Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Relationship Between Insertion Angles, Default Frequency Allocations, and Spiral Ganglion Place Pitch in Cochlear Implants

Objectives: Commercially available cochlear implant systems attempt to deliver frequency information going down to a few hundred Hertz, but the electrode arrays are not designed to reach the most apical regions of the cochlea, which correspond to these low frequencies. This may cause a mismatch between the frequencies presented by a cochlear implant electrode array and the frequencies represented at the corresponding location in a normal-hearing cochlea. In the following study, the mismatch between the frequency presented at a given cochlear angle and the frequency expected by an acoustic hearing ear at the corresponding angle is examined for the cochlear implant systems that are most commonly used in the United States. Design: The angular insertion of each of the electrodes on four different electrode arrays (MED-EL Standard, MED-EL Flex28, Advanced Bionics HiFocus 1J, and Cochlear Contour Advance) was estimated from X-ray. For the angular location of each electrode on each electrode array, the predicted spiral ganglion frequency was estimated. The predicted spiral ganglion frequency was compared with the center frequency provided by the corresponding electrode using the manufacturer’s default frequency-to-electrode allocation. Results: Differences across devices were observed for the place of stimulation for frequencies below 650 Hz. Longer electrode arrays (i.e., the MED-EL Standard and Flex28) demonstrated smaller deviations from the spiral ganglion map than the other electrode arrays. For insertion angles up to approximately 270°, the frequencies presented at a given location were typically approximately an octave below what would be expected by a spiral ganglion frequency map, while the deviations were larger for angles deeper than 270°. For frequencies above 650 Hz, the frequency to angle relationship was consistent across all four electrode models. Conclusions: A mismatch was observed between the predicted frequency and the default frequency provided by every electrode on all electrode arrays. The mismatch can be reduced by changing the default frequency allocations, inserting electrodes deeper into the cochlea, or allowing cochlear implant users to adapt to the mismatch. Further studies are required to fully assess the clinical significance of the frequency mismatch.
Transient evoked otoacoustic emissions in 6-year-old school children: a normative study

Great potential has recently been demonstrated for the application of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) in screening the hearing of school-aged children. The present study aimed to describe the range of TEOAE values obtained from a large cohort of 6-year-old children in school settings. Results indicated significant sex and ear asymmetry effects on signal-to-noise ratio, response, whole wave reproducibility, band reproducibility and noise levels. A prior history of ear infections was also shown to influence response level, whole wave reproducibility and band reproducibility. The sex, ear and history specific normative data tables derived may contribute to future improvements in the accuracy of hearing screening for 6-year-old school children.
Bioactive glasses for in situ tissue regeneration

Historically the function of biomaterials has been to replace diseased or damaged tissues. Recent findings show that controlled release of the ionic dissolution products of bioactive glasses results in regeneration of tissues. The mechanism for in situ tissue regeneration involves upregulation of seven families of genes that control the osteoblast cell cycle, mitosis and differentiation. In the presence of critical concentrations of Si and Ca ions, within 48 h osteoblasts that are capable of differentiating into a mature osteocyte phenotype begin to proliferate and regenerate new bone. Osteoblasts that are not in the correct phase of the cell cycle and unable to proceed towards differentiation are switched into apoptosis by the ionic dissolution products. A controlled release of soluble Ca and Si from bioactive glass - resorbable polymer composites leads to vascularised soft tissue regeneration. Gene activation by controlled ion release provides the conceptual basis for molecular design of a third generation of biomaterials optimised for in situ tissue regeneration.
Laminar Airflow Ceiling Size: No Impact on Infection Rates Following Hip and Knee Prosthesis

Objective. Laminar airflow (LAF) systems are widely used, at least in orthopedic surgery. However, there is still controversial discussion about the influence of LAF on surgical site infection (SSI) rates. The size of the LAF ceiling is also often a question of debate. Our objective is to determine the effect of this technique under conditions of actual rather than ideal use. Design. Cohort study using multivariate analysis with generalized estimating equations method. Setting. Data for hip and knee prosthesis procedures from hospitals participating in the German national nosocomial infection surveillance system (KISS) from July 2004 to June 2009 were used for analysis. Patients. A total of 33,463 elective hip prosthesis procedures due to arthrosis (HIP-A) from 48 hospitals, 7,749 urgent hip prosthesis procedures due to fracture (HIP-F) from 41 hospitals, and 20,554 knee prosthesis (KPRO) procedures from 38 hospitals were included. Methods. The data were analyzed for hospitals with and without LAF in the operating rooms and by the size of the LAF ceiling. The endpoints were severe SSI rates. Results. The overall severe SSI rate was 0.74 per 100 procedures for HIP-A, 2.39 for HIP-F, and 0.63 for KPRO. For all 3 prosthesis types, neither LAF nor the size of the LAF ceiling was associated with lower infection risk. Conclusions. The data demonstrate consistency and reproducibility with the results from earlier registry studies. Neither LAF nor ceiling size had an impact on severe SSI rates.
Research on TOD Based on Isomap and K-means Clustering Algorithm

Urban traffic system is a complex, changeable, non-linear, unstructured and random system with spatial-temporal variations. Time of day (TOD) control is one of the important control methods in urban traffic signal-control system. The main problem of running time of day controller is to program the traffic intervals rationally. However, the traditional means, artificial method has some shortcomings. Based on Manifold Learning and K-means algorithm, a new method was put forward to ascertain the timing periods. Experiments show that the traffic-flow data’s intrinsic dimensions could be discovered by the Isomap algorithm, and the redundant information could be eliminated effectively. K-means algorithm could be used to part the time periods, and to ascertain the lengths of traffic interval satisfactorily at the same time. The new algorithm developed gets its advantages over the traditional one.
Treating fatigue in post-polio syndrome

The general aim of this thesis was to expand the knowledge on treatment of fatigue in post-polio syndrome (PPS). It was demonstrated that fatigue is severe and persistent in this population due to both physical and psychologic factors. These factors can potentially be modified, which may provide an opportunity for treating fatigue. The efficacy of exercise therapy (ET) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) was evaluated in a randomized controlled trial. The trial did not demonstrate a beneficial effect of both interventions on reducing fatigue in PPS. Reasons for the lack of efficacy were explored. Based on a process evaluation it was hypothesized that muscle groups of patients with PPS have already adapted considerably in response to the relative higher load of performing daily life activities and that ET could thus not further improve muscle function and subsequent cardiorespiratory fitness and fatigue. For CBT it was concluded that the lack of efficacy in PPS cannot be attributed to unique cognitive characteristics of this population. Further studies should investigate whether a better selection of patients with a high priority for alleviating fatigue may result in a more effective application of CBT in this population. Considering the negative results of these two substantially different interventions and the wide range of other interventions that were unsuccessful it seems that fatigue in PPS patients is quite resistant to therapy.
Arabidopsis ORC1 is a PHD-containing H3K4me3 effector that regulates transcription

Control of gene expression depends on a complex and delicate balance of various posttranslational modifications of histones. However, the relevance of specific combinations of histone modifications is not fully defined. Downstream effector proteins recognize particular histone modifications and transduce this information into gene expression patterns. Methylation of histone H3 at lysine 4 (H3K4me) is a landmark of gene expression control in eukaryotes. Its recognition depends on the presence in the effector protein of a motif termed plant homeodomain (PHD) that specifically binds to H3K4me3. Here, we establish that Arabidopsis ORC1, the large subunit of the origin recognition complex involved in defining origins of DNA replication, functions as a transcriptional activator of a subset of genes, the promoters of which are preferentially bound by ORC1. Arabidopsis ORC1 contains a PHD and binds to H3K4me3. In addition to H4 acetylation, ORC1 binding correlates with increased H4K20me3 in the proximal promoter region of ORC1 targets. This suggests that H4K20me3, unlike in animal cells, is associated with transcriptional activation in Arabidopsis. Thus, our data provide a molecular basis for the opposite role of ORC1 in transcriptional activation in plants and repression in animals. Since only ORC1 proteins of plant species contain a PHD, we propose that plant ORC1 constitutes a novel class of H3K4me3 effector proteins characteristic of the plant kingdom.
Effect of Drug-Coated Balloon in Side Branch Protection for de novo Coronary Bifurcation Lesions: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: At present, there are a variety of treatment strategies for percutaneous coronary intervention. The role of drug-coated balloon (DCB) in the treatment of side branch for de novo coronary bifurcated lesions (CBL) is unclear. Objective: To examine the effect of DCB in side branch protection for de novo CBL. Methods: Electronic databases, including Pubmed, Embase, the Web of science, Cochrance library, CNKI, CBM, WanFang Data and VIP were searched for studies that compared DCB with non-drug-coated balloon (NDCB) in side branch protection for de novo CBL from inception through July 7th, 2021. The primary outcome was target lesion revascularization (TLR). Secondary clinical outcomes included myocardial infarction (MI), cardiac death (CD). The angiographic outcomes included side branch late lumen loss (LLL), minimum lumen diameter (MLD), diameter stenosis (DS) and binary restenosis (BR). The target lesion failure (TLF) was also analyzed. Results: A total of 10 studies, including 5 randomized controlled trials and 5 non-randomized observational studies, with 934 patients were included. Meta-analysis results of angiographic outcomes suggested that DCB group had the less LLL, DS and BR and the higher MLD compared with NDCB group at follow-up (P < 0.05). Meta-analysis results of clinical outcomes suggested that the significant difference in the TLR, MI and CD between DCB group and NDCB group has not been found yet (P > 0.05). However, the MACE of DCB group was significantly less than that of NDCB group at 9-month follow-up [OR = 0.21, 95%CI (0.05, 0.84), P = 0.03] and 12-month follow-up [OR = 0.45, 95%CI (0.22, 0.90), P = 0.02]. In addition, there was no significant difference in TLF between DCB group and NDCB group (P > 0.05). Conclusions: DCB had great effect in side branch protection for de novo CBL at short and medium-term follow-up with no reduction in the procedural success rate. Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd. york.ac. uk/PROSPERO/display_record. php? RecordID=267426, PROSPERO [Identifier: CRD42021267426].
Effects of somatostatin on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secretion from non-functioning pituitary tumoral cells incubated in vitro.

OBJECTIVES The aim of the study was to examine the effect of somatostatin (SST) on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secretion from clinically non-functioning pituitary tumors incubated in vitro. MATERIAL AND METHODS Eight pituitary tumors surgically removed were investigated. All of the tumors were diagnosed before surgery as non-functioning. Seven of them were diagnosed after surgery as pituitary adenomas and expressed either gonadotropins or their subunits as detected by immunohistochemistry. Two tumors additionally expressed prolactin and growth hormone. One tumor was immunonegative for pituitary hormones and was diagnosed as haemangiopericytoma. All tumors but one were investigated immunohistochemically to detect the somatostatin receptors and expressed at least 3 of 5 subtypes of somatostatin receptors. The cells isolated from the examined tumors were exposed in vitro to native SST-14. The concentration of VEGF in the culture media was performed by means of ELISA method. RESULTS It was found that the exposure on SST-14 resulted in the divergent changes (increase in 4 cases and decrease in 3 cases) in VEGF concentrations in the medium. It seems that the inhibition of VEGF secretion is related to the expression of somatostatin receptor subtypes sst1 and sst2. CONCLUSIONS The response of VEGF secretion from pituitary tumoral cells to SST seems to depend on the spectrum of expressed somatostatin receptor subtypes. However, this presumption needs further studies on the larger material.
Protein microchips in biomedicine and biomarker discovery

Protein microarray technology is of high recent interest, especially for generating confirmatory and complementary information for transcriptomic studies. In this paper, the advantages, technical limitations, main application fields, and some early results of protein microarrays are reviewed. Today protein microchip technology is mostly available in the form of printed glass slides, bioaffinity surfaces, and tissue microarray (TMA)‐based techniques. The advantages of glass slide‐based microchips are the simplicity of their application and their relatively low cost. Affinity surface‐based protein chip techniques are applicable to minute amounts of starting material (<1 μg), but interrogation of these chips requires expensive instrumentation, such as mass spectrometers. TMAs are useful for parallel testing of antibody specificities on a broad range of histological specimens in a single slide. Protein microarrays have been successfully implemented for serum tumor marker profiling, cell physiology studies, and mRNA expression study verification. Some of the bottlenecks of the technology are protein instability, problems with nonspecific interactions, and the lack of amplification techniques to generate sufficient amounts of the lower abundance proteins. In spite of the current difficulties, protein microchips are envisioned to be available for routine biomedical and diagnostic applications provided that the ongoing technological developments are successful in improving sensitivity, specificity, and reducing costs.
Comparative genotoxicity of nanosilver in human liver HepG2 and colon Caco2 cells evaluated by fluorescent microscopy of cytochalasin B‐blocked micronucleus formation

As a consequence of the increased use of silver nanoparticles in food, food contact materials, dietary supplements and cosmetics to prevent fungal and bacterial growth, there is a need for validated rapid screening methods to assess the safety of nanoparticle exposure. This study evaluated two widely used in vitro cell culture models, human liver HepG2 cells and human colon Caco2 cells, as tools for assessing the potential genotoxicity of 20‐nm nanosilver. The average silver nanoparticle size as determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was 20.4 nm. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis showed no large agglomeration of the silver nanoparticles. The silver concentration in a 20‐nm nanosilver solution determined by the inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) analysis was 0.962 mg ml−1. Analysis by ICP‐MS and TEM demonstrated the uptake of 20‐nm silver by both HepG2 and Caco2 cells. Genotoxicity was determined by the cytochalasin B‐blocked micronucleus assay with acridine orange staining and fluorescence microscopy. Concentration‐ and time‐dependent increases in the frequency of binucleated cells with micronuclei induced by the nanosilver was observed in the concentration range of 0.5 to 15 µg ml−1 in both HepG2 and Caco2 cells compared with the control. Our results indicated that HepG2 cells were more sensitive than Caco2 cells in terms of micronuclei formation induced by nanosilver exposure. In summary, the results of this study indicate that the widely used in vitro models, HepG2 and Caco2 cells in culture, represent potential screening models for prediction of genotoxicity of silver nanoparticles by in vitro micronucleus assay. Published 2014. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
Omron NE U22: Comparison between vibrating mesh and jet nebulizer.

BACKGROUND To overcome the limitations of conventional jet nebulizers, vibrating mesh technology has been commercialized. The present article is designed to address clinically relevant issues for routine aerosol therapy for a vibrating mesh nebulizer, the Omron NE U22, compared to traditional jet nebulizers. METHODS Inhaled mass (IM), residual activity, particle distribution, including mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD) and run time, were determined for radiolabeled albuterol (2.5 mg/3 mL). Omron NE U22, Pari LC Plus, and Sidestream nebulizers were tested. The Omron was tested in two positions, tilted and horizontal. Finally robustness of the Omron NE U22 was determined by repeating treatment 60 times. All Omron experiments were performed using continuous operation. RESULTS IM for Omron and Pari were similar (20% of nebulizer charge) and greater than the Sidestream (10%). MMADs were similar for all devices but variability was much greater for Omron in the horizontal position. Run time in the tilted position was three times longer when compared to the horizontal (p = 0.02). IM and MMAD were unchanged after Omron robustness testing. CONCLUSION Position was an important factor for the mesh device affecting run time and variability in particle distribution. Using a common commercial formulation and continuous operation, drug delivery was similar to an efficient jet nebulizer. The Omron mesh tolerated repeated use with the albuterol formulation.
Design and analysis of magnetic levitation system by using memristor based controller

We are proposing a controller based on a new electrical element “Memristor” which will not only improve the system stability and performance, but also maintain that stability for a longer time, irrespective of different perturbation factors. Memristor changes its resistance on changing voltage or current through it which makes our proposed stability controller more flexible during runtime, compared to traditional stability controller. To illustrate this, a highly unstable Maglev train model is taken as an example which demands continuous stability for a long duration. The output results are demonstrated by simulation results and are verified by mathematical reasoning to support the unusual and unexpected characteristics.
Checkpoint Inhibitors in Kidney Transplant Recipients and the Potential Risk of Rejection

Enhancing anti-tumor T cell immunity with checkpoint inhibitor antibodies such as anticytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) and antiprogram death 1 (PD-1) has shown significant clinical benefits in tumor regression and prolonged stabilization of non–small cell lung cancer, melanoma, and renal cell cancer (1,2). Clinical trials of CTLA-4 and PD-1 antibodies excluded patients receiving immunosuppression medications for organ transplantation (3). Therefore, the adverse events related to CTLA-4 and PD-1 antibody treatment in kidney transplant recipients with metastatic cutaneous melanoma have not been examined.
Network-level Mechanisms of Ketamine Anesthesia.

<zdoi;10.1097/ALN.0000000000001276> Anesthesiology, V 125 • No 5 830 November 2016 These and previous studies recording visual and somesthetic evoked potentials appear to indicate that sensory input may reach cortical receiving areas but fail to be perceived in some of the association areas because these are depressed. This interference in proper association of afferent impulses results in “dissociation. ” It is therefore suggested that the state induced by CI-581 be called “dissociative anesthesia. ”
Robust Gaussian Graphical Modeling Via l1 Penalization

Summary Gaussian graphical models have been widely used as an effective method for studying the conditional independency structure among genes and for constructing genetic networks. However, gene expression data typically have heavier tails or more outlying observations than the standard Gaussian distribution. Such outliers in gene expression data can lead to wrong inference on the dependency structure among the genes. We propose a l1 penalized estimation procedure for the sparse Gaussian graphical models that is robustified against possible outliers. The likelihood function is weighted according to how the observation is deviated, where the deviation of the observation is measured based on its own likelihood. An efficient computational algorithm based on the coordinate gradient descent method is developed to obtain the minimizer of the negative penalized robustified‐likelihood, where nonzero elements of the concentration matrix represents the graphical links among the genes. After the graphical structure is obtained, we re‐estimate the positive definite concentration matrix using an iterative proportional fitting algorithm. Through simulations, we demonstrate that the proposed robust method performs much better than the graphical Lasso for the Gaussian graphical models in terms of both graph structure selection and estimation when outliers are present. We apply the robust estimation procedure to an analysis of yeast gene expression data and show that the resulting graph has better biological interpretation than that obtained from the graphical Lasso.
Seasonal Changes of Reproductive Behavior and Fecal Steroid Concentrations in Père David's Deer

From July 1997 to September 1997 and from March 1998 to July 1998, we studied reproductive behaviors of Père David's deer in Dafeng, China. During the field behavioral observations, we collected fresh voided fecal samples from the Père David's stags and hinds periodically and kept those samples under -20 degrees C until laboratory analysis. We analyzed the fecal testosterone, estradiol, and progesterone concentrations in those samples using radioimmunoassay. During this study, we also recorded 17 types of male reproductive behaviors and nine types of female reproductive behaviors. Reproductive behaviors and the fecal steroid concentrations showed overt seasonal fluctuations. There were statistically significant correlations between some male reproductive behaviors, such as anogenital sniffing, urine sniffing, urine spraying, wallowing, bellowing, antler adorning, Antler swags mud, chasing, herding hinds, chin resting, mounting and copulating, with the fecal testosterone concentrations. These results suggested that seasonal reproductive behaviors in stags are strongly associated with circulating testosterone. We also found that some female reproductive behaviors fluctuate corresponding with changes in fecal estrogen concentrations. Although there was no direct evidence to confirm the correlations between female reproductive behaviors and fecal estrogen in our experiment, we could not rule out that reproductive activities of hinds were largely related to ovarian estrogen secretion, and estrogen is necessary for inducing female reproductive behaviors.