Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Light, polarizing, and transmission electron microscopy: Three methods for the evaluation of sperm quality

Semen from 33 patients were evaluated by light microscopy (LM) obtaining sperm concentration, percent motility, percentage of sperm with normal morphology (PAP staining), and percentage of dead sperm (Eosin Y stained). The samples were observed by polarizing microscopy (PM), that evaluates sperm morphology and the viability by birefringence of organelles, and it provides a PM index (percentage of birefringent, viable, motile sperm) and a percentage of dead, non-birefringent sperm. Sperm were processed for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and TEM data were elaborated with a mathematical formula able to provide a fertility index (FI, number of sperm free of structural defects) and percentages of sperm immaturity and necrosis (dead sperm). To test the reliability of these techniques, the values of normal acrosome, nucleus, midpiece, and tail and the presence of cytoplasmic residues obtained with the three methods were compared. With the exception of cytoplasmic residues (P = 0.40), significant differences in the evaluation of each organelle were observed and TEM analysis resulted as the most stringent screening. In addition, relationships among relevant sperm variables were investigated. Motility showed positive correlations with the percentage of normal tail, midpiece, and PM index (P < 0.01), but it exhibited negative correlations with indices of sperm death (non-birefringent sperm: P < 0.05; percentage of eosin Y stained sperm: P < 0.05; necrosis: P < 0.01), which were positively correlated with each other (P < 0.01). Positive correlations were found between indices expressing normal sperm morphology: FI with PM index (P < 0.01) and with the percentage of normal sperm (PAP staining) (P < 0.01), which in turn were correlated with the PM index (P < 0.001). Sperm immaturity showed positive correlations (P < 0.01) with the presence of cytoplasmic residues detected with the three methods. In conclusion, LM, PM, and TEM are reliable techniques in evaluating sperm quality. PM appears to offer several advantages ‘midway’ between LM and TEM and it should be considered in sperm analysis.
Impairment of predictive saccades in schizophrenia

Using infrared oculography, we compared saccades toward predictable and pseudo-random visual targets in 19 neuroleptic-free patients with schizophrenia (including 13 neuroleptic-naïve patients) and in 29 age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers. Externally driven saccades were not different between patients and controls, whether or not the target was predictable. Anticipated saccades were specifically less accurate in the patients compared to the controls. The difference between primary gain of anticipated and non-anticipated saccades was markedly higher in the patients compared to controls (p = 0.003). These results point to a deficit in the early step of internally driven oculomotor planning in schizophrenia.
A Cost-Effective Fault Tolerance Technique for Functional TSV in 3-D ICs

Regular and redundant through-silicon via (TSV) interconnects are used in fault tolerance techniques of 3-D IC. However, the fabrication process of TSVs results in defects that reduce the yield and reliability of TSVs. On the other hand, each TSV is associated with a significant amount of on-chip area overhead. Therefore, unlike the state-of-the-art fault tolerance architectures, here we propose the time division multiplexing access (TDMA)-based fault tolerance technique without using any redundant TSVs, which reduces the area overhead and enhances the yield. In the proposed technique, by means of TDMA, we reroute the signal through defect-free TSV. Subsequently, an architecture based on the proposed technique has been designed, evaluated, and validated on logic-on-logic 3-D IWLS’05 benchmark circuits using 130-nm technology node. The proposed technique is found to reduce the area overhead by 28.70%-40.60%, compared to the state-of-the-art architectures and results in a yield of 98.9%–99.8%.
Le « prendre soin » de la santé (PSS) : une conception transdisciplinaire et inclusive de la pratique soignante et son intérêt pour améliorer les résultats de santé des jeunes aux prises avec le diabète

La prevalence accrue des maladies chroniques, dont celles pour lesquelles la prevention est possible, met en relief certaines limites des perspectives de soins de sante couramment deployees. Nous soutenons qu’une meilleure comprehension du « prendre soin », qui ne se limite pas aux actes medicaux et infirmiers, ni a la science infirmiere, est necessaire pour ameliorer les pratiques et les resultats de sante. Prendre soin de la sante (PSS), comprenant le « prendre soin de soi », est un concept plus large que l’observance du traitement et l’autogestion de la maladie ou de la sante. Cet article vise a explorer l’interet du PSS. Une recherche documentaire a ete realisee pour mieux cerner les particularites du PSS, en examinant les fondements philosophiques, theoriques et pratiques du « prendre soin » par rapport a d’autres approches, dont le caring, et aux defis rencontres. La problematique de sante des jeunes diabetiques et de leur famille sert d’ancrage a la reflexion proposee. Pour cette problematique, entre autres, la recension des ecrits suggere que le PSS est porteur de possibilites pour ameliorer l’accompagnement et la qualite de vie des personnes atteintes et pour developper l’agir preventif.
Recovery and discharge of patients after long propofol infusion vs isoflurane anaesthesia for ambulatory surgery

Fifty unpremedicated patients scheduled for outpatient restorative dentistry and/or oral surgery lasting 2 to 4 h were anaesthetized with either propofol infusion or isoflurane inhalation. Before induction of anaesthesia with propofol (2.5 mg ˙ kg‐1), all patients were given 75 mg of diclofenac and 0.01mg ˙ kg‐1 vecuronium intravenously. Intubation was facilitated with suxamethonium (1.5 mg ˙ kg‐1) and anaesthesia was maintained in random order either with propofol infusion (12 mg ˙ kg‐1 ˙ h‐1 for the first 20 min, 9 mg ˙ kg‐1 ˙ h‐1 for the next 20 min, and 6 mg ˙ kg‐1 ˙ h‐1 for the rest of the anaesthesia) or with isoflurane (inspired concentration 1–2.5%), both with nitrous oxide and oxygen (30%). The patients breathed spontaneously using a non‐rebreathing circuit. Patients given propofol infusion became re‐orientated faster (11.0 ± 5.5 min vs. 16.5 ± 7.5 min; P<0.01) and at 30 min walked along a straight line better (P<0.01). At 60 min, none of the propofol patients displayed an unsteady gait, whereas 11 of the 25 isoflurane patients did (P<0.001). None of the patients receiving propofol had emesis at the clinic, compared with 10 of the 25 patients receiving isoflurane (P<0.001). The overall incidence of emesis was 2 of 25 and 14 of 25 in the propofol and isoflurance groups, respectively (P<0.01). Patients receiving propofol were discharged home earlier than patients receiving isoflurane (80 ± 14 min and 102 ± 32 min, respectively; P<0.01). It is concluded that propofol allows early discharge of patients, even after long anaesthesias.
Update in liver transplantation

Purpose of review Successful transplant outcomes require optimal patient selection and timing. This review will update clinicians with current status and challenges in liver transplantation. Currently, the major limitation facing liver transplant centers is the shortage of organs. The limited availability of organs has led to long waiting periods for liver transplantation and consequently many patients become seriously ill or die while on the waiting list. Recent findings This has major implications in the selection of patients, as well as the timing of transplant, for optimal use of these scarce organs. Indications and contraindications have changed slightly over the years and will be reviewed in this article. Summary Timing for transplantation has changed more dramatically in the recent years because major changes to organ allocation systems have been undertaken to provide clinicians with a better way to prioritize patients for liver transplant.
Verbal working memory impairment in schizophrenia patients and their first-degree relatives: evidence from the digit span task.

OBJECTIVE The evidence for verbal working memory deficits in schizophrenia has been inconsistent. Few studies have evaluated verbal working memory in the first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients, who likely share the genetic diathesis for schizophrenia but not the potential confounds associated with chronic mental illness. METHOD The Wechsler Digit Span Task was used to investigate verbal working memory in 52 schizophrenia patients, 56 of their first-degree relatives, and 73 nonpsychiatric comparison subjects. RESULTS The nonpsychotic relatives showed no impairment on the forward digit span task, a measure of general attention, but did show impairment on the backward digit span task, a measure of verbal working memory. Schizophrenia patients showed impairment on both the forward and backward digit span tasks. CONCLUSIONS These results indicate that the forward and backward digit span tasks tap different cognitive abilities that are differentially associated with the diathesis for schizophrenia. Working memory deficits associated with schizophrenia appear to be generalized and not limited to the spatial modality.
Questionnaire survey of proliferative enteropathy on British pig farms

Risk factors for proliferative enteropathy were investigated by means of a postal questionnaire survey of randomly selected British pig farms. Replies were received from 319 (56 per cent) of the 569 questionnaires posted, representing 1.5 per cent of the total number of pig farms in Britain. Thirty-one per cent of the farms had experienced at least one episode of proliferative enteropathy within the previous three years, usually confirmed by their veterinary surgeon. There was a strong association for the occurrence of proliferative enteropathy in herds of over 500 sows (P<0.005) and in herds with enzootic pneumonia (P<0.01). Outbreaks had occurred in five of the six nucleus herds surveyed, the other had only 80 sows. Outbreaks occurred in 32 of 69 herds that had obtained their replacement boars from nucleus herds (P<0.05), suggesting that infected boars may carry the disease into distant herds. The use of either fully slatted (P<0.05) or fully meshed floors (P<0.01) above sunken pits in buildings used to house pigs immediately after weaning, and the use of partially (P<0.05) or fully slatted floors (P<0.05) in buildings used to house pigs two to six months old, were risk factors for outbreaks of proliferative enteropathy, compared with the use of straw bedding or solid floors. The destocking of entire buildings containing pigs two to four months old before the introduction of fresh pigs, was associated with a reduced risk (P<0.05), but the destocking of selected pens rather than the whole building had no such association. The type of diet, or feeding or watering system and the types of buildings used were not identified as risk factors.
Epidemiology of Thymoma and Associated Malignancies

Background: Thymoma is a rare malignancy of unknown etiology. Methods: The author examined patterns in thymoma incidence in the US general population using data from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) cancer registries. Prior studies concerning the risk of additional malignancies in thymoma patients were reviewed. Results: Based on cancer registry data, the overall incidence of thymoma in the US is 0.13 per 100,000 person-years. Thymoma is exceedingly uncommon in children and young adults, rises in incidence in middle age, and peaks in the seventh decade of life. Thymoma incidence is especially high among Asians and Pacific Islanders in the US. While several studies based at single treatment centers have suggested that thymoma patients have a broadly increased risk for other malignancies, follow up data from US cancer registries support a more limited spectrum of cancer risk. In particular, thymoma patients have a subsequently elevated risk for developing B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Based on limited data, thymoma patients may also have an elevated risk for developing soft tissue sarcomas. Discussion: Thymoma is a rare malignancy. The excess risk for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is consistent with an effect of immune disturbance arising from the thymoma or its treatment. While descriptive epidemiologic data may yield clues to the etiology of thymoma, large multi-center case-control studies will be required to formally evaluate environmental and genetic risk factors.
Theory learning with symmetry breaking

This paper investigates the use of a Prolog coded SMT solver in tackling a well known constraints problem, namely packing a given set of consecutive squares into a given rectangle, and details the developments in the solver that this motivates. The packing problem has a natural model in the theory of quantifier-free integer difference logic, a theory supported by many SMT solvers. The solver used in this work exploits a data structure consisting of an incremental Floyd-Warshall matrix paired with a watch matrix that monitors the entailment status of integer difference constraints. It is shown how this structure can be used to build unsatisfiable theory cores on the fly, which in turn allows theory learning to be incorporated into the solver. Further, it is shown that a problem-specific and non-standard approach to learning can be taken where symmetry breaking is incorporated into the learning stage, magnifying the effect of learning. It is argued that the declarative framework allows the solver to be used in this white box manner and is a strength of the solver. The approach is experimentally evaluated.
Gene-Environment Interactions in Depression Research

Recent studies on life stress, depression, and polymorphisms in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) are characterized by powerful genetic techniques, but are also characterized by unconventional and inconsistent approaches to assessing life stress. The present review addresses this problem by critically evaluating this rapidly growing literature with regard to the concepts and procedures employed to assess life stress and the research designs used to test causal associations. The existing body of evidence is seriously compromised by the predominance of ad hoc approaches for measuring life stress and by a lack of attention to key issues concerning research design. Principles and procedures for more refined and rigorous stress measurement are outlined. Improved guidelines are needed to direct future research on interactive effects of life stress and genes in psychopathology, pathophysiological processes, and disease.
Growing and Analyzing Static Biofilms

Many bacteria can exist as surface‐attached aggregations known as biofilms. Presented in this unit are several approaches for the study of these communities. The focus here is on static biofilm systems, which are particularly useful for examination of the early stages of biofilm formation, including initial adherence to the surface and microcolony formation. Furthermore, most of the techniques presented are easily adapted to the study of biofilms under a variety of conditions and are suitable for either small‐ or relatively large‐scale studies. Unlike assays involving continuous‐flow systems, the static biofilm assays described here require very little specialized equipment and are relatively simple to execute. In addition, these static biofilm systems allow analysis of biofilm formation with a variety of readouts, including microscopy of live cells, macroscopic visualization of stained bacteria, and viability counts. Used individually or in combination, these assays provide useful means for the study of biofilms.
The perception of phrasal prominence in English, Spanish and French conversational speech

Since Bolinger's [1] discovery that pitch cues accentual prominence in English, a tension has arisen between two strategies: equating accent with pitch excursions and relying on perception for identifying accented words. This paper investigates the relation between prominence judgments from untrained listeners and accentual labels produced by trained transcribers. Naive speakers of English, Spanish and French (30 per language) were asked to mark prominent words in excerpts of conversational speech from their native language (between 900-1100 words in each sample). Aggregated prominence scores (P-scores) were compared with experts' ToBI labels for each language. For all three languages, words ToBI-labelled as accented had substantially higher P-scores than unaccented words, and nuclear accents had higher P-scores than prenuclear ones. P-scores also discriminated among several accent types. Predictions from prior research on the relative prominence of accent labels were tested, and findings confirm that English L+H* accents are more likely to be judged as prominent than H* accents, and Spanish L+H* is more likely judged as prominent than L+>H*. However, for French, our prediction that Accentual Phrase-initial Hi is prominence-lending was not confirmed. The results establish the link between tonal accents and perceived prominence in three languages that differ in their use of contrastive prominence at the lexical and phrasal levels.
An intergenerational reminiscence programme for older adults with early dementia and youth volunteers: values and challenges.

AIM To examine the values of a reminiscence programme, adopting an intergenerational approach, on older persons with early dementia and youth volunteers. METHOD A pre- and post- one group design was adopted. Forty-nine elderly participants with early dementia and 117 youth volunteers participated in the study. Each elderly participant was assigned to two youth participants. This dyad group participated in a 12-session reminiscence programme. The youth participants acted as facilitators to prompt the elderly participants to share and discuss past events and experiences, and to support them to fabricate a personalized life-story book. An occupational therapist provided ongoing support and monitoring. The elderly participants were evaluated by the Chinese version of Mini-mental State Examination, Quality of Life-Alzheimer's Disease (QoL-AD), and Chinese version of Geriatric Depression Scale (CGDS) before and after the programme. Dementia Quiz (DQ), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and a 20-item feedback questionnaire on the programme were used to evaluate the youth participants. RESULTS Significant pre- and postprogramme differences were found for QoL-AD (mean change = -1.91; 95% CI = -3.18, -0.64) and CGDS (mean change = 1.86; 95% CI = 0.92, 2.80) among the elderly participants, and for DQ (mean change = -1.14; 95% CI = -2.11, -0.17) among the youth participants. Volunteers also showed positive appreciation of older persons and opined that this community service provided them an opportunity to reflect on their relationship with elderly relatives. Some volunteers, however, commented the heavy workload of the reminiscence programme. CONCLUSION The intergenerational reminiscence programme suggests mutually beneficial values for both groups of participants. Whilst it is feasible to involve trained volunteers in the implementation of dementia-related programmes, it is essential that they are adequately trained and that ongoing support and monitoring are provided.
Population-based study of sleep-disordered breathing as a risk factor for hypertension.

BACKGROUND Clinical observations have linked sleep-disordered breathing, a condition of repeated apneas and hypopneas during sleep, with hypertension but evidence for an independent association has been lacking. Understanding this relationship is important because the prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing is high in adults. OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that sleep-disordered breathing is related to elevated blood pressure independent of confounding factors. METHODS The sample included 1060 employed women and men aged 30 through 60 years who had completed an overnight protocol as part of the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study. In-laboratory polysomnography was used to determine sleep-disordered breathing status, quantified as the number of apneas and hypopneas per hour of sleep (apnea-hypopnea index). Blood pressure was measured on the night polysomnography was performed. RESULTS Blood pressure increased linearly with increasing apnea-hypopnea index (P = .003 for systolic, P = .01 for diastolic, adjusted for confounding factors). The magnitude of the linear association increased with decreasing obesity. At a body mass index (weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters) of 30 kg/m2, an apnea-hypopnea index of 15 (vs 0) was associated with blood pressure increases of 3.6 mm Hg for systolic (95% confidence interval, 1.3-6.0) and 1.8 mm Hg for diastolic (95% confidence interval, 0.3-3.3). The odds ratio for hypertension associated with an apnea-hypopnea index of 15 (vs 0) was 1.8 (95% confidence interval, 1.3-2.4). CONCLUSIONS There is a dose-response relationship between sleep-disordered breathing and blood pressure, independent of known confounding factors. If causal, the high prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing could account for hypertension in a substantial number of adults in the United States.
Downregulated miRNA-1269a variant (rs73239138) decreases the susceptibility to gastric cancer via targeting ZNF70

Although emerging evidence has indicated that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in microRNAs (miRNAs) are associated with susceptibility to gastric cancer, a limited number of studies have revealed the underlying molecular mechanisms. In the present study, the results suggested that miR-1269a rs73239138 has a role in decreasing the risk of gastric cancer. The level of miR-1269a variant expression was significantly downregulated compared with the wild-type miR-1269a in the gastric cells (Fig. 1). Furthermore, overexpression of miR-1269a inhibited apoptosis of gastric cancer cells. Expression of the miR-1269a variant inhibited the function of miR-1269a by increasing the apoptotic rate and the expression of Bik, Bim and Bak was upregulated consistently. In addition, zinc-finger protein 70 (ZNF70) was identified to be a target gene of miR-1269a, which was downregulated by miR-1269a and upregulated by miR-1269a variant. ZNF70 was indicated to exert a role as a tumor suppressor in gastric cancer. To the best our knowledge, the present study for the first time highlights a critical role of miR-1269a variant rs73239138 in decreasing the susceptibility to gastric cancer by downregulating its expression and targeting ZNF70, which promotes apoptosis of gastric cancer cells. This SNP is indicated to serve as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for gastric cancer.
The study of a new Call Admission Control method based on self-similar traffic

With the rapid development of the network, more and more new kinds of network traffic emerge in the network. These new traffic exhibit the properties of self-similarity and long-range dependence. Connection Admission Control (CAC) is one of the important mechanisms for guarantee the QoS while improving the utilization rate high-efficiently. At first, self-similar traffic service model based on CAC scheme in this paper are studied. And then the formula for effective bandwidth of admitted aggregated traffic sources is got. A CAC algorithm of self-similar traffic based on fairness is proposed. The equality mechanism is introduced in the admitting deterministic process. Simulation has analyzed the factors of effective bandwidth and has proved the validity of the algorithm.