Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sense of Effort Determines Lower Limb Force Production During Dynamic Movement in Individuals With Poststroke Hemiparesis

Objective. This study’s purpose was to determine if individuals who have had a stroke primarily use sense of effort to gauge force production during static and dynamic lower limb contractions. If relying on sense of effort while attempting to generate equal limb forces, participants should produce equal percentages of their maximum voluntary strength rather than equal absolute forces in their limbs. Methods. Ten stroke participants performed isometric and isotonic lower limb extensions on an exercise machine. Results. When participants attempted to produce equal bilateral isometric forces, there was a significant difference in absolute force between limbs (ANOVA, P < .0001) but no significant difference when force was normalized to each limb’s maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) force (P = .5129). During bilateral isotonic contractions, participants produced less absolute force in their paretic limb (P = .0005) and less relative force in their paretic limb (normalized to MVC force) when participants were given no instructions on how to perform the extension (P = .0002). When participants were instructed to produce equal forces, there was no significant difference between relative forces in the 2 limbs (P = .2111). Conclusions. For both isometric and isotonic conditions hemiparetic participants relied primarily on sense of effort, rather than proprioceptive feedback, for gauging lower limb force production. This outcome indicates that sense of effort is the major factor determining force production during movements. Lower limb rehabilitation therapies should not only train strength in the paretic limb but should also train patients to recalibrate force-scaling abilities to improve function.
Aspects based opinion mining from online reviews for product recommendation

With rapid development of E-commerce, nowadays more users preferred to purchase the product from on-line. To increase consumer satisfaction and on-line shopping practice, usually online merchants request their customers to reveal our opinions about the products which they had purchased. The reviews will be helpful for the customers to purchase a new product and it also helps the manufacturers to enhance the quality of the product. Aspect ranking of products aims in identifying and prioritizing the aspects of products based on the online reviews given by the customers. The aspects which are commented by the customers and the opinions on those aspects are considered to be the measures for ranking. We first extract the product aspects and then the opinions on those aspects are identified via sentiment dictionaries, finally the aspects are ranked based on their sentiment score.
Fecal microbiota transplant from a rational stool donor improves hepatic encephalopathy: A randomized clinical trial

We welcome the comments from Huang and Lee on our meta-analysis of surface antibody in hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation. First, as mentioned in our Table 1 footnote, our definition of HBV reactivation incorporated the broad range of outcomes reported in the literature: detectable HBV DNA, HBV detection with or without conversion from hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) negative to positive, HBV DNA >10 IU/mL, HBV DNA> 10-fold increase versus previous nadir, or conversion from HBsAg-negative to HBsAg-positive. Their reported elevation of HBV viral load to >2,000 IU/mL from baseline satisfied our HBV detection criterion for reactivation. Second, we agree with Huang and Lee that the incidence of HBV reactivation occurs more frequently as a detectable HBV DNA level than as HBsAg reverse seroconversion in patients receiving rituximab therapy. In our meta-analysis of patients receiving rituximab therapy, reactivation only occurred as detectable HBV DNA without any reported cases of HBsAg reverse seroconversion. Although Huang and Lee mention that we may have overlooked the risk of HBV reactivation in patients with hepatitis B surface antibody undergoing rituximab therapy, we did include that study in our meta-analysis as citation 22. Additionally, our discussion specifically mentions that the presence of hepatitis B surface antibody reduces but does not eliminate the risk of HBV reactivation. Our meta-analysis suggests that patients with hepatitis B surface antibody still have a 5.6% residual risk of reactivation, so we would recommend antiviral prophylaxis in these patients. Lastly, we agree that heterogeneity among studies is a potential limitation of any meta-analysis. Grouping studies with concordant outcomes would have reduced the power to detect statistically significant results, with four studies using detectable HBV DNA, six studies using HBV detection with or without conversion from HBsAg negative to positive, two studies using HBV DNA >10 IU/mL, seven studies using HBV DNA >10-fold increase versus previous nadir, and one study using conversion from HBsAg-negative to HBsAg-positive. Despite the differences in outcome measures, the I test for heterogeneity was 0% among all analyses, suggesting no inconsistency in the results across studies.
A Study on Assessing the Chance of Dental Caries Level using Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale in 5-yearold Children in Kandy District, Sri Lanka

Aim: The aim of this preliminary study was to assess the chance of dental caries level using early childhood oral health impact scale (ECOHIS) in a group of 5-year-old children in Sri Lanka. Materials and methods: A sample of school children aged 5+ years was taken for the study from Denuwara educational zone in Kandy District in Sri Lanka using probability proportional to size sampling method in 2010. Dental caries and oral health impact of the children were recorded. The mean decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) was 0.01 ± 0.3, while mean dmft was 3.7 ± 0.29. The mean decayed teeth (d) was 3.0 ± 0.23, the mean extracted teeth (m) was 0.46± 0.08, and the mean filled teeth (f) was 0.21 ± 0.05. Twenty four percent of them were caries free (95% confidence interval 0.17, 0.32). Ordinal logistic regression models were fitted by considering dmft levels as the response variables, and oral health impact as the predictor variable. Since Pearson test p-value and deviance test p-value are 0.99 (p > 0.05) and 0.986 (p > 0.05) respectively, the null hypothesis is not rejected as the model fitted the data adequately. Conclusion: This model could be used to predict the chance of dental caries level with the score of ECOHIS. Therefore, ECOHIS can be taken as a reliable indicator to assess the level of dental caries.
Staffing to Maximize Profit for Call Centers with Alternate Service-Level Agreements

To ensure quality from outsourced call centers, firms sign service-level agreements (SLAs). These define service measures such as what constitutes an acceptable delay or an acceptable abandonment rate. They may also dictate penalties for failing to meet agreed-upon targets. We introduce a period-based SLA that measures performance over a short duration such as a rush hour. We compare it to alternate SLAs that measure service by individual and over a long horizon. To measure the service levels for these SLAs, we develop several approximations. We approximate the probability an acceptable delay is met by generalizing the heavy-traffic quality and efficiency driven regime. We also provide a new approximation for the abandonment rate. Further, we prove a central limit theorem for the probability of meeting a service level measured by the percentage of customers acceptably served during a period. We demonstrate how an outsourced call center operating in an environment with uncertain demand and abandonment can determine its staffing policy to maximize the expected profit for these SLAs. Numerical experiments demonstrate a high degree of accuracy for the approximations and the resulting staffing levels. We indicate several salient features of the behavior of the period-based SLA.
The effects of N-acetylcysteine and inhaled steroid on inflammatory and oxidative stress markers in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

Introduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterised by chronic airway inflammation with increased numbers of neutrophils in the airway lumen. Inhaled corticosteroids are widely used for the treatment of COPD despite of controversial statements concerning their efficiency. N-acetylcysteine is a mucolytic drug with antioxidant properties, counteracting the oxidant/antioxidant imbalance in COPD. Objectives: The aim of the present study is to evaluate whether treatment of COPD patients with inhaled corticosteroid or N-acetylcysteine will change indices of inflammation and oxidative stress. Material and Methods: Twenty COPD patients are treated for two times 10 weeks with fluticasone dipropionate (1000 µg/day) or N-acetylcysteine (600 mg/day) in a randomised crossover setting. Induced sputum and blood samples were collected every 10 weeks. Results: Protective markers for oxidative stress, glutathione peroxidase (47.5±5.3 vs. 57.6±7.8 U/g Hb, P<0.05) and trolox-equivalent antioxidant capacity (1.41±0.05 vs. 1.50±0.06 mM, P<0.05) were increased by steroid treatment. N-acetylcysteine decreased significantly sputum eosinophil cationic protein (266±61 vs. 136±27 ng/ml, P<0.02), sputum interleukin-8 (403±65 vs. 326±62 ng/ml, P=0.05), and sputum tryptase, a serine protease (1.80±0.29 vs. 1.33±0.16 ng/ml, P<0.01). Conclusions: These results suggest inhaled steroids have no action on inflammatory indices in the treatment of COPD, while N-acetylcysteine has some anti-inflammatory actions. Furthermore, steroids seem to have a positive influence on oxidant/antioxidant imbalance that is thought to be important in the pathogenesis of COPD.
Risk Factors for Defective Autoparts Products Using Bayesian Method in Poisson Generalized Linear Mixed Model

— This research investigates risk factors for defective products in autoparts factories. Under a Bayesian framework, a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) in which the dependent variable, the number of defective products, has a Poisson distribution is adopted. Its performance is compared with the Poisson GLM under a Bayesian framework. The factors considered are production process, machines, and workers. The products coded RT50 are observed. The study found that the Poisson GLMM is more appropriate than the Poisson GLM. For the production Process factor, the highest risk of producing defective products is Process 1, for the Machine factor, the highest risk is Machine 5, and for the Worker factor, the highest risk is Worker 6.
Determination of Comparative Advantage on the Main Agricultural Products

Due to the potential climate and its diversity, Kohgilouye and Booyerahmad (K & B) of Iran province could have a production comparative advantage on the agricultural products. Considering that not being conducted any study on the agricultural productions in this province, we're going to try to recognize and analyze the comparative advantage of K & B province in producing some of the main agricultural products such as wheat, grain, paddy, grain corn, bean, tomato and Canola. In this study, the Revealed Comparative Advantage Index (RCA) has been used to determine the comparative advantage of production. Data are formed as time series between the years of 2003 to 2008 and are collected through the Agricultural Administration statistics. Using the RCA index showed that K & B province had production comparative advantage in producing the agricultural products such as wheat, grain and paddy during years of 2003 to 2008, grain corn in 2008, bean during 2004 to 2007 and Canola in 2007; while there was no production comparative advantage for tomato during 2003 to 2008. Therefore, development and wellagriculture of these products would lead to positive results for the local and national economy.
INTELLIGENT AUTONOMOUS SURVEILLANCE OF MANY TARGETS WITH FEW UAVS

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) offer tremendous potential as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms for early detection of security threats and for acquisition and maintenance of situation awareness in crisis conditions. However, using their capabilities effectively requires addressing a range of practical and theoretical problems. The paper will describe progress by the “Autonomous Rotorcraft Project,” a collaborative effort between NASA and the U.S. Army to develop a practical, flexible capability for UAV-based ISR. UAV-BASED SURVEILLANCE As long as there have been aircraft, aircraft have been used for surveillance missions. Balloons were used by both sides in the American Civil War. The Rumpler Taube monoplane was used for military surveillance before the onset of World War I. Although Tesla patented a device for remote control for boats as early as 1898, it wasn’t until the middle of the twentieth century that practical systems became available for intelligence gathering using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Recent innovations in UAV hardware and software technologies, as well as economies of scale, make UAVs feasible for increasingly diverse airborne observation missions [7]. There are a variety of current and proposed applications of UAVs for US Homeland Security. The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol tested UAVs in its Arizona Border Patrol Initiative, aimed at minimizing illegal and dangerous border crossings. According to the CBP [6], the advantages of UAVs included advanced image recognition systems in both day and night-time monitoring, longer dwell time (in comparison to manned Blackhawk helicopters) resulting in more sustained coverage, decreased need for human resources and the ability to work in dangerous conditions, which results in increased safety for ground agents. In addition to land border patrol, UAVs have application in maritime, harbor and littoral patrol and in monitoring
Tryptophan pyrrolase of rabbit intestine. D- and L-tryptophan-cleaving enzyme or enzymes.

Abstract 1. An enzyme that catalyzes the formation of formyl-d-kynurenine from d-tryptophan was purified about 100-fold from a homogenate of rabbit small intestine. Formyl-d-kynurenine thus produced was converted to d-kynurenine by formamidase present in rabbit intestine. 2. Methylene blue and ascorbic acid were required as cofactors. Xanthine oxidase with hypoxanthine could replace ascorbic acid, but hydrogen peroxide, added as such or enzymatically generated by glucose oxidase or l-amino acid oxidase, was not effective. Addition of catalase failed to inhibit the enzyme. 3. Several lines of evidence indicated the involvement of heme in the catalysis by the enzyme. An absorption spectrum characteristic of hemoprotein was observed in the purified active enzyme preparations. Inhibition by potassium cyanide or carbon monoxide was observed. The inhibition by carbon monoxide was reversed by illumination. 4. The purified enzyme could oxidize l-tryptophan as well as d-tryptophan. Kynurenine derived from l-tryptophan via formylkynurenine was identified as the l-isomer. Methylene blue and ascorbic acid were also required. A marked substrate inhibition was observed with l-tryptophan, but not with d-tryptophan.
Differential label‐free quantitative proteomic analysis of avian eggshell matrix and uterine fluid proteins associated with eggshell mechanical property

Eggshell strength is a crucial economic trait for table egg production. During the process of eggshell formation, uncalcified eggs are bathed in uterine fluid that plays regulatory roles in eggshell calcification. In this study, a label‐free MS‐based protein quantification technology was used to detect differences in protein abundance between eggshell matrix from strong and weak eggs (shell matrix protein from strong eggshells and shell matrix protein from weak eggshells) and between the corresponding uterine fluids bathing strong and weak eggs (uterine fluid bathing strong eggs and uterine fluid bathing weak eggs) in a chicken population. Here, we reported the first global proteomic analysis of uterine fluid. A total of 577 and 466 proteins were identified in uterine fluid and eggshell matrix, respectively. Of 447 identified proteins in uterine fluid bathing strong eggs, up to 357 (80%) proteins were in common with proteins in uterine fluid bathing weak eggs. Similarly, up to 83% (328/396) of the proteins in shell matrix protein from strong eggshells were in common with the proteins in shell matrix protein from weak eggshells. The large amount of common proteins indicated that the difference in protein abundance should play essential roles in influencing eggshell strength. Ultimately, 15 proteins mainly relating to eggshell matrix specific proteins, calcium binding and transportation, protein folding and sorting, bone development or diseases, and thyroid hormone activity were considered to have closer association with the formation of strong eggshell.
Age Differences in Types of Interpersonal Tensions

This study examined age differences in topics that generate interpersonal tensions as well as relationship level characteristics that may account for variability in the content of interpersonal tensions. Participants aged 13 to 99 years (N = 184) diagramed their close and problematic social networks, and then provided open-ended descriptions of recent tensions with up to 6 social partners. Multilevel models were conducted to examine variability in 5 types of tensions (i.e., financial issues, daily activities, scheduling, job/school, and self). Older adults were less likely than younger ages to describe tensions over job/school and daily activities. Job/school tensions were more likely to occur with acquaintances and negative network members. Tensions over scheduling were more likely to occur with positive and ambivalent network members, and tensions over daily activities were associated with less emotional distress. Results suggest relationship characteristics contribute to the content of tensions.
Variability of the subthalamic nucleus: The case for direct MRI guided targeting

Because of concerns about direct visualization of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), many functional neurosurgeons continue to rely on atlas-based coordinates to reach this target. T2-weighted MRI does allow direct visualisation of the STN. In order to compare the coordinates of the target point within the visualised STN with those obtained from standard brain atlases, the preoperative stereotactic T2-weighted MRI used to implant 55 deep brain stimulation electrodes in the visualised STN of 29 consecutive patients with Parkinson's disease treated in two European centres were studied. The coordinates of the directly visualised STN were significantly different from those of the atlas target. Variability of the position of the STN may render direct visualisation a more accurate means of targeting this nucleus.
Probabilistic relay selection in timer-based dissemination protocols for VANETs

Implementations of data dissemination protocols in Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks (VANETs) typically use multi-hopping approaches at the network layer, employing timers whose expiration times determine whether a vehicle should relay a message. These protocols, when they interact with lower access layers, such as the IEEE 802.11p MAC, are often affected by phenomena that impair the performance of the dissemination process. In this paper, we highlight the spurious forwarding phenomenon that arises when using timer-based protocols. We demonstrate the degradation incurred in the packet dissemination performance when the VANET is loaded by a high rate of packet flows. We then propose a probabilistic decimation approach, demonstrate its ability to alleviate the spurious forwarding problem, and discuss its performance as a function of vehicular traffic density and packet flow rate. Comparisons with other probabilistic dissemination protocols highlight the significant performance improvement attained by using our approach, assuring the realization of high throughput rate and packet delivery ratio.
Automatic Text Simplification for People with Intellectual Disabilities

simplification (TS) aims to reduce the lexical and structural complexity of a text, while still retaining the semantic meaning. Current automatic TS techniques are limited to either lexical-level applications or manually defining a large amount of rules. In this paper, we propose to simplify text from both level of lexicons and sentences. We conduct preliminary experiments to find that our approach shows promising results.
A high gain double layer dual band microstrip antenna for GPS applications

A high gain dual-band microstrip antenna is proposed for Global Positioning System (GPS) applications covering L1 and L2 frequencies of 1.575GHz and 1.227GHz. The antenna is consists of four I slotted compact microstrip antenna with two truncated corners for lower patch and five I slotted for upper patch. The overall antenna size upper substrate, lower substrate, ground are 106mm2 and lower patch, upper patch are 77.4*75.9mm2, 60.95mm2 respectively. The design achieved an impedance bandwidth of 15.8 MHz from 1.2192 GHz to 1.235 GHz for the lower band, while upper band covers 66 MHz from 1.534 to 1.6004 GHz with maximum gain of 6.955dBi and 7.572dBi in the lower and upper frequency band respectively. The results with low-profile characteristics make the antenna suitable for GPS applications.
Catecholamine regulation of the prefrontal cortex

The catecholamines dopamine (DA) and norepinephrine provide an essential modulatory influence on the working memory and attentional functions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The following critique reviews evidence that (1) either insufficient or excessive DA D1 receptor stimulation is detrimental to PFC function, while DA stimulation of the D2 family of receptors may contribute to detrimental actions in PFC and (2) that norepinephrine has an important beneficial influence on PFC function through its actions at post-synaptic, α 2A adrenergic receptors, but impairs PFC function through actions at α 1 adrenergic receptors. Critical levels of catecholamine stimulation may be needed to optimize PFC cognitive function; high levels of catecholamine release during stress may serve to take the PFC 'off-line' to allow faster, more habitual responses mediated by the posterior and/or subcortical structures to regulate behavior. These studies have relevance to our understanding and treatment of disorders with prominent symptoms of PFC dysfunction.
Epilepsy Care in the World: Results of an ILAE/IBE/WHO Global Campaign Against Epilepsy Survey

Summary: Purpose: Information about existing resources available within the countries to tackle the huge medical, social, and economic burden caused by epilepsy is lacking. To fill this information gap, a survey of country resources available for epilepsy care was conducted within the framework of the ILAE/IBE/WHO Global Campaign Against Epilepsy.
MDCT evaluation of foreign bodies and liquid aspiration pneumonia in adults.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this article is to describe abnormalities seen on MDCT of the airways and lung parenchyma that are caused by the aspiration of solid foreign bodies and liquid material. CONCLUSION MDCT allows us to diagnose a full spectrum of disease processes associated with aspiration and complications in the airways and lung. Recognition of the CT findings characteristic of a specific type and location of the aspirate is valuable to make an accurate diagnosis, thereby facilitating optimal clinical management.