Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Vestibular Function Tests in Patients with Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss Who Have Subclinical Vestibular Dysfunction

Background and ObjectivesZZThe evaluation of vestibular function is very important for patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) as it is a well-known prognostic factor. The purpose of this study was to evaluate subclinical vestibular dysfunction (SVD) and its association with prognosis in sudden SNHL patients with and without dizziness using the vestibular function tests. Subjects and MethodZZSeventy eight patients who had been diagnosed with unilateral sudden SNHL were examined by dividing them into three groups according to their clinical findings such as vestibular function and subjective symptoms: 1) normal, 2) SVD and 3) dizziness. Vestibular dysfunction and hearing recovery rates were also assessed. ResultsZZPatients with SVD accounted for 62.5% of patients even though they did not complain subjective dizziness. The extent of vestibular dysfunction in the dizziness group was greater than that in the SVD group (p=0.05). The hearing recovery rates for normal, SVD and dizziness group were 72% (13/18), 57% (17/30) and 48% (12/25), respectively. The incidence and extent of vestibular dysfunction was greater in patients with severe hearing loss than in those with moderate to severe loss. A significant correlation was noted between hearing recovery rate and vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) testing. Normal and abnormal VEMP data were associated with good and poor recovery (p=0.001). ConclusionZZThe evaluation of vestibular function is important in sudden SNHL patients with dizziness; however, SVD also explains a significant proportion of sudden SNHL in the absence of dizziness. Notably, VEMP is useful tools for evaluating prognosis of sudden SNHL. � Korean J Otorhinolaryngol-Head Neck Surg 2013;56:700-5
Manejo de la descompensación corneal con entrecruzamiento de lamelas de colágena con LUV y Riboflavina. Estudio piloto

Objetivo: Conocer el efecto en el grosor corneal del entrecruzamiento de lamelas de colágena con Luz UVA y riboflavina, en pacientes con edema corneal secundario a pérdida endotelial posquirúrgica. Material y métodos: Estudio prospectivo, longitudinal y experimental. Se realizaron estudios previos y posteriores al tratamiento de paquimetría ultrasónica, histéresis corneal y presión intraocular (PIO) corregida. El seguimiento de los pacientes fue al primer día, primera semana y al primer, segundo, tercero y sexto mes de aplicado el tratamiento. Resultados: Se incluyeron cinco pacientes, tres del sexo ◗ Abstract
Evaluating the Impact of Demographic Transition in the Context of the Tokai-Tonankai-Nankai Earthquake, Japan

This study intends to adopt a geographical approach to building a region-type index associated with recovery, which aims to examine the impact of ongoing demographic transition in the context of the expected the Tokai-Tonankai-Nankai Earthquake. A great amount of population census data is applied in building the index that comprises 3 demographic transition patterns that represent the various degrees of regional self-sufficiency in a disaster. Applying the index to the population census data of 2005, with the anticipated seismicity in 4 appointed scenarios via GIS mapping, a place assessment is presented to examine the impact of a possible population demographic transition order issued in pre-disaster recovery planning.
Voice in modern theatre

IntroductionVoice in Modern Theatre is concerned with a much-neglected area of performance practice -- vocal delivery. By this is meant not only the auditive sound emitted by the actor in his role presentation, but, in the duality which the very term 'vocal delivery' presupposes, the dramatic texts, artistic ideas or communicative needs which have given impetus to these utterances and their execution. In order to define the complex nature of vocal delivery more precisely, it concentrates on the problems connected with performing Shakespeare in the twentieth century, where trends and styles have replaced each other in rapid succession - all of which have been a far cry from Hamlet's advice to his players, 'suit the action to the word and the word to the action, with this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature' (Hamlet III. ii). Contemporary theatrical reviews of Shakespeare productions suggest that actors of today have lost the art of speaking verse; describing how they alternate between, on the one hand, wildly emoting without showing any respect for the poetry in the text in productions based on equally far-fetched 'readings', or how they mumble and internalize their stage speech in a manner more suited to the intimacy of the living-room and the demands of the TV screen. Certainly Hamlet�s advice seems a dim echo from a past which has no place in the contemporary theatre, which is terrified of being deadly, aspires to being holy, tampers with therapy and is dedicated at all costs to being visual. This book attempts to show the factors which most probably have contributed to this diversity of vocal delivery styles in the modern theatre, where directives have come from a very wide field, and actors have been encouraged to do everythingnbut suit the action to the words and the words to the action.Is it true that actors have simply lost the 'art of speech', or is this the point of view held by a few traditionalists, who prefer a theatre which resembles spoken literature to a living art form? There is no doubt that the modern theatre is one where the visual has steadily assumed dominance over the audial. Perhaps one of the most significant changes has been in the role of the text. In the modern theatre, the 'performance' text has come to replace the 'dramatic' text, where the words of the playwright are only one of the 'signs' in the performance matrix, which includes costumes and scenography, lighting and sound, proxemics and kinesics. As a result, actors no longer have to carry out the instructions of the text and stage directions in order to produce a performance. Rather, trends would seem to indicate that the most outstanding productions in the modern theatre have been those which have completely gone against the playwright's instructions and created a completely different speech-act context. The part which the director has played cannot be underestimated, as his reading of the dramatic text has been the one which the actors have somehow tried to make their own.n
Avaliação das propriedades nutricionais de barras de cereais elaboradas com farinha de banana verde

SANTOS, J.F. Evaluation of the nutritional properties of cereal bars produced with unripe banana flour. 2010. Dissertacao (mestrado) Faculdade de Ciencias Farmaceuticas, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, 2010. Several alternatives have been proposed to improve the nutritional characteristics of foods, some of them using sources of dietary fiber that are still underused. Among these sources of dietary fiber (DF), unripe banana flour (UBF) has been considered a good alternative for its high concentration of resistant starch (RS), which can improve the nutritional value of different preparations. The aim of this study was to evaluate, in vivo and in vitro, the nutritional properties of cereal bars made with UBF. The samples consisted of two types of cereal bars, one made with UBF (UBF bars) and the other one without this ingredient (control bars). The chemical composition and carbohydrate profile of the bars were evaluated. The fermentability of the non-available fraction of bars was assessed in vitro using cecal contents of mice. The glycemic response of the bars was assessed after its ingestion by healthy volunteers (n = 16), being determined the glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL). The main feature that could be observed is that the UBF bars have higher RS content than the control bars (7.22 g/100g and 2.11 g/100g wet weight), a result of the addition of UBF. This addition reflects on the concentration of non-available carbohydrates (sum of DF and RS) in UBF bars, which is 18.19 g/100g wet weight. The UBF bars presented better in vitro fermentability in relation to control bars (p <0.05) according to the production of short chain fatty acids (SCFA), yielding 4.04 mmol / g substrate, while the control bars produce only 3.51 mmol / g substrate. The UBF bars have a low GI (based on glucose) (41%) and CG (4), while the control bars show medium GI (60%) and low CG (5). According to these results, it is possible to conclude that the addition of UBF to cereal bars increases their non-available carbohydrate content, represented by RS and DF, resulting in a product of high fermentability and low postprandial glycemic response.
Analysis of Arp 2/3Complex Dependent Actin Assembly in Live Fission Yeast Cells

In yeast and other organisms, endocytosis is dependent upon Arp2/3 complex-mediated actin assembly into endocytic actin patches, a highly organized process involving signaling molecules and regulatory proteins. The goal of this study is to determine the roles of three Arp2/3 complex activators Pan1, Myo1, and Wsp1, which bind Arp2/3 complex via their Central-Acidic (CA) domains, in stimulating actin patch assembly in fission yeast. To assess the contribution of these proteins to actin assembly, we performed quantitative image analysis of actin patch dynamics by tracking the GFP-tagged actin binding protein fimbrin Fim1 in Pan1, Myo1 and Wsp1 mutants with deleted CA domains. In myo1∆CA, like in the wild type cells, most patches internalized and patch dynamics was the same as in the wild type strain. The Pan1 mutant contains a deletion of the ACV region rather than just the CA region like Myo1 and Wsp1 due to the fact that the region is inverted in the Pan1 mutant. In pan1∆ACV, most patches internalized but accumulated 2.3 times more actin and at the faster rate than in the wild type cells. In wsp1∆CA, the majority of the patches failed to internalize, indicating failed endocytosis, and the rate of patch assembly and the total actin accumulation in the patch were decreased compared to the wild type cells. Next, we used genetic crosses and tetrad analysis to determine which of the CA domains of the Arp2/3 complex activators are essential for cell viability. We observed that combinations of myo1∆CA with pan1∆ACV and myo1∆CA with wsp1∆CA resulted in viable cells, while the combination of wsp1∆CA and pan1∆ACV mutants was synthetically lethal. This suggests that activation of the Arp2/3 complex by Wsp1 alone or Pan1 alone but not Myo1 alone is minimally sufficient for cell viability. Imaging Fim1-mGFP in cells with viable combinations of ∆CA mutations revealed that both the myo1∆CA pan1∆ACV cells and the myo1∆CA wsp1∆CA cells contained actin patches, indicating that activation of Arp2/3 complex by either Wsp1 or Pan1 alone suffices to promote actin patch assembly. However, given the patch internalization defect in wsp1∆CA but not in pan1∆ACV or myo1∆CA mutants, we concluded that Wsp1 is the primary Arp2/3 complex activator at the endocytic sites, minimally sufficient to support actin assembly, cell viability, and endocytic internalization.
Clinical Outcome of Intra-articular Injection of Platelet-rich Plasma in Early-stage Knee Osteoarthritis in North Indian Patients

Introduction: With increasing frequency, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) preparations have been used to treat cartilage lesions to regenerate tissue homeostasis and retard the progression of knee osteoarthritis (OA). Purpose: To determine the effectiveness of intra-articular PRP injections in early-stage OA patients and to evaluate the clinical outcome. Materials and methods: This prospective study was conducted in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. The study was conducted on patients with early-stage OA knee enrolled on outpatient department basis during the year 2014 to 2015. The effective sample size was 40 patients with bilateral OA knee in which intra-articular injection was given. And the clinical outcomes and effectiveness were measured in terms of visual analog scale and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index scores at the end of 6, 12, and 24 weeks. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: There was significant improvement in all scores at the end of 6, 12, and 24 weeks. Conclusions: The PRP treatment showed positive effects in patients with knee OA. Clinical relevance: There are only a few studies of PRP treatment for cartilage on OA knees. Different PRP products might be more or less appropriate to treat different types of tissues and pathologies. The clinical efficacy of PRP remains under debate, and a standardized protocol has not yet been established.
Professionalisierung von Erzieherinnen und Erziehern bei der Implementierung von Bildungsplänen am Beispiel von QUASI Heidelberg

Zusammenfassung Bei der landerspezifischen Umsetzung von Bildungs- und Orientierungsplanen werden die unerwunschten Folgen eines fehlenden bundesweit geltenden und verbindlichen Orientierungsrahmens fur den Elementarbereich sichtbar. Ihre Implementierung in den Kindertagesstatten erfolgt – wenn uberhaupt – beliebig, unkoordiniert und unterliegt keinerlei Qualitatskontrolle. Am Beispiel des Projektes QUASI Heidelberg wird ein strukturierterer und umfassenderer Weg der Implementierung im Kontext des Baden-Wurttembergischen Orientierungsplans aufgezeigt. Schlagworter : Fruhkindliche Bildung, Elementarbereich, Bildungs- und Orientierungsplane, Professionalisierung, Bildungsreform. ----- Professionalization of kindergarten teachers with regards to the implementation of state-wide curriculum guidelines: General experiences of the research project QUASI Heidelberg Abstract The lack of standardized and compulsory national curriculum guidelines on early childhood education entails unintentional and undesirable consequences. Not only does it result in a variety of state-wide frameworks of reference, it also entails that curriculum guidelines are implemented by early childhood education facilities in an arbitrary, uncoordinated way, without adequate supervision. By contrast, the research project QUASI Heidelberg intends to highlight a more structured and comprehensive way of implementing these guidelines according to the framework of reference on early childhood education within the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg (Germany). Keywords: Early-childhood education, infant education, contents of education and curriculum guidelines, professionalization, educational reform.
A mortalidade por doenças infecciosas no início e no final do século XX no Município de São Paulo

A melhora das condicoes de vida do homem durante o seculo XX contribuiu para transformacoes da estrutura demografica e para mudancas dos padroes de morbi-mortalidade. Com o objetivo de discutir essas mudancas, pretende-se comparar os dados de mortalidade do Municipio de Sao Paulo em 1901, 1960 e 2000. As causas de morte foram obtidas das seguintes fontes: Anuarios Estatisticos da FSEADE, para 1901; Anuario de 1961 do Departamento de Estatistica do Estado e CD-ROM de Mortalidade do Ministerio da Saude, para o ano de 2000. Os demais dados - de populacao, de nascidos vivos, coeficientes de mortalidade geral e infantil - foram obtidos do CD-ROM "500 anos de Divisao territorial e 100 anos de Estatisticas Demograficas Municipais" da FSEADE. Do inicio ate o final do seculo XX, a populacao do Municipio de Sao Paulo aumentou 36 vezes, o numero de nascimentos quase 24 e o numero de obitos 13,6 vezes. No entanto, as taxas de mortalidade diminuiram, a mortalidade geral foi 2,6 vezes menor no ano 2000 e a mortalidade infantil 11,3 vezes menor. A proporcao de obitos por doencas infecciosas declina de 45,7% do total de obitos em 1901 para 9,7% em 2000. Em 1901, entre as 10 principais causas de morte no Municipio, 5 eram doencas infecciosas, correspondendo a 37% das mortes; em 1960, apareciam nesta lista apenas 3 doencas infecciosas (16,1% dos obitos), e em 2000 apenas a pneumonia constava entre as principais causas de morte. Doencas como tetano, difteria, coqueluche, sarampo e escarlatina mostraram-se controladas no final do periodo. No entanto, a pneumonia, a tuberculose, a septicemia e a aids ainda se situam entre as que merecem especial atencao na area de saude publica.
BAYESIAN MULTIPERIOD FORECASTING FOR ARMA MODEL UNDER JEFFREY'S PRIOR

The main purpose of this study is to find the Bayesian forecast of ARMA model under Jeffrey's prior assumption with quadratic loss function. The point forecast model is to obtained based on the mean of the marginal conditional posterior predictive in mathematical expression. Furthermore, the point forecast model of the Bayesian forecasting compared to the traditional forecasting. The simulation shows that the forecast accuracy of the Bayesian forecasting is better than the traditional forecasting and the descriptive statistics of the Bayesian forecasting are closer to the true value than the traditional forecasting.
Shape analysis and statistical modelling in brain imaging

This thesis considers the registration of shapes, estimation of shape variability and the statistical modelling of human brain magnetic resonance images (MRI). Current shape registration techniques, such as Procrustes analysis, superimpose shapes in order to make inferences regarding the mean shape and shape variability. We apply Procrustes analysis to a subset of the landmarks and give distributional results for the Euclidean distance of a shape from a template. Procrustes analysis is then generalised to minimise a Mahalanobis norm, with respect to a symmetric, positive denite matrix, and the weighted Procrustes estimators for scaling, rotation and translation obtained. This weighted registration criterion is shown, through a simulation study, to reduce the bias and error in maximum likelihood estimates of the mean shape and covariance matrix compared to isotropic Procrustes. A Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm is also presented and shown to be less sensitive to prior information. We consider two MRI data sets in detail. We examine the first data set for large-scale shape dierences between two volunteer groups, healthy controls and schizophrenia patients. The images are registered to a template through modelling the voxel values and we maximise the likelihood over the transformation parameters. Using a suitable labelling and principal components analysis we show schizophrenia patients have less brain asymmetry than healthy controls. The second data set is a sequence of functional MRI scans of an individual's motor cortex taken while they repeatedly press a button. We construct a model with temporal correlations to estimate the trial-to-trial variability in the haemodynamic response using the Expectation-Maximisation algorithm. The response is shown to change with task and through time. For both data sets we compare our techniques with existing software packages and improvements to data pre-processing are suggested. We conclude by discussing potential areas for future research.
Assessment of Factors Influencing Trace Element Content of the Basidiomycetes in the European Part of Russia

The article presents concentrations of 29 trace elements in different groups of basidiomycetes: saprotrophic, parasitic and symbiotic. The potential of using the concentration factor (Kc) is shown for the assessment of trace element accumulation by the fungi. The variations of trace element concentrations in different ecological and geochemical environment are presented. The data obtained in this research made it possible to mark out the group of trace elements that are mainly accumulated by fungi. This information helped to assess the correlation between the trace element concentrations in the mycothalluses of fungi and their mobile forms in the soil. The expected patterns of the trace element accumulation in fungi are described.
Form and Genre: Translating Procedural Texts in Leviticus

In most translations, the form of procedural texts in Leviticus is represented in the same way as, for example, that of narrative texts. Further, a sentence-by-sentence rendering results in the retaining of numerous repetitions. Both practices poorly represent the genre and function of these texts, as well as impeding their readability. The literary nature of the texts and their communicative functions may be better represented through restructuring and through use of distinctive formatting; I indicate how this might be done for Leviticus 2 and 3.
Balanced budget fiscal expansions in a small open regional economy

Scotland is engaged in a lively and on-going debate on greater fiscal autonomy and independence, which is politically controversial, especially in respect of tax-varying powers. The Scottish Parliament has the power to make a balanced-budget adjustment in public expenditure by varying the basic rate of income tax. While this power has not so far been used, there is considerable pressure further to increase the fiscal powers of the Scottish Government. The object of this paper is to explore and quantify a number of typical balanced-budget government spending shocks. Here we seek to draw on lessons from recent macroeconomic analyses of fiscal policy, but we adapt them to an explicitly regional context. The regional dimension of the analysis is captured through application to a regional economy characterised by: highly open goods markets in which import and export to GDP ratios are much higher than for the national economy; highly open labour markets characterised by the presence of migration and national and regional wage bargaining institutions; financial markets that are perfectly integrated with the national economy with which the region shares a permanently fixed exchange rate. Furthermore, the macroeconomic â€œclosuresâ€ of the model are those appropriate to a region, reflecting an institutional structure in which, for example, the system of national transfers moderates the operation of regional adjustment mechanisms. We develop an intertemporal variant of, AMOS, a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for Scotland to explore the kinds of balanced-budget fiscal expansions that the Scottish Government could pursue. In response to a balanced budget fiscal expansion the model suggests that: an increase in current government purchase in goods and services has negative multiplier effects only if the elasticity of substitution between private and public consumption is high enough to move downward the marginal utility of private consumers; public capital expenditure crowds in consumption and investment but crowding out effects might arise in the short-run if agents are myopic. The distinctive results for public capital expenditure suggest that the current restriction on the composition of Scottish government expenditures is a very significant one.
Plataforma para aprendizaje evolutivo de reglas fuzzy para el guiado de robots móviles

In this work, the creation of a software platform that includes an algorithm to learn FLCs for mobile robots is presented. For it, diverse support tools to the design and simulation are used. With base in SIMULINK and other tools of MATLAB, the platform is designed and implemented focused to a particular robot, the Khepera, but applicable to other robots that operate with reactivatedeliberative strategies. The navigation is based on behaviours developed by means of fuzzy inference systems. The controllers are generated automatically as a variant of the Classifier Systems. The controllers have been proven as much in simulation as with a real robot to verify its behaviour.