, attention has turned to countries that fall at the bottom of the industrial ladder. In such countries, challenges related to corruption combined with intensely competitive pressures from China and other countries appear to preclude possibilities for state leaders and bureaucracies to engineer industrial growth. Drawing upon an original survey of 229 apparel shop owners in Kyrgyzstan and dozens of interviews, this article analyzes the creation of a regional Eurasian production network in a country where we would least expect to see manufacturing dynamism. I adopt an everyday international political economy approach to the study of production networks in this country – considered to have a challenging business environment with high corruption – focusing on the ways in which shop owners and other intermediaries understand and relate to state bureaucrats at different nodes of the network. Doing so expands our understanding of the varieties of pathways to contemporary export-oriented production, including ones that emerge at the margins of the law.
Evaluation and Management of Abdominal Lymphoceles After Anterior Lumbar Spine Surgery

Study Design. Case report. Objective. To examine the management of abdominal lymphoceles after anterior spine surgery and to review the existing literature on lymphoceles after access to the spine. Summary of Background Data. Abdominal lymphoceles are a rare complication of anterior spinal approaches. Methods. Case report and review of the literature. Results. In this article, we describe the management of 2 lymphoceles. In the first case, immediate operative drainage was required because of worsening abdominal pain and distention. In the second patient, conservative management was attempted, but the lymphocele ultimately persisted and required surgical intervention. Conclusion. Lymphoceles are often difficult to distinguish from ureteral injury, cerebrospinal fluid-leaks and hematomas using conventional imaging techniques. Although surgery remains the gold standard for the treatment of lymphoceles, expectant observation may be reasonable in some situations.
Analysis of propagation delay in mixed carbon nanotube bundle as global VLSI interconnects

This research paper introduces a new modeling approach for different bundled CNT structures. Based on the arrangements of single- and multi-walled CNTs in bundle, two different structures of mixed CNT bundles (MCBs) are proposed. Performance in terms of propagation delay is compared between different bundled CNT structures by using a driver-interconnect-load (DIL) system. It has been observed that the overall reduction in delay is in the range of 22.33% to 56.87% for bundled MWCNT with respect to other CNT structures at global interconnect lengths.
Functional contribution of specific brain areas to absence seizures: role of thalamic gap‐junctional coupling

The synchronized discharges typical of seizures have a multifactorial origin at molecular, cellular and network levels. During recent years, the functional role of gap‐junctional coupling has received increased attention as a mechanism that may participate in seizure generation. We have investigated the possible functional roles of thalamic and hippocampal gap‐junctional communication (GJC) in the generation of spike‐and‐wave discharges in a rodent model of atypical absence seizures. Seizures in this model spread throughout limbic, thalamic and neocortical areas. Rats were chronically implanted with cannulae to deliver drugs or saline, and local field potentials recordings were performed using intracerebral electrodes positioned in distinct brain areas. Initially, the effects on synaptic transmission of the gap‐junctional blockers used in this study were determined. Neither carbenoxolone (CBX) nor 18‐α‐glycyrrhetinic acid altered chemical synaptic transmission at the concentrations tested. These two compounds, when injected via cannulae into the reticular nucleus of the thalamus (NRT), decreased significantly the duration of seizures as compared with saline injections or injections of the CBX inactive derivative glycyrrhizic acid. CBX injections into the hippocampus resulted in diminished seizure activity as well. NRT injections of trimethylamine, which presumably causes intracellular alkalinization (thereby promoting gap‐junctional opening), enhanced seizures and spindle activity. These observations suggest that, in this rodent model, thalamic and limbic areas are involved in the synchronous paroxysmal activity and that GJC contributes to the spike‐and‐wave discharges.
Control of Three-Phase Bidirectional Current-Source Converter to Inject Balanced Three-Phase Currents Under Unbalanced Grid Voltage Condition

A single-stage, bidirectional, current-source converter (CSC) topology to interface a dc microgrid with an ac grid is reported in the literature. In this topology, under a balanced grid voltage condition, the dc-link inductor current can be regulated over a wide range-from zero to rated value-while the ac-side current has low harmonic distortion. However, unbalanced grid voltages result in second-harmonic pulsation in the current and power on the dc side of the converter. In addition, the ac-side currents will be unbalanced due to the presence of a negative-sequence component. This would result in undesired tripping of the converter if one of the phase currents exceeded its rated value. Various control loop structures for the operation of voltage-source converter under unbalanced grid voltage conditions are reported in the literature. However, use of similar control loop structures for CSC may lead to unstable operation. Therefore, a control scheme to inject balanced three-phase currents into the ac grid under an unbalanced grid voltage condition is proposed in this paper. The stability of the proposed control scheme is studied using a small-signal model of the converter. Performance of the proposed control scheme is studied using MATLAB/Simulink and is experimentally validated.
Social media adoption and its impact on firm performance: the case of the UAE

Purpose Through social media technologies, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can communicate information and respond to competitors with minimal cost. The ability to share and access information can affect SMEs’ performance, but there is little research on the link between SMEs’ social media adoption and their performance. The purpose of this paper is to present a quantitative survey to explore factors that influenced social media adoption by SMEs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and its impact on performance. Design/methodology/approach The study used a multi-perspective framework combining technological, organizational and environmental elements affecting SMEs. Survey questionnaires were used to collect data from a random sample of SMEs operating in the UAE. Using partial least squares and structural equation modeling techniques, 144 responses were analyzed. Findings Social media adoption had no effect on SMEs’ performance. These findings could help managers and decision makers in the SME sector to try to keep pace with research on social media innovations, and enable them to benefit from social commerce as it becomes more ubiquitous. Research limitations/implications This has implications for social media experts and anyone wishing to encourage social media use by SMEs. Originality/value The study developed a suitable multi-perspective framework covering various factors that may affect social media use. It also tested the framework empirically on a sample of SMEs from the UAE.
12× bit-error acceptable, 300× extended data-retention time, value-aware SSD with vertical 3D-TLC NAND flash memories for image recognition

Value-Aware SSD with Vertical 3D-TLC (Triple-Level Cell) NAND flash for the image recognition is proposed to increase the acceptable bit-error rate (BER) by 12-times and extend the data-retention time by 300-times. In addition to the reliability improvement, the read time reduces by 26%. The proposed SSD combines new data-aware techniques with deep neural network's error tolerance. 10% BER of NAND flash is allowed while providing the accurate and fast image recognition. The design overhead in the SSD controller is negligibly small.
IGF‐I, IGF‐II, free IGF‐I and IGFBP‐1, ‐2 and ‐3 levels in venous cord blood: relationship to birthweight, length and gestational age in healthy newborns

Abstract The insulin‐like growth factors (IGF‐I and IGF‐II) and their binding proteins (IGFBPs) have been implicated in regulating fetal growth and development. The aim of this study was to determine whether fetal IGFs correlate with auxologic data at birth and/or gestational age. Venous cord blood was obtained from 138 healthy newborns immediately after birth and clinical data were recorded using a standardized data sheet. For the determination of IGF‐I and IGF‐II, IGFBP‐blocked radioimmunoassays were used. A coated‐tube immunoradiometric assay was applied for the measurement of free IGF‐I. IGFBP‐1, ‐2, and ‐3 were measured using specific radioimmunoassays. IGF‐I levels were 61 ± 21 ng ml‐1, median 61 ng ml‐1, range 19‐114ng ml‐1: IGF‐II levels were 466 ± 80ng ml‐1, median 457 ng ml‐1, range 311–701 ng ml‐1; free IGF‐I levels were 2.4 ± 1.8ng ml‐1, median 1.8 ng ml‐1, range 0.4–7.8ng ml‐1. The concentration of IGFBP‐1 was 144± 110 ng ml‐1, median 113 ng ml‐1, range 20–626 ng ml‐1; that of IGFBP‐2 was 1165 ± 455ng ml‐1, median 1119ng ml‐1, range 440–3466 ng ml‐1. IGFBP‐3 levels were 1272 ± 280 ng ml‐1, median 1272ng ml‐1, range 600–1966 ng ml‐1. IGF‐I levels correlated significantly with IGFBP‐3 levels (r= 0.71). birthweight (r= 0.48) and birth length (r= 0.37). There were significant inverse correlations between IGF‐I and both IGFBP‐I (r= ‐ 0.45) and IGFBP‐2 (r= ‐ 0.62). Although free IGF‐I levels correlated (r= 0.71) with total IGF‐I, only marginally significant correlations were found between free IGF‐I and birthweight (r= 0.25). According to multiple regression analysis free IGF‐I levels were only dependent upon total IGF‐I, IGFBP‐2 and IGFBP‐1, whereas IGFBP‐3 levels did not contribute to the variance of free IGF‐1 concentrations in venous cord blood. There was no significant correlation between IGF‐II and auxologic data at birth. When IGF‐I and IGFBP‐3 levels were analysed with respect to gestational age a biphasic pattern with maxima at 270 d was observed. IGFBP‐2 exhibited a reversed pattern with a minimum at 265 d of gestation. In conclusion, these data suggest that IGF‐I and the IGFBPs, but not IGF‐II, play a role in the regulation of late fetal growth and development.
Comparative Study of Electromagnetic Performance of High-Speed Synchronous Motors With Rare-Earth and Ferrite Permanent Magnets

The rare-earth permanent magnet (PM) is commonly used to improve the performance of high-speed electrical machines to compensate for their high production costs, while it is very likely that the demand for high-speed machines will increase in the near future as markets for new technologies continue to grow. However, a high-speed machine is required to have high performance and low manufacturing cost, because mass production is needed for these applications. Therefore, in this paper, a high-speed machine using a ferrite PM was designed to significantly decrease the manufacturing costs. To examine the performance of the high-speed machine suggested in this paper, the performance of a high-speed model using a ferrite PM is compared with that of a SmCo PM model. A high-speed machine with a specification of 3 kW and 30 000 r/min is designed and manufactured. The designed model is analyzed using the finite-element method. Finally, the no-load back electromotive force in each model is examined through a back-to-back experiment.
Trustworthy reconfigurable access to on-chip infrastructure

The accessibility of on-chip embedded infrastructure for test, reconfiguration, or debug poses a serious security problem. Access mechanisms based on IEEE Std 1149.1 (JTAG), and especially reconfigurable scan networks (RSNs), as allowed by IEEE Std 1500, IEEE Std 1149.1-2013, and IEEE Std 1687 (IJTAG), require special care in the design and development. This work studies the threats to trustworthy data transmission in RSNs posed by untrusted components within the RSN and external interfaces. We propose a novel scan pattern generation method that finds trustworthy access sequences to prevent sniffing and spoofing of transmitted data in the RSN. For insecure RSNs, for which such accesses do not exist, we present an automated transformation that improves the security and trustworthiness while preserving the accessibility to attached instruments. The area overhead is reduced based on results from trustworthy access pattern generation. As a result, sensitive data is not exposed to untrusted components in the RSN, and compromised data cannot be injected during trustworthy accesses.
EIGHT MYTHS FROM THE FOOD ALLERGY CLINIC

There are a number of areas of controversy and dogma surrounding food allergy that are widely believed by both parents of children with food allergy and the health professionals who care for them. Consequences of these misconceptions include heightened anxiety, risk taking, inappropriate food exclusion with nutritional consequences and unnecessary omission of vaccination because of fear of an allergic reaction. New research is improving our understanding of the development of allergies and their management. This article aims to address a few of the common myths in paediatric food allergy.
CathSim: an intravascular catheterization simulator on a PC.

The development of a medical simulator that incorporates substantial training value and realism into an affordable product has been a huge challenge for the simulation community. A large hurdle to making an inexpensive simulator has been the high cost of the computers needed for adequate realism. We have met this challenge by developing CathSim, a low-cost medical simulator that integrates force feedback, multimedia, and 3D graphics simulation technology on an industry standard PC. This product is commercially available and is currently being used by numerous training institutions and hospitals. The CathSim system includes software and a force feedback interface device. The platform and device can be used to train health care providers to perform needle-stick medical procedures. Our first module teaches users the techniques of peripheral intravenous (i.v.) catheterization. Other training modules that will be added to the CathSim platform include central venous catheter (CVC) insertion and peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) placement. This paper discusses the challenges of this project and the trade-offs and solutions that we developed to overcome them. We describe our process of analyzing and prioritizing the medical tasks necessary to correctly perform peripheral intravenous catheterization. This analysis and prioritization was used to decide which tasks would be included in the simulator and how the included tasks would be replicated. We discuss the method by which we obtained the needed realism in the 3D graphics rendering and in the tactile feedback of the input device. We illustrate how we blended together simulation and multimedia technology to ensure adequate immersion and training efficacy, while keeping the system cost to a minimum.
Collision Control of Periodic Safety Messages With Strict Messaging Frequency Requirements

For safety messages in a vehicular networking environment, strict messaging frequency requirements exist. For instance, six out of eight cooperative vehicular safety applications, as chosen by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Crash Avoidance Metrics Partnership, require a minimum of 10 Hz, whereas the precrash sensing application requires an even higher frequency of 50 Hz, for messages that convey the positions of vehicles. Currently, the collisions of periodic safety message broadcasts for the IEEE Wireless Access in Vehicular Environment (WAVE) system are left to the IEEE 802.11p medium access control (MAC) to resolve. With small contention window sizes stipulated in the 802.11p amendment, however, the MAC offers only limited relief to the collision problem, particularly toward the beginning of the control channel (CCH) interval. In this paper, we show that application-level control of the message transmission phase is desirable, when the frequency adaptation is not allowed due to the application requirement. We demonstrate through simulation and analysis that the proposed technique achieves up to 50% higher message reception probability compared with that relying only on the 802.11p MAC. The proposed method works in the safety applications themselves; therefore, the existing standards need not be modified.
Hypogonadotropic hypogonadism in mice lacking a functional Kiss1 gene

The G protein-coupled receptor GPR54 (AXOR12, OT7T175) is central to acquisition of reproductive competency in mammals. Peptide ligands (kisspeptins) for this receptor are encoded by the Kiss1 gene, and administration of exogenous kisspeptins stimulates hypothalamic gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) release in several species, including humans. To establish that kisspeptins are the authentic agonists of GPR54 in vivo and to determine whether these ligands have additional physiological functions we have generated mice with a targeted disruption of the Kiss1 gene. Kiss1-null mice are viable and healthy with no apparent abnormalities but fail to undergo sexual maturation. Mutant female mice do not progress through the estrous cycle, have thread-like uteri and small ovaries, and do not produce mature Graffian follicles. Mutant males have small testes, and spermatogenesis arrests mainly at the early haploid spermatid stage. Both sexes have low circulating gonadotropin (luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone) and sex steroid (β-estradiol or testosterone) hormone levels. Migration of GnRH neurons into the hypothalamus appears normal with appropriate axonal connections to the median eminence and total GnRH content. The hypothalamic–pituitary axis is functional in these mice as shown by robust luteinizing hormone secretion after peripheral administration of kisspeptin. The virtually identical phenotype of Gpr54- and Kiss1-null mice provides direct proof that kisspeptins are the true physiological ligand for the GPR54 receptor in vivo. Kiss1 also does not seem to play a vital role in any other physiological processes other than activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis, and loss of Kiss1 cannot be overcome by compensatory mechanisms.
Serotonin 5‐HT2 Receptors and Brain Circulation

Most evidence in the literature concerning the role of serotonin in ischemia originates from brain research. This is partly because the central nervous system is particularly prone to accumulation of 5-HT, due to the neuronal sources of the amine in addition to circulating 5-HT from platelets. In ischemia, platelet invasion, rupture of the blood-brain barrier, liberation of 5-HT from nerve terminals inside the vessel wall, and necrosis of serotonergic neurons favor local increases of the transmitter in the brain. The pathophysiological consequences include amplifications of processes such as vasoconstriction of major and collateral arteries, edema formation, platelet aggregation, and blood sludging. 5-HT2 receptors appear to be the major effector of these actions of serotonin, judging from experimental and clinical pharmacology data with specific or partial 5-HT2 serotonergic antagonists. This review summarizes current knowledge on the key role serotonin plays in the induction or consequences of brain ischemia.