Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Delayed peripheral nerve repair: methods, including surgical ‘cross-bridging’ to promote nerve regeneration

Despite the capacity of Schwann cells to support peripheral nerve regeneration, functional recovery after nerve injuries is frequently poor, especially for proximal injuries that require regenerating axons to grow over long distances to reinnervate distal targets. Nerve transfers, where small fascicles from an adjacent intact nerve are coapted to the nerve stump of a nearby denervated muscle, allow for functional return but at the expense of reduced numbers of innervating nerves. A 1-hour period of 20 Hz electrical nerve stimulation via electrodes proximal to an injury site accelerates axon outgrowth to hasten target reinnervation in rats and humans, even after delayed surgery. A novel strategy of enticing donor axons from an otherwise intact nerve to grow through small nerve grafts (cross-bridges) into a denervated nerve stump, promotes improved axon regeneration after delayed nerve repair. The efficacy of this technique has been demonstrated in a rat model and is now in clinical use in patients undergoing cross-face nerve grafting for facial paralysis. In conclusion, brief electrical stimulation, combined with the surgical technique of promoting the regeneration of some donor axons to ′protect′ chronically denervated Schwann cells, improves nerve regeneration and, in turn, functional outcomes in the management of peripheral nerve injuries.
Efficacy and Feasibility of Functional Upper Extremity Task-Specific Training for Older Adults With and Without Cognitive Impairment

Background. Although functional task-specific training is a viable approach for upper extremity neurorehabilitation, its appropriateness for older populations is unclear. If task-specific training is to be prescribed to older adults, it must be efficacious and feasible, even in patients with cognitive decline due to advancing age. Objective. This cross-sectional study tested the efficacy and feasibility of upper extremity task-specific training in older adults, including those with lower cognitive scores. Methods. Fifty older adults (age 65-89 years) without any confounding neuromuscular impairment were randomly assigned to a training group or no-training group. The training group completed 3 days (dosage = 2250 repetitions) of a functional upper extremity motor task (simulated feeding) with their nondominant hand; the no-training group completed no form of training at all. Both groups’ task performance (measured as trial time) was tested at pre- and posttest, and the training group was retested 1 month later. Efficacy was determined by rate, amount, and retention of training-related improvement, and compared across levels of cognitive status. Feasibility was determined by participants’ tolerance of the prescribed training dose. Results. The training group was able to complete the training dose without adverse responses and showed a significant rate, amount, and retention of improvement compared with the no-training group. Cognitive status did not alter results, although participants with lower scores on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment were slower overall. Conclusions. Task-specific training may be appropriate for improving upper extremity function in older adults, yet future work in older patients with specific neurological conditions is needed.
A real-time and exact implementation of the predicates for the Voronoi diagram of parametric ellipses

We study the Voronoi diagram, under the Euclidean metric, of a set of ellipses, given in parametric representation. We use an efficient incremental algorithm and focus on the required predicates. The paper concentrates on InCircle, which is the hardest predicate: it decides the position of a query ellipse relative to the Voronoi circle of three given ellipses. We describe an exact, real-time, and complete implementation for InCircle, combining a certified numeric algorithm with algebraic computation. The numeric part leads to a real-time implementation for non-degenerate inputs. It relies on a geometric preprocessing that guarantees a unique solution in a box of parametric space, where a customized subdivision-based method approximates the Voronoi circle tracing the bisectors. Our subdivision method achieves quadratic convergence by exploiting the geometric characteristics of the problem. To achieve robustness, we develop interval-arithmetic techniques, based on the C++ package Alias. We switch to an algebraic approach for handling the degeneracies fast. Based on a different algebraic system to model InCircle, we apply real solving and resultant theory. The latter relies on certain symbolic routines which are efficiently implemented in Maple. Our approach readily generalizes to arbitrary conics. The paper concludes with experiments showing that most instances run in less than 0.1 sec, on a 2.6GHz Pentium-4, whereas degenerate cases may take up to 13 sec.
Maternal responsive and directive behaviours and utterances as predictors of children's lexical development

Predictive relations were examined between measures of 20 mothers' behavioural and verbal general and specific responsiveness and intrusive and supportive directiveness and their children's subsequent expressive vocabularies during three developmental periods with endpoints at the beginning, middle, and end of the second year: 0;10 to 1;1, 1;1 to 1;5, and 1;5 to 1;9. Regression analyses, controlling for mothers' utterance frequencies and children's initial lexicons, revealed considerable consistency between reported and observed lexicons but changing patterns of predictive relations with development. During the first period, behavioural, but not verbal, measures of maternal responsiveness and supportive directiveness were positively predictive. In period two, verbal, but not behavioural, measures predicted children's vocabularies, with specific responsiveness and supportive directiveness as positive predictors and intrusive directiveness as a negative predictor. During the final period, mothers' behavioural and verbal responsiveness and behavioural supportive directiveness positively predicted and their verbal intrusive directiveness negatively predicted children's lexical growth.
A piecewise-based contrast enhancement framework for low lighting video

In this paper, we propose an efficient automatic contrast enhancement algorithm for low lighting video. The algorithm is based on a piecewise stretch on the brightness component extracted with Retinex theory in HSV space to improve the visuality of the image. By dividing the brightness component into dark and bright part, nonlinear transformations with different distribution assumption were performed respectively. All the model parameters were estimated automatically according to the illumination conditions. We use two methods to estimate the brightness. The one is global illumination estimation and the other is local illumination estimation. In comparison with global estimation, a local illumination estimation method is proposed for the further improvement. Experiments show that the algorithm can achieve satisfactory effect for nighttime image or video enhancement by comparing with some state-of-the-art approaches.
WLC05-1: A Cognitive Radio (CR) System Employing A Dual-Stage Spectrum Sensing Technique : A Multi-Resolution Spectrum Sensing (MRSS) and A Temporal Signature Detection (TSD) Technique

Spectrum sensing technology is most vital to the implementation of a CR system using dynamic spectrum resource management. This paper suggested a CR system architecture with a wideband dual-stage spectrum sensing technique - a coarse and a fine spectrum sensing. Specifically, a coarse spectrum sensing technique adopted wavelet transforms in this architecture to provide a multi-resolution spectrum sensing (MRSS) feature. Analog implementation of the MRSS block offers wideband, low-power, and real-time operation. A fine spectrum sensing technique used the beneficial properties of auto-correlation in time domain - temporal signature detection (TSD). This TSD technique enables identifying the unique signature feature of each specific signal type. Moreover, this feature detection technique in time domain realizes simple and fast spectrum-detection compared to spectral feature detection methods.
Association between the severity of chronic lung disease and first-year outcomes of very low birth weight infants.

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to determine if there is an association between the severity of chronic lung disease in very low birth weight infants (as assessed by the duration of supplemental oxygen requirements in the neonatal period) and first-year neurodevelopmental, sensory, and growth outcomes as well as duration of neonatal hospitalization and first-year hospital readmissions. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective chart review with matched subject groups. METHODS The subjects of this study were very low birth weight infants born between 1987 and 1991 in a 17-county perinatal region of North Carolina. Infants were categorized into one of three groups on the basis of duration of supplemental oxygen requirements. Infants who were breathing room air by 28 days were classified as having no chronic lung disease; infants who required supplemental oxygen at 28 days but not at 36 weeks postmenstrual age were classified as having mild chronic lung disease; and infants who required supplemental oxygen at 36 weeks postmenstrual age were classified as having severe chronic lung disease. Infants were matched for birth weight, sex, and race. The matched groups (n = 174) were compared with respect to the incidence of first year adverse neurodevelopmental and sensory outcomes, growth patterns, and hospital readmissions during the first year. Results were analyzed with general linear models and logistic regression analyses. RESULTS The incidence of any adverse neurodevelopmental or sensory outcome increased as severity of chronic lung disease increased from none (3.6%) to mild (21.4%) to severe (31.6%, p < 0.001). Growth patterns were similar in infants with no and mild chronic lung disease, but infants with severe chronic lung disease were significantly lighter (p < 0.01) and shorter (p < 0.005) at 40 weeks postmenstrual age and significantly lighter at 1 year adjusted age (p < 0.05). The duration of the initial hospitalization increased with chronic lung disease severity (p < 0.001). Infants with severe chronic lung disease were readmitted to the hospital significantly more often (p < 0.005) than infants with no chronic lung disease or mild chronic lung disease. CONCLUSIONS Very low birth weight infants who required supplemental oxygen at or beyond 28 days were at increased risk for adverse neurodevelopmental and sensory outcomes, but only those infants who continued to require supplemental oxygen at 36 weeks were at increased risk for poor growth and readmission to the hospital.
Orthostatic leg blood volume changes assessed by near‐infrared spectroscopy

Standing up shifts blood to dependent parts of the body, and blood vessels in the leg become filled. The orthostatic blood volume accumulation in the small vessels is relatively unknown, although these may contribute significantly. We hypothesized that in healthy humans exposed to the upright posture, volume accumulation in small blood vessels contributes significantly to the total fluid volume accumulated in the legs. Considering that near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) tracks postural blood volume changes within the small blood vessels of the lower leg, we evaluated the NIRS‐determined changes in oxygenated (Δ[O2Hb]), deoxygenated (Δ[HHb]) and total haemoglobin tissue concentration (Δ[tHb]) and in total leg volume by strain‐gauge plethysmography during 70 deg head‐up tilt (HUT; n= 7). In a second experiment, spatial and temporal reproducibility were evaluated with three NIRS probes applied on two separate days (n= 8). In response to HUT, an initially fast increase in [O2Hb] was followed by a gradual decline, while [HHb] increased continuously. The increase in [tHb] during HUT was closely related to the increase in total leg volume (r2= 0.95 ± 0.03). After tilt back, [O2Hb] declined below and [HHb] remained above baseline, whereas all NIRS signals gradually returned to baseline. Spatial heterogeneity was observed, and for two probes [tHb] was highly correlated between days (r2= 0.92 ± 0.09 and 0.91 ± 0.12), but less for the third probe (r2= 0.44 ± 0.36). The results suggest a non‐linear accumulation of blood volume in the small vessels of the leg, with an initial fast phase followed by a more gradual increase at least partly contributing to the relocation of fluid during orthostatic stress.
The Principal–Agent Leasing Model of “Company + n Farmers” under Two Division Modes

The principal–agent leasing model consisting of one risk-neutral company and n risk-averse farmers is proposed by taking into consideration the characteristics of contract-farming and the fulfilment issues existing in the production process of agricultural products. We also discuss the optimal incentive coefficients and rents for n farmers under the two strategies of decentralization and concentration. The analysis suggests that the two division modes have no influence on the determination of the optimal effort level and the incentive coefficient of each party, and under the n farmers, the incentive coefficient given by the company to a single farmer household is not affected by the conditions of other farmer households. In terms of rent, land rent in the decentralized mode is strictly higher than land rent under the centralized mode. In the two modes of division, the total income of the company and the farmers is equal. Taking into account the randomness of the production process of agricultural products, the company will prefer to choose the centralized mode, and the farmers will tend to choose the decentralized mode in cooperation.
Killing Animals for Recreation? A Quantitative Study of Hunters’ Motives and Their Perceived Moral Relevance

ABSTRACT Hunters in the Western world today do not need to hunt to obtain food and other animal products. So why do they hunt? This paper examines the motives of hunters, the motives ascribed to hunters by members of the general public, and the role motives play for the moral acceptability of hunting among members of the general public. It draws on a nationally representative survey of the general public (n = 1,001) and hunters (n = 1,130) in Denmark. People with a negative attitude to hunting are more likely to take motives into account when they consider the acceptability of hunting. Three clusters of motives defining distinctive hunting motivational orientations were identified: action/harvest, management/care, and natural and social encounters. The general public ascribed action/harvest motives to hunters more than hunters did. In a policy perspective, if hunters’ motives are misperceived, improved dialog may be needed to protect the legitimacy of recreational hunting.
INTEGRATING FOSSILS WITH MOLECULAR PHYLOGENIES IMPROVES INFERENCE OF TRAIT EVOLUTION

Comparative biologists often attempt to draw inferences about tempo and mode in evolution by comparing the fit of evolutionary models to phylogenetic comparative data consisting of a molecular phylogeny with branch lengths and trait measurements from extant taxa. These kinds of approaches ignore historical evidence for evolutionary pattern and process contained in the fossil record. In this article, we show through simulation that incorporation of fossil information dramatically improves our ability to distinguish among models of quantitative trait evolution using comparative data. We further suggest a novel Bayesian approach that allows fossil information to be integrated even when explicit phylogenetic hypotheses are lacking for extinct representatives of extant clades. By applying this approach to a comparative dataset comprising body sizes for caniform carnivorans, we show that incorporation of fossil information not only improves ancestral state estimates relative to those derived from extant taxa alone, but also results in preference of a model of evolution with trend toward large body size over alternative models such as Brownian motion or Ornstein–Uhlenbeck processes. Our approach highlights the importance of considering fossil information when making macroevolutionary inference, and provides a way to integrate the kind of sparse fossil information that is available to most evolutionary biologists.
Interpatient heterogeneity in expression of CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 in small bowel. Lack of prediction by the erythromycin breath test.

The CYP3A subfamily of cytochromes P450 metabolize many medications and environmental contaminants. CYP3A4 and, in 25% of patients, CYP3A5 seem to be the major CYP3A genes expressed in adult liver. Hepatic levels of CYP3A4 can be estimated by the erythromycin breath test and vary at least 10-fold among patients. CYP3A4 has also been shown to be present in small bowel where it is responsible for significant "first-pass" metabolism of orally administered substrates. However, it is not known whether there is significant interindividual variability in the intestinal expression of CYP3A4, or whether the liver and intestinal catalytic activities of CYP3A4 correlate within an individual. It is also not known whether CYP3A5 is expressed in the small intestine. To address these questions, we administered the erythromycin breath test to 20 patients and obtained biopsies from their small bowel. There was a 6-fold variation in CYP3A catalytic activity (midazolam hydroxylation), an 11-fold variation in CYP3A4 protein content, and an 8-fold variation in CYP3A4 mRNA content in intestinal biopsies. There was an excellent correlation between intestinal CYP3A4 protein level and catalytic activity (r = 0.86; p = 0.0001); however, neither parameter significantly correlated with hepatic CYP3A4 activity as measured by the erythromycin breath test result (r = 0.27; p = 0.24 and r = 0.33; p = 0.15, respectively). We also found that CYP3A5 protein was readily detectable in biopsies from 14 (70%) of the patients, indicating that CYP3A5 is commonly expressed in human small intestine. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Trends in HIV Testing among U.S. Older Adults Prior to and since Release of CDC's Routine HIV Testing Recommendations: National Findings from the BRFSS

Objective. This study examined temporal trends in HIV testing among U.S. older adults (50–64 years of age) before and after the release of CDC's routine HIV testing recommendations in 2006. Methods. The sample (n=872,797; 51.4% female) comprised 2003–2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System respondents in the oldest categories to which the recommendations apply: 50–54 years (34.5%, n=301,519), 55–59 years (34.1%, n=297,865), and 60–64 years (31.3%, n=273,413). We calculated (1) four-year pooled prevalences of past-year HIV testing before and after 2006, when the recommendations were released; and (2) annual prevalences of HIV testing overall and by age category from 2003–2010. Using weighted, multivariable logistic regression analyses, we examined binary (pre- vs. post-recommendations) and annual changes in testing, controlling for covariates. We stratified the data by recent doctor visits, examined racial/ethnic differences, and tested for linear and quadratic temporal trends. Results. Overall and within age categories, the pooled prevalence of past-year HIV testing decreased following release of the recommendations (p<0.001). The annual prevalence decreased monotonically from 2003 (5.5%) to 2006 (3.6%) (β=–0.16, p<0.001) and then increased immediately after release of the recommendations, but decreased to 3.7% after 2009 (β=0.01, p<0.001). By race/ethnicity, testing increased over time among non-Hispanic black people only. Annual prevalence also increased among respondents with recent doctor visits. Conclusion. CDC's HIV testing recommendations were associated with a reversal in the downward trend in past-year HIV testing among older adults; however, the gains were neither universal nor sustained over time.
Innate collateral segments are predominantly present in the subendocardium without preferential connectivity within the left ventricular wall

Innate collateral arteries provide the biophysical substrate for arteriogenesis. Their distribution and morphology predestine tissue areas salvageable by collateral flow. Fluorescent episcopic cryomicrotome imaging resulted in a three‐dimensional representation of the coronary network, in which collateral segments were automatically identified. Innate collateral segments are predominantly present in the subendocardium without preferential connectivity within the left ventricular wall of the dog heart and are preferentially oriented perpendicular to the long axis of the heart in the outer layers and parallel to this axis at the subendocardium. These results suggest that collateral segments are maintained without local hypoxia but because of heterogeneity in pressure gradients in the arterial tree. The high density and long‐axis orientation of collateral arteries in the subendocardial region provide the substrate for arterial plexus formation and indicate the need for three‐dimensional perfusion assessment in clinical perfusion imaging.
BMP induction of cardiogenesis in P19 cells requires prior cell–cell interaction(s)

Mouse P19 embryonal carcinoma cells undergo cardiogenesis in response to high density and DMSO. We have derived a clonal subline that undergoes cardiogenesis in response to high density, but without requiring exposure to DMSO. The new subline retains the capacity to differentiate into skeletal muscle and neuronal cells in response to DMSO and retinoic acid. However, upon aggregation, these Oct 4‐positive cells, termed P19‐SI because they “self‐induce” cardiac muscle, exhibit increased mRNAs encoding the mesodermal factor Brachyury, cardiac transcription factors Nkx 2.5 and GATA 4, the transcriptional repressor Msx‐1, and cytokines Wnt 3a, Noggin, and BMP 4. Exposure of aggregated P19‐SI cells to BMP 4, a known inducer of cardiogenesis, accelerates cardiogenesis, as determined by rhythmic beating and myosin staining. However, cardiogenesis is severely inhibited when P19‐SI cells are aggregated in the presence of BMP 4. These results demonstrate that cell–cell interaction is required before P19‐SI cells can undergo a cardiogenic response to BMP 4. A concurrent increase in the expression of Msx‐1 suggests one possible process underlying the inhibition of cardiogenesis. The phenotype of P19‐SI cells offers an opportunity to explore new aspects of cardiac induction. Developmental Dynamics 235:2122–2133, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.