Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The middle ear in sound conduction.

THE PRIMARY function of the middle ear is one of mechanical efficiency. This structure aids in transmitting vibrations from the air to the fluid of the cochlea, in which the sensory cells are placed. Its service in this regard became a practical necessity when in the course of evolution certain of the vertebrates left the sea and appeared on land. Their water ears, which were simple sacs buried deep below the surface of the head, then became nearly useless, just as must be true for a modern fish when brought above the surface. The reason derives from a simple principle of sound transmission. Sound waves in one medium will not readily enter another medium of different acoustic resistance. Rather, they are reflected back from the boundary. The transmission is easily calculated because it depends on the ratio of the acoustic resistance, and the acoustic resistance of a medium depends only
Standard dose of ticagrelor with CYP 2 C 19 * 2 homozygotes

The aim of this study was to assess the role of platelet activating factor (PAF) antagonist BN52021 in doxorubicin induced cardiotoxicity and to explore the mechanisms. H9c2 cardiomyocytes were employed to investigate the effect of BN52021 on doxorubicin induced cell viability and cell apoptosis. Signaling pathway of caspase 3, cytochrome c, calcium and p38 mitogen-activated protein (MAPK) was determined during the doxorubicin induced apoptosis. Our results showed BN52021 pretreatment could protected cell death induced by doxorubicin in H9c2 cardiomyocytes. Decrease concentration of [Ca2+] and expression of phosphorylated P38 MAPK were accounted for the protection effect. Inhibition of signaling pathway of calcium and p38 MAPK showed similar effect exerted by BN52021 in doxorubicin induced cell apoptosis. Our results demonstrated BN52021 protected against doxorubicin induced cell death in H9c2 cardiomyocytes by calcium and p38 MAPK signaling in vitro. These finding may give insight on the treatment of doxorubicin induced cardiomyopathy.
[Use of alcohol in the elderly: transcultural validation of the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test - Geriatric Version (MAST-G)].

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the internal consistency of the version of the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test - Geriatric Version (MAST-G) instrument, translated and adapted for Brazil. METHOD This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study. Data were collected through a demographic questionnaire, the ICD-10 and the MAST-G, following the steps of translation and cultural adaptation. One hundred eleven elderly in the city of São Carlos, SP, Brazil were interviewed. RESULTS The mean age of those interviewed was 70 years, with 45% men and 55% women, with the mean education of three years; 92% resided with family; 48% of the subjects consumed alcoholic beverages. The MAST-G presented a good level of reliability, with Cronbach's α = 0.7873, and good levels of sensitivity and specificity with a cutoff score of five positive responses. CONCLUSION The Brazilian version of the MAST-G presented internal consistency values similar to the original English version,showing it to be adequate for use in the national context.
Role of Macroeconomic Variables in Indian Mutual Fund Industry

Crude oil prices have started demonstrating accelerating rise, reminding large users, like India, of the pitfalls of indefinitely postponing deregulation of oil prices. While deregulation of fuel prices can have inflationary tendencies in the short run, the long-run effect of a pricing regime that reflects the economic value of oil, is not maleficent for the economy. On the other hand, providing openended fuel subsidies of huge quantum is fiscally unsustainable, while having distortionary effects at the macro level. Hence, there is little alternative to deregulating oil prices. Deregulation would also release resources for the government to not only invest in provision of socially productive goods, but also commercializing alternative energy usage. But some issues need to be addressed before effecting deregulation, viz. rationalising the taxation structure, promoting hedging against oil price volatility and educating stakeholders of the efficiency gains of deregulation which outweigh the costs. International experience suggests that these are, indeed, possible. * Debojyoti Dey is an Economist at the Multi Commodity Exchange of India. He can be reached at debojyoti.dey@mcxindia.com Niteen Jain is Senior Analyst at the Multi Commodity Exchange of India. He can be reached at niteen.jain@mcxindia.com Introduction After trading in double digits for the entire year 2010, the global crude oil benchmark, Brent crude, breached the psychologically important $100 a barrel mark in February 2011 for the first time since 2008. While the current sudden spike in oil prices can be attributed to the unstable geopolitical situation in the West Asia North Africa (WANA) region, the global economic recovery after the crisis of 2008-2009 appears to be providing floor support to high prices. Corroborating this trend, global oil demand was up 3% year-on-year in 2010 with inventories in developed countries remaining relatively low. Interestingly though, U.S. and Europe have not seen any significant increase in oil consumption and the entire incremental demand for crude oil post2008 seems to have emanated from emerging economies, especially in Asia. The increasing share of emerging economies, particularly China and India, only strengthens the two-decade long structural shift in the global oil economy which is now being driven more by the appetite for oil in these economies. India is, justifiably, worried. This is not only on account of our high O il P ol ic ie s in In di a – S til l a L on g W ay to G o
Time Dependency in Human Cancer

The concept of latency period has developed in chronic disease epidemiology by analogy with the incubation period associated with infectious diseases. We discuss the use of the concept of mean latency period to describe the temporal development of cancer and the underlying conceptual and methodologic problems. The respective roles of age at diagnosis, age at start of exposure, duration of exposure, and years since exposure in modifying cancer risks are considered. Multistep models for the development of cancer are illustrated, and their use and limitations for interpreting temporal associations in cancer development are discussed. Rather than trying to define exposure-disease relationships as being characterized by a long or a short latency period, It seems more promising to study the temporal sequence of disease development as a multistep process.
Alcohol‐Drugs Interaction in Man: Alcohol and Tolbutamide *

Abstract. In man tolbutamide was shown to share certain properties with the drugs handled by the hepatic drug‐metabolizing system: its prolonged administration is capable of accelerating its own metabolism; the same effect is obtained by pretreatment with microsomal inducers such as phenobarbital, diphenylhydantoin and diazepam. — Chronic addiction to alcohol produces an enhanced rate of tolbutamide metabolism; on the other hand, prolonged treatment with tolbutamide is able to increase the rate of ethanol oxidation. The existence of a microsomal oxidation of ethanol supports the hypothesis that microsomes may be the site of the interference between alcohol and tolbutamide. — Additional evidence is provided by the observed inhibition of tolbutamide metabolism by ethanol infusion.
Regulation of energy balance.

The past 10-15 years have produced a significant increase in knowledge and theories concerning the regulation of energy balance, but the precision of this regulation is still uncertain. However, the fact that investigators have had to resort to a variety of techniques and ploys (some of them bizarre) to produce marked pertubations in body weight is in itself an indication that the regulatory system can be very robust. Although control of food intake obviously plays a major role in this system, control of energy expenditure (i.e. DIT) also has to be considered as an important factor in the maintenance of energy balance. In this review most of the evidence for DIT and its biochemical origins has been derived from studies on experimental animals. Many of the overfeeding studies carried out on man are consistent with the animal work, but because of differences in interpretation and some equivocal results, the role of DIT in human metabolism is still a contentious issue. This problem may not be fully resolved to everyone's satisfaction until complete, continuous, and very precise energy balance measurements are made on chronically overfed lean subjects. Before this expensive and arduous experiment is undertaken, evidence for thermogenesis in man will continue to depend on acute measurements of the metabolic response to various stimuli. An increasing number of studies (e.g. 35, 80) have demonstrated the existence of NST in man, and the possibility that this could originate from BAT is supported by histological (62, 148) and thermographic data (130). Conversely, reductions in cold tolerance (2, 18) and thermogenic responses to noradrenaline (82) with increasing adiposity are similar to the blunted responses seen in genetically obese animals, which suggests that human obesity may also involve an impairment in thermogenesis. At the present time these ideas concerning the important of DIT in man and its role in obesity remain somewhat speculative, but no doubt this area will now be the subject of further research. Similarly, the impact of early nutritional influences on subsequent energy balance regulation and resistance to obesity will receive more attention following the report (144) that hyperphagia in rats during early life results in a reduced body fat content and leanness in adulthood. The relative contributions and interactions between intake and output in energy balance need clarifying, and in terms of central organization, the mechanisms of appetite control should now be considered for their relevance to the control of thermogenesis. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
A comparison of lutein, spray-dried Chlorella, and synthetic carotenoids effects on yolk colour, oxidative stability, and reproductive performance of laying hens

ISA Brown hens were fed diets supplemented with the synthetic carotenoids Carophyll Red and Carophyll Yellow at 20 and 15 mg/kg, respectively, lutein at 250 mg/kg, and the algae Chlorella at 12.5 g/kg. The synthetic carotenoids, lutein, and Chlorella significantly increased egg weight ( P < 0.001), shell weight (P < 0.001), and thickness ( P = 0.017) and decreased the yolk/albumen ratio ( P = 0.035) of the eggs. Lutein but not the Carophylls or Chlorella significantly increased the shell breaking strength ( P = 0.032). Furthermore, the carotenoids and Chlorella significantly ( P < 0.001) increased yolk colour, and the yolk redness increased significantly ( P < 0.001) in the following order: control < Chlorella < Carophyll < lutein. Lutein and Chlorella increased the yellowness of the yolks, and boiling the eggs for 5 min increased the redness of the yolks, while boiling them for 10 min increased the lightness and reduced the colour of the yolks. Supplementation of feed with lutein and Chlorella significantly ( P < 0.001) increased the concentration of lutein (from 12.8 to 133.9 and 49.0 mg/kg dry matter) and zeaxanthin (from 9.2 to 123.9 and 40.1 mg/kg dry matter) in the yolks, and all carotenoids and Chlorella significantly ( P < 0.001) increased the oxidative stability of the lipids of fresh eggs and eggs that had been stored at 18°C for 28 days.
Exploring innovation model combine with the green marketing to consumer’s behavior influence - a case study of a TFT-LCD company

Taiwan is an area with highest TFT-LCD industry density around the world, even exceed Japan and Korea, with anticipating, Taiwan will continue occupying leading position of the whole world in the following several years. Because of economy grows vigorously, the issue seriously damages our environment from day to day, advocating the green industrial revolution becomes one of the main trends in the 21st century, green marketing becomes the crucial operational policy of scientific and technological industry. This research plans to use bass diffusion model as the foundation structure, putting into the price parameter, setting up the model of revising, regard A company LCD as the case. The result of study finds out the model of this research both right ability and predicts ability is weak signification; demonstrate the sale of influence LCD that green marketing will be ineffective at the same time.
Antibody-dependent eosinophil-mediated damage to 51Cr-labeled schistosomula of Schistosoma mansoni: mediation by IgG, and inhibition by antigen-antibody complexes.

The properties of the antibodies responsible for complement-independent, eosinophil-mediated damage to schistosomula have been characterized in serum samples from Schistosoma mansoni-infected baboons and human patients. The antibody is opsonic for the target larvae, but is not detectably cytophilic. It is associated with IgG-rich fractions after DEAE-cellulose chromatography, and is removed by anti-IgG immunoadsorbents. In studies on the specificity of the antibody, it was found that activity was also removed by absorption with whole schistosomula, but not with an insoluble adult worm membrane preparation. In this preparation, however, membrane antigens may have been masked; and immunofluorescence studies showed that absorption with schistosomula was associated with loss of activity against the adult worm membrane, indicating a cross-reactivity between schistosomular and adult worm antigens. A finding that activity was also lost after incubation of sera with soluble adult worm antigens was possibly attributable to the formation of immune complexes which blocked effector cell activity. In further studies, it was shown that preincubation of effector cells with exogenous immune complexes resulted in a loss of cytotoxic activity, supporting the hypothesis that Fc receptors are involved in the initial interaction between eosinophils and antibody-coated larvae. The blockade of eosinophil-enriched effector cells by immune complexes was not reversed by washing and subsequent overnight culture before assay. A possible relationship between circulating immune complexes and the relative inactivity of cells from patients with schistosomiasis and eosinophilia is discussed.
Gender Differences in Factor Scores of Anxiety and Depression among Australian University Students: Implications for Counselling Interventions

Anxiety and depression inventory scores from 200 male and female university students attending a private university in Australia were examined for their factor structure. Once established, the two sets of factors were tested for gender-based differences, revealing that females were more likely than males to report symptomatology associated with pain and fatigue, sleeping and digestive problems, psychomotor agitation, confusion, and pessimism. Implications for counsellors are discussed.
Design, analysis and fabrication of a high-performance fractional-slot concentrated winding surface PM machine

A high-performance 55 kW (peak) fractional-slot concentrated winding (FSCW) surface permanent magnet (SPM) machine has been designed to meet demanding performance requirements based on the FreedomCar advanced traction motor requirements prepared by the US Department of Energy. This paper describes key steps in the design, analysis, fabrication, and testing of this machine. Design challenges arising from the high-speed, high-efficiency requirements are presented followed by a discussion of design features that have been introduced to address them. A prototype version of the machine has been fabricated using a segmented stator configuration and segmented neodymium-iron rotor magnets. Test results gathered to date demonstrate promising torque production and efficiency characteristics that are consistent with the machine performance predictions.
A series-LC-filtered active damper for ac power electronics based power systems

This paper proposes an active damper with a series LC-filter for suppressing resonances in an ac power electronics based power system. The added filter capacitor helps to lower the voltage stress of the converter to be used for implementing the damper. Unlike active filters for the compensation of low-order harmonics, the proposed active damper deals with the resonances caused by the interactions among grid-connected converters and reactive elements of the system, which are higher-order and vary in a wide frequency range. To confirm the validity of the damper, a three-phase experimental system is built, where the damper is integrated into a grid-connected converter. The results obtained from the experiments demonstrate the stability enhancement of ac power electronics based power systems by the active damper.
Potent neutralizing activity associated with anti-glycoprotein D specificity among monoclonal antibodies selected for binding to herpes simplex virions

Thirty-three monoclonal antibodies were selected for ability to bind to purified virions of herpes simplex virus and were shown by immunoprecipitation to react with one or another of the envelope glycoproteins. Only six of these antibodies exhibited potent neutralizing activity, and all six were specific for glycoprotein D. Two other anti-glycoprotein D antibodies and 25 antibodies specific for four other viral glycoproteins had much less potent, if any, neutralizing activity.
Update on Deep Brain Stimulation

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an established therapy for movement disorders and an investigational treatment in other neurologic conditions and in neuropsychiatry. DBS can target with precision neuroanatomical targets deep within the brain that are proposed, on the basis of increasing evidence from functional neuroimaging and other methods, to be centrally involved in the pathophysiology of some neuropsychiatric illnesses. DBS is nonablative, offering the advantages of reversibility and adjustability. In theory, this characteristic might permit therapeutic effectiveness to be enhanced or side effects to be minimized. Although its mechanisms of action are unknown, several possible effects have been proposed to underlie the therapeutic effects of DBS in movement disorders, and potentially in other conditions as well. This issue is the subject of very active investigation in a number of clinical and preclinical laboratories. DBS may offer a degree of hope for patients with intractable neuropsychiatric illness. Research intended to realize this potential will require a very considerable commitment of resources, energy, and time across disciplines including psychiatry, neurosurgery, neurology, neuropsychology, and bioethics. Investigations in this area should proceed cautiously.
Tax income differences between multinational and domestic corporations in Norway : a panel data approach

In this paper regression analysis is used to investigate negative profitability differential between foreign and domestic companies in Norway. More years and industries are included in the sample compared to previous studies on Norwegian data. Panel data methods, allowing to get rid of get rid of unobserved heterogeneity across the firms, are applied, in addition to OLS used in most of the earlier literature. More accurate and detailed classification of firms into different foreignness categories is conducted that allows to ”refine” control group used for comparisons. The results indicate that multinational firms report around 30% lower profitability than comparable domestic firms. It has also been shown that profitability of domestic firms goes down by about 20% when they become multinational. This is after the most important characteristics and permanent differences between these two types of firms have been controlled for. The estimates of the profitability differential has been shown to be robust to different estimations methods used, as well as different definitions of foreignness and profitability measures. The differential found is consistent with profit shifting behavior by multinational companies in Norway, and would imply that profits are shifted out of Norway. The evidence provided cannot serve a direct proof of profit-shifting activities by multinational firms in Norway, but it strongly suggests that further research is warranted in order to get a better understanding of the problem of profit-shifting. ∗This study is an updated and extended version of my master thesis ”Profit-shifting in Norway: 1993-2005”, supervised by professor Jarle Moen and delivered to NHH in 2007. 1 SNF Working Paper No 05/10
Wireless transmission design for health monitoring at neonatal intensive care units

Health monitoring is crucial for the survival of the ill and fragile infants admitted at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in a hospital. However, the adhesive electrodes and wires cause discomfort to the patients and hamper the parent-child interaction. In this paper, we propose the application of wireless transmission technology for neonatal monitoring at NICU. To demonstrate the design concept, a prototype wireless transmission system is built using BlueSMiRF and Arduino pro mini. Software is developed for ensure the correct data transmission, detection and display. The system is designed to be suitable for integration into a non-invasive monitoring platform such as a smart neonatal jacket. Experimental results show that the prototype system successfully transmits and receives data from multiple sensors within the range of 20 m.
Robust multi-view reconstruction from quasi-dense point cloud and poisson surface mesh

A novel method for generating a reliable initial surface mesh of the interested scene from a quasi-dense point cloud is presented in this article. Given multiple images taken from different points of view, a robust quasi-dense point cloud is acquired by accumulative triangulation of the potentially matched feature points. In our proposed method, the feature points are detected with Harris-corner and SIFT detectors. SIFT and DAISY descriptors are used to describe the neighboring environment of the detected features and provide efficient matching possibilities. The proposed method can be parallelized almost at each phase, which makes it suitable for image datasets of different sizes. The accuracy of the proposed method is evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively on different types and sizes of image datasets.
Leading Indicator Properties of Corporate Bond Spreads, Excess Bond Premia and Lending Spreads in the Euro Area

This paper analyses leading indicator properties of a broad set of credit spreads, compiled on the basis of information from both corporate bonds and bank loans for forecasting of real activity, unemployment, inflation and lending volumes in the euro area and in five major European economies. It also introduces a set of indicators for excess bond premia, adjusting corporate bond spreads for credit risk of the issuer and the term, coupon and liquidity premia. I find that the majority of macroeconomic indicators can be better predicted by the excess bond premia compared to non-adjusted indices; the rating-adjustment and time-varying parameter estimates seem to be particularly important. Although the predictive power of lending spreads is inferior to the predictive power of the excess bond premia, the forecasting performance of models which use the information from both lending and corporate bond spreads is always superior to models using only information from one source of external funding. JEL Classification: G12, C21, C22, E37, E44