Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The natural history of insomnia in the Ibadan study of ageing.

STUDY OBJECTIVES To determine the incidence and risk factors for insomnia among an under-studied population of elderly persons in Sub-Saharan Africa. SETTING Eight contiguous predominantly Yoruba-speaking states in south-west and north-central Nigeria representing about 22% of the national population. PARTICIPANTS 1307 elderly community-dwelling persons, aged 65 years and older. MEASUREMENTS Face-to-face assessment with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview, version 3 (CIDI.3) in 2007 and 12 months later in 2008 to determine the occurrence and risk factors of incident and persistent insomnia, defined as syndrome or symptom. RESULTS The incidence of insomnia syndrome in 2008 at 12 months was 7.97% (95% CI, 6.60-9.60), while that of insomnia symptom was 25.68% (22.68-28.66). Females were at elevated risk for both syndrome and symptom. Among persons with insomnia symptom or syndrome at the baseline, 47.36% (95% CI 43.07-51.68) continued to have it one year later. Decreasing economic status was associated with increasing incidence of insomnia. Persons with chronic medical conditions at baseline were at increased risk for new onset of insomnia. Compared to persons with the lowest body mass index (BMI) (< 18.5), those with higher BMI were at elevated risk for persistence of their insomnia, with those in the obese range (≥ 30) having a 4-fold risk. CONCLUSIONS There is a high incidence and chronicity of insomnia in this elderly population. Persons with chronic health conditions are particularly at risk of new onset as well as persistence of insomnia.
A Study on the Platform Independent SIL Code based Compiler for Smart Virtual Machine

The SVM (Smart Virtual Machine) is a stack based platform independent virtual machine solution, loaded on smart devices, which allows dynamic application programs to be downloaded and run platform independently. The SIL (Smart Intermediate Language) has been designed as a standard model of virtual machine codes for ordinary smart phones and embedded systems. It is a set of stack based commands which has the characteristics of language independence, hardware independence and platform independence. In this paper, we present the platform independent virtual machine code based the compilers for the SVM. This makes the existing mobile contents to be ported quickly, and to be executed to a different platform.
Describing and Animating Complex Communicative Verbal and Nonverbal Behavior Using Eva-Framework

Multimodal interfaces incorporating embodied conversational agents enable the development of novel concepts with regard to interaction management tactics in responsive human–machine interfaces. Such interfaces provide several additional nonverbal communication channels, such as natural visualized speech, facial expression, and different body motions. In order to simulate reactive humanlike communicative behavior and attitude, the realization of motion relies on different behavioral analyses and realization tactics and approaches. This article proposes a novel environment for “online” visual modeling of humanlike communicative behavior, named EVA-framework. In this study we focus on visual speech and nonverbal behavior synthesis by using hierarchical XML-based behavioral events and expressively adjustable motion templates. The main goal of the presented abstract motion notation scheme, named EVA-Script, is to enable the synthesis of unique and responsive behavior.
Microbial Keratitis Due to Aeromonas Species at a Tertiary Eye Care Center in Southern India

PurposeTo review the incidence, microbiological profile, antibiogram, clinical course, treatment, and outcome in patients with microbial keratitis due to Aeromonas species at a tertiary eye care center in Southern India. DesignA retrospective, noncomparative study. MethodsThis study included all patients of corneal ulcer with a significant growth of Aeromonas species on culture of corneal scrapings managed at an eye institute in India between January 2005 and October 2011. The patients underwent standard diagnostic microbiological evaluation, and their treatment was guided by microbiology results and clinical response to therapy. Data were analyzed for the incidence, predisposing factors, clinical picture, microbiology, and the treatment outcome. ResultsFifteen patients of microbial keratitis showed Aeromonas species to be the causative agent, constituting 0.5% of bacterial keratitis diagnosed during this period. Laboratory results showed that Aeromonas hydrophila was the predominant species isolated. Most of the isolates were susceptible to commonly used ocular antibiotics. Medical therapy resulted in resolution of infection in 9 (60%) of 15 cases. Five patients required application of cyanoacrylate tissue adhesive with bandage contact lens for corneal perforation. Two of the 5 patients needed penetrating keratoplasty for uncontrolled infection. Twelve of 15 patients had some local predisposing host factors for the infection. ConclusionsAeromonas species are uncommon but important causal agents of microbial keratitis. The organisms most often cause infection in individuals with local predisposing factors. Aeromonas hydrophila is the predominant species associated with keratitis. Although the organisms are susceptible to most antibiotics, a third of the patients required additional surgical intervention.
Investigation of surface wave modes on ungrounded electrically thick ceramic alumina substrate at 60 GHz

Propagation of surface waves modes on ungrounded dielectric slab of ceramic alumina with εr= 9.8 and 635 μm of electrically thick height at 60 GHz is explored. An approximate graphical technique is implemented to determine the unknown propagation constants kx and α, to achieve a solution for Helmholtz wave equations, for each TE and TM modes. It also indeed provides a physical insight of existing no. of modes and their dependence on permittivity and height of substrate. Cut-off frequency for all propagating modes is calculated and dispersion graph with propagation constant is plotted. A CPW fed monopole antenna, designed and fabricated at 60 GHz, is found to be affected by the presence of surface wave modes on its radiation characteristics. A tilt of 40° is found in E-plane radiation pattern which certainly evidence the presence of surface wave modes at 60 GHz.
Interaction of TIA-1/TIAR with West Nile and dengue virus products in infected cells interferes with stress granule formation and processing body assembly

The West Nile virus minus-strand 3′ terminal stem loop (SL) RNA was previously shown to bind specifically to cellular stress granule (SG) components, T cell intracellular antigen-1 (TIA-1) and the related protein TIAR. In vitro TIAR binding was 10 times more efficient than TIA-1. The 3′(−)SL functions as the promoter for genomic RNA synthesis. Colocalization of TIAR and TIA-1 with the viral replication complex components dsRNA and NS3 was observed in the perinuclear regions of West Nile virus- and dengue virus-infected cells. The kinetics of accumulation of TIAR in the perinuclear region was similar to those of genomic RNA synthesis. In contrast, relocation of TIA-1 to the perinuclear region began only after maximal levels of RNA synthesis had been achieved, except when TIAR was absent. Virus infection did not induce SGs and progressive resistance to SG induction by arsenite developed coincident with TIAR relocation. A progressive decrease in the number of processing bodies was secondarily observed in infected cells. These data suggest that the interaction of TIAR with viral components facilitates flavivirus genome RNA synthesis and inhibits SG formation, which prevents the shutoff of host translation.
Lung Nodule Detection and Characterization With Multi-Slice CT

Abstract: The influence of MSCT on nodule detection and characterization will be discussed. The objective is to improve understanding of the clinical issues involved in nodule detection, characterization, and management in light of technological advances. Topics to be covered are noninvasive characterization techniques, such as morphologic and density inspection on CT, nodule enhancement techniques, CT-PET, temporal nodule size assessment, and computer aided diagnosis for both detection and characterization.
Spatial consistency perception in optical and video see-through head-mounted augmentations

Correct spatial alignment is an essential requirement for convincing augmented reality experiences. Registration error, caused by a variety of systematic, environmental, and user influences decreases the realism and utility of head mounted display AR applications. Focus is often given to rigorous calibration and prediction methods seeking to entirely remove misalignment error between virtual and real content. Unfortunately, producing perfect registration is often simply not possible. Our goal is to quantify the sensitivity of users to registration error in these systems, and identify acceptability thresholds at which users can no longer distinguish between the spatial positioning of virtual and real objects. We simulate both video see-through and optical see-through environments using a projector system and experimentally measure user perception of virtual content misalignment. Our results indicate that users are less perceptive to rotational errors over all and that translational accuracy is less important in optical see-through systems than in video see-through.
Phytochemistry and Ethnopharmacology of the Ecuadorian Flora. A Review

Ecuador owns many high quantity and wealthy ecosystems that contain an elevated biodiversity in flora and fauna. The use of native medicinal plants has been maintained by at least 18 different indigenous cultures; furthermore, this country has been the witness of the discovery of important medicinal plants, such as Cinchona, and is an understudied resource of new natural products. The objective of this review is to update the ethnopharmacological and phytochemical studies accomplished on the Ecuadorian flora, pointing to the 253 native families and more than 15,000 species registered at present.
On the Trapping Region of the Trajectories of Chaotic Lorenz-type System

In this paper, it is shown that all solutions of the chaotic system are contained in a trapping region. For the typical parameters values that the chaotic attractor is bounded is displayed. By constructing a suitable Lyapunov function, we show that for the system parameters in some specified regions, the solutions of the chaotic system are globally bounded.
Price and guaranteed delivery time competition/cooperation in a duopoly

In this paper, we explore the competition and cooperation in a duopoly setting where two facilities dominant control over a market. The demand faced by each facility is not only sensitive to its own retail price and guaranteed delivery time, but also to the differences between the two prices and guaranteed delivery times. We extend the works in the literature by considering competition and cooperation in duopoly. We analyze three different competition scenarios where the two facilities compete exclusively on retail prices, exclusively on guaranteed delivery times and both on retail prices and guaranteed delivery times, and three different cooperation scenarios where they cooperate exclusively on retail prices, exclusively on guaranteed delivery times, and both on retail prices and guaranteed delivery times. Research results reveal that the competition on retail prices for given guaranteed delivery times is as same as the Bertrand game, reaching to the Nash-Bertrand equilibrium, the equilibrium guaranteed delivery time of each facility for given retail prices only depends on its own retail price, and when price is a decision variable, the gross profits of the facilities increase significantly via coordinating retail prices.
Hybrid dielectric resonator antennas with radiating slot for dual-frequency operation

To achieve dual-frequency operation, a new design concept that utilizes a hybrid structure that includes a dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) and a slot radiating resonator was investigated experimentally. The proposed structure consists of a DRA, a circular slot and an eccentric ring slot on a co-plane ground plane. This arrangement can be described as two cascaded resonant circuits that resonate at two different frequencies. One is from the DRA and the other from the ring slot. Based on the proposed design concept, a number of phototypes have been successfully designed, fabricated and tested. The measured results have demonstrated the validity of the proposed design.
Sequential Effects of Punishment

Punishment is found to produce a large reduction in reinforced responses when it is initially introduced. Continued exposure to punishment, however, results in substantial recovery within each hour of exposure as well as from day to day. A compensatory increase in responding occurs after the removal of punishment, even after the punishment has ceased to be effective.
The effect of collagen nerve conduits filled with collagen-glycosaminoglycan matrix on peripheral motor nerve regeneration in a rat model.

BACKGROUND Bioabsorbable unfilled synthetic nerve conduits have been used in the reconstruction of small segmental nerve defects with variable results, especially in motor nerves. We hypothesized that providing a synthetic mimic of the Schwann cell basal lamina in the form of a collagen-glycosaminoglycan (GAG) matrix would improve the bridging of the nerve gap and functional motor recovery. METHODS A unilateral 10-mm sciatic nerve defect was created in eighty-eight male Lewis rats. Animals were randomly divided into four experimental groups: repair with reversed autograft, reconstruction with collagen nerve conduit (1.5-mm NeuraGen, Integra LifeSciences), reconstruction with collagen nerve conduit filled with collagen matrix, and reconstruction with collagen nerve conduit filled with collagen-GAG (chondroitin-6-sulfate) matrix. Nerve regeneration was evaluated at twelve weeks on the basis of the compound muscle action potential, maximum isometric tetanic force, and wet muscle weight of the tibialis anterior muscle, the ankle contracture angle, and nerve histomorphometry. RESULTS The use of autograft resulted in significantly better motor recovery compared with the other experimental methods. Conduit filled with collagen-GAG matrix demonstrated superior results compared with empty conduit or conduit filled with collagen matrix with respect to all experimental parameters. Axon counts in the conduit filled with collagen-GAG matrix were not significantly different from those in the reversed autograft at twelve weeks after repair. CONCLUSIONS The addition of the synthetic collagen basal-lamina matrix with chondroitin-6-sulfate into the lumen of an entubulation repair significantly improved bridging of the nerve gap and functional motor recovery in a rat model. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Use of a nerve conduit filled with collagen-GAG matrix to bridge a motor or mixed nerve defect may result in superior functional motor recovery compared with commercially available empty collagen conduit. However, nerve autograft remains the gold standard for reconstruction of a segmental motor nerve defect.
Dual-Modality Imaging: Combining Anatomy and Function*

The extensive development of image fusion techniques over the past 20 y has shown that the fusion of images from complementary modalities offers a more complete and accurate assessment of disease than do images from a single modality. Although software techniques have been successful in fusing images of the brain from different modalities, they have achieved rather limited success for other parts of the body. The recent introduction of technology that can acquire both anatomic and functional images in a single scan has addressed many of the limitations of software fusion. The combination of CT and PET was introduced commercially in 2001, followed by CT and SPECT in 2004. Clinical adoption of PET/CT has been surprisingly rapid, and despite continuing debate, the new technology has advanced the use of clinical molecular imaging, particularly for oncology.
Mild Hypothermia as a Cardioprotective Approach for Acute Myocardial Infarction: Laboratory to Clinical Application

In many animal models, mild therapeutic hypothermia is a powerful intervention, reducing myocardial infarct size, reducing the no-reflow phenomenon, and improving healing after infarction. Cooling in these models has been produced by various means including whole-body hypothermia, synchronized hypothermic coronary venous retro-perfusion, heat exchangers, and regional hypothermia targeting the heart alone. However, in humans, the most widely used techniques are surface cooling and cooling by endovascular heat-exchange catheters. The reduction in temperature necessary to produce cardioprotection is mild (32-34°C), appears to have no detrimental effects on left ventricular function or regional myocardial blood flow, and may improve microvascular reflow to previously ischemic heart tissue. It has been shown in experimental and clinical studies that for therapeutic hypothermia to be effective it must be (1) initiated as early as possible after the onset of ischemia and (2) initiated before reperfusion. This may require initiation of hypothermia in the ambulance, well before mechanical reperfusion occurs. The mechanisms of protection produced by hypothermia have yet to be conclusively determined but may include a decrease in tissue metabolic rate, preservation of high energy phosphates, a reduction in tissue apoptosis or induction of heat shock proteins.
Synergistic activation of human t cells by interleukin 1 and interleukin 6

Purified human interleukin 6 (IL 6) was found to stimulate the proliferation of human tonsillar and peripheral rosetting T cells subliminally activated with phytohemagglutinin (PHA). This response seemed independent of IL2 but highly dependent on the presence of accessory cells. Indeed, when accessory cell‐depleted tonsillar T cells were activated with PHA and exposed to IL6, only minimal proliferations were observed. A similar result was obtained with IL1. However, a combination of these two cytokines induced strong proliferations, indicating that IL 1 and IL 6 play a synergistic role in the interactions between accessory cells and T lymphocytes.
RNA dependent RNA polymerase activity associated with the double-stranded RNA virus of Giardia lamblia.

Giardia lamblia, a parasitic protozoan, can contain a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) virus, GLV (1). We have identified an RNA polymerase activity present specifically in cultures of GLV infected cells. This RNA polymerase activity is present in crude whole cell lysates as well as in lysates from GLV particles purified from the culture medium. The RNA polymerase has many characteristics common to other RNA polymerases (e.g. it requires divalent cations and all four ribonucleoside triphosphates), yet it is not inhibited by RNA polymerase inhibitors such as alpha-amanitin or rifampicin. The RNA polymerase activity synthesizes RNAs corresponding to one strand of the GLV genome, although under the present experimental conditions, the RNA products of the reaction are not full length viral RNAs. The in vitro products of the RNA polymerase reaction co-sediment through sucrose gradients with viral particles; and purified GLV viral particles have RNA polymerase activity. The RNA polymerase activities within and outside of infected cells closely parallel the amount of virus present during the course of viral infection. The similarities between the RNA polymerase of GLV and the polymerase associated with the dsRNA virus system of yeast are discussed.
Des parties supérieures et inférieures d'expressions faciales schématiques de colère capturent-elles l'attention lors d'une tâche de recherche visuelle ?

De nombreuses etudes ont montre que des expressions faciales de colere etaient detectees plus rapidement que des visages de joie quand ils etaient la cible de la recherche visuelle, un effet appele : « anger superiority effect ». Cependant, Weymar et collaborateurs (2011) ont ete parmi les premiers a etudier le deplacement attentionnel en direction de ces stimuli avec la mesure neurophysiologique, N2pc. La colere attirait effectivement plus l’attention que la joie. Connaissant ce resultat, nous avons mene une premiere etude pour voir si le meme effet etait obtenu avec des visages distracteurs. Seule la colere entrainait une N2pc significative, nous incitant a etudier cette emotion de plus pres. Dans la presente experience, nous voulions savoir si des elements de visages de colere distracteurs attiraient l’attention, et quelle partie, superieure ou inferieure, jouait le role le plus important dans ces effets. Nos resultats devoilent que ces derniers ne capturent pas l’attention, mais la partie haute, en general, montre une N2pc plus intense.
Las sanciones impuestas a los auditores: un indicador de la calidad de las auditorías

Mediante un analisis de las sanciones a los auditores hechas publicas a traves de su anuncio en el Boletin Oficial del ICAC, los autores comentan sus aspectos mas relevantes y meditan sobre las repercusiones de este control publico. Existe una profunda preocupacion por el deterioro sufrido por la informacion financiera que perjudica a los mercados financieros. Uno de los pilares en que se asienta esta confianza es la profesion auditora y los informes emitidos por los auditores. Los escandalos en EEUU han llevado a una remodelacion de la profesion. En este articulo se estudia como han actuado los controles publicos ante los auditores y sus repercusiones desde 1990 hasta hoy. Este control publico, que puede terminar con la imposicion de sanciones a los auditores y suponer un coste economico y de imagen para los mismos, se ha intensificado en los ultimos anos tanto en Espana como en la UE, en detrimento de la autorregulacion profesional.