Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Altered Insular and Occipital Responses to Simulated Vertical Self-Motion in Patients with Persistent Postural-Perceptual Dizziness

Background Persistent postural-perceptual dizziness (PPPD) is a common functional vestibular disorder characterized by persistent symptoms of non-vertiginous dizziness and unsteadiness that are exacerbated by upright posture, self-motion, and exposure to complex or moving visual stimuli. Recent physiologic and neuroimaging data suggest that greater reliance on visual cues for postural control (as opposed to vestibular cues—a phenomenon termed visual dependence) and dysfunction in central visuo-vestibular networks may be important pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying PPPD. Dysfunctions are thought to involve insular regions that encode recognition of the visual effects of motion in the gravitational field. Methods We tested for altered activity in vestibular and visual cortices during self-motion simulation obtained via a visual virtual-reality rollercoaster stimulation using functional magnetic resonance imaging in 15 patients with PPPD and 15 healthy controls (HCs). We compared between groups differences in brain responses to simulated displacements in vertical vs horizontal directions and correlated the difference in directional responses with dizziness handicap in patients with PPPD. Results HCs showed increased activity in the anterior bank of the central insular sulcus during vertical relative to horizontal motion, which was not seen in patients with PPPD. However, for the same comparison, dizziness handicap correlated positively with activity in the visual cortex (V1, V2, and V3) in patients with PPPD. Conclusion We provide novel insight into the pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying PPPD, including functional alterations in brain processes that affect balance control and reweighting of space-motion inputs to favor visual cues. For patients with PPPD, difficulties using visual data to discern the effects of gravity on self-motion may adversely affect balance control, particularly for individuals who simultaneously rely too heavily on visual stimuli. In addition, increased activity in the visual cortex, which correlated with severity of dizziness handicap, may be a neural correlate of visual dependence.
Multicenter prospective randomized study comparing the technique of using a bovine pericardium biological prosthesis reinforcement in parietal herniorrhaphy (Tutomesh TUTOGEN) with simple parietal herniorrhaphy, in a potentially contaminated setting

The use of parietal synthetic prosthetic reinforcement material in potentially contaminated settings is not recommended, as there is a risk that the prosthesis may become infected. Thus, simple parietal herniorrhaphy, is the conventional treatment, even though there is a significant risk that the hernia may recur. Using new biomaterials of animal origin presently appears to offer a new therapeutic solution, but their effectiveness has yet to be demonstrated. The purpose of this multicenter prospective randomized single‐blind study was to compare the surgical treatment of inguinal hernia or abdominal incisional hernia by simple parietal herniorrhaphy without prosthetic reinforcement (Group A), with Tutomesh TUTOGEN biological prosthesis reinforcement parietal herniorrhaphy (Group B), in a potentially contaminated setting. We examined early postoperative complications in the first month after the operation, performed an assessment after one year of survival without recurrence and analyzed the quality of life and pain of the patients (using SF‐12 health status questionnaire and Visual Analog Pain Scale) at 1, 6, and 12 months, together with an economic impact study. Hundred and thirty four patients were enrolled between January 2009 and October 2010 in 20 French hospitals. The groups were comparable with respect to their enrollment characteristics, their history, types of operative indications and procedures carried out. At one month post‐op, the rate of infectious complications (n(A) = 11(18.33%) vs. n(B) = 12(19.05%), p = 0.919) was not significantly different between the two groups. The assessment after one year of survival without recurrence revealed that survival was significantly greater in Group B (Group A recurrence: 10, Group B: 3; p = 0.0475). No difference in the patients' quality of life was demonstrated at 1, 6, or 12 months. However, at the 1 month follow‐up, the “perceived health” rating seemed better in the group with Tutomesh (p = 0.022). No significant difference between the two parietal repair groups was observed during the follow‐ups with respect to the criterion of pain (using a visual analog scale). There was a significant difference between the two parietal repair groups with regard to the number of days spent in intensive care unit, in favor of the Tutomesh technique (p = 0.010). The use of a Tutomesh bioprosthesis for hernia repair or postincisional hernia in a potentially contaminated workplace reduces the risk of short‐term recurrence without increasing overall comorbidity.
An Update of Marketing Student Perceptions of Learning Activities: Structure, Preferences, and Effectiveness

Many changes have occurred in the context of marketing education during the past decade, including the increased use of new technology-based and experiential pedagogies. To update the understanding of how students in advanced marketing courses perceive marketing pedagogies in this new context, a replication and extension of Karns’s study of student perceptions of learning activities was performed with survey responses from 227 students at eight universities. Multidimensional scaling analysis suggests that the underlying structure of these perceptions can be described by the labels: enjoyable, challenging, and real world. Internships, class discussion, and case analyses were seen by students as the learning activities that most contribute to their learning. Course Web sites and online discussion were seen as relatively less effective in contributing to student learning. Overall, it appears that marketing educators should continue efforts to imbue all learning activities with an applied, real-world orientation.
Nuclear Translocation of Cytochrome c during Apoptosis*

Release of cytochrome c from mitochondria is a major event during apoptosis. Released cytochrome c has been shown to activate caspase-dependent apoptotic signals. In this report, we provide evidence for a novel role of cytochrome c in caspase-independent nuclear apoptosis. We showed that cytochrome c, released from mitochondria upon apoptosis induction, gradually accumulates in the nucleus as evidenced by both immunofluorescence and subcellular fractionation. Parallel to nuclear accumulation of cytochrome c, acetylated histone H2A, but not unmodified H2A, was released from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. Addition of purified cytochrome c to isolated nuclei recapitulated the preferential release of acetylated, but not deacetylated, histone H2A. Cytochrome c was also found to induce chromatin condensation. These results suggest that the nuclear accumulation of cytochrome c may be directly involved in the remodeling of chromatin. Our results provide evidence of a novel role for cytochrome c in inducing nuclear apoptosis.
A pure logic CMOS based low power non-volatile random access memory for RFID application

A 1.8V, 0. 18µm pure logic CMOS based low power non-volatile random access memory for RFID application is developed in this paper. Low power consumption is achieved based on a novel two-dimension architecture and a series of power optimization methods. Simulation result shows that the power consumption for read and write operations is less than 160µW and 560µW respectively. The merits make it suitable for low power RFID application1.
The Oxidative Metabolism of Glutamine

Treatment of the mouse fibrosarcoma cell line L929 with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) induces necrotic cell death. A crucial step in the cytotoxic action mechanism of TNF involves perturbation of mitochondrial functions leading to the formation of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI). L929 cells have energy requirements adapted to a high proliferation rate. Glutamine (Gln) is utilized as a major energy source and drives mitochondrial ATP formation, while glucose is mainly converted to lactate through glycolysis. We investigated the role of the bioenergetic pathways involved in substrate utilization on the cytotoxic action of TNF and established a link between Gln oxidation and TNF-induced mitochondrial distress. Omission of Gln from the medium desensitizes the cells to TNF cytotoxicity, while the lack of glucose in the medium does not alter the TNF response. Sudden depletion of Gln from the culture medium results in a sharp decline in mitochondrial respiration in the cells, which might explain the decreased TNF responsiveness. However, when L929 cells are adapted to long term growth under conditions without Gln, these so-called L929/Gln cells have restored respiration, but they still display a decreased sensitivity to TNF cytotoxicity. Thus the TNF responsiveness of L929 cells depends on bioenergetic reactions that are specifically involved in the oxidation of Gln. This is further confirmed by the desensitizing effect of specific inhibitors of these Gln-linked enzyme reactions on TNF cytotoxicity in the parental cells, but not in the L929/Gln cells. Analysis of the induction of mitochondrial ROI formation by TNF in parental and L929/Gln cells suggests that the effect of Gln on the sensitivity to TNF cytotoxicity involves a mechanism that renders the mitochondria more susceptible to TNF-induced mediators, resulting in enhanced ROI production and accelerated cytotoxicity.
A reconfigurable circularly polarized embedded PICA

In this paper, a circularly polarized reconfigurable planar inverted cone antenna (PICA) is designed, fabricated and tested. Generally, PICA antenna shows wider-bandwidth and linear polarization characteristics. However, in order to generate circular polarization, asymmetrical types of two unbalanced circular slots are etched on PICA at angle of 45°. Parametric study is done to determine the optimal dimensions of the slots. The varactor diodes (SMV1232-079LF) are placed on both sides of the PICA to enable the tenability aspects of the antenna. The measurement results show 10dB impedance bandwidth from 2GHz-9GHz at 0V. However, when the diode voltage varies from 1V to 12V, the 10dB impedance bandwidth reduces to 2GHz-4.5GHz.
Clinical Trial enal Toxicity Evaluation and omparison Between Visipaque ( Iodixanol ) nd Hexabrix ( Ioxaglate ) in Patients With Renal nsufficiency Undergoing Coronary Angiography he RECOVER Study : A Randomized Controlled Trial

OBJECTIVES This study sought to compare the nephrotoxicity of iodixanol and ioxaglate in patients with renal impairment undergoing coronary angiography. BACKGROUND Iodixanol, a nonionic, dimeric, iso-osmolar contrast medium (IOCM), may be less nephrotoxic than low-osmolar contrast media (LOCM) in high-risk patients. METHODS In a prospective, randomized trial in 300 adults with creatinine clearance (CrCl) 60 ml/min, patients received either iodixanol or ioxaglate and underwent coronary angiography with or without percutaneous coronary intervention. The primary end point was the incidence of contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) (an increase in serum creatinine [SCr] 25% or 0.5 mg/dl [ 44.2 mol/l]). The incidence of CIN in patients with severe renal impairment at baseline (CrCl 30 ml/min) or diabetes and in those receiving large doses ( 140 ml) of contrast medium was also determined. RESULTS The incidence of CIN was significantly lower with iodixanol (7.9%) than with ioxaglate (17.0%; p 0.021), corresponding to an odds ratio (OR) of CIN of 0.415 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.194 to 0.889) for iodixanol. The incidence of CIN was also significantly lower with iodixanol in patients with severe renal impairment (p 0.023) or concomitant diabetes (p 0.041), or in patients given 140 ml of contrast media (p 0.038). Multivariate analysis identified use of ioxaglate (OR 2.65, 95% CI 1.11 to 6.33, p 0.028), baseline SCr, mg/dl (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.04 to 3.85, p 0.038), and left ventricular ejection fraction, % (OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.94 to 0.99, p 0.019) as independent risk factors for CIN. CONCLUSIONS The IOCM iodixanol was significantly less nephrotoxic than ioxaglate, an ionic, dimeric LOCM. (The RECOVER Trial; http://clinicaltrials.gov; NCT00247325) (J Am Coll ublished by Elsevier Inc. doi:10.1016/j.jacc. 2006.06. 047
Prediction of protein subcellular locations by incorporating quasi-sequence-order effect.

How to incorporate the sequence order effect is a key and logical step for improving the prediction quality of protein subcellular location, but meanwhile it is a very difficult problem as well. This is because the number of possible sequence order patterns in proteins is extremely large, which has posed a formidable barrier to construct an effective training data set for statistical treatment based on the current knowledge. That is why most of the existing prediction algorithms are operated based on the amino-acid composition alone. In this paper, based on the physicochemical distance between amino acids, a set of sequence-order-coupling numbers was introduced to reflect the sequence order effect, or in a rigorous term, the quasi-sequence-order effect. Furthermore, the covariant discriminant algorithm by Chou and Elrod (Protein Eng. 12, 107-118, 1999) developed recently was augmented to allow the prediction performed by using the input of both the sequence-order-coupling numbers and amino-acid composition. A remarkable improvement was observed in the prediction quality using the augmented covariant discriminant algorithm. The approach described here represents one promising step forward in the efforts of incorporating sequence order effect in protein subcellular location prediction. It is anticipated that the current approach may also have a series of impacts on the prediction of other protein features by statistical approaches.
A Comprehensive Evaluation of Passengers' Satisfaction of Selected Airline Companies

Airline service process consists of five service subsets. Namely, reservation, check-in, on-flight services, disembarking, and baggage claim. In order to cover most of the aspects in the airline industry services, the survey was divided into five sections, where each section represents a service subset. The aim of this paper is to survey passengers of different airline companies in order to measure their satisfaction. In this paper, 30 people were surveyed, but unfortunately 7 people were eliminated from the analysis due to survey violation reasons. Since 63% of University of Miami US students come from outside Florida, and 14% of the students are international, those students will be a good population to survey as passengers, because most of them have flown in the last six months in order to reach Miami. Out of the 23 passengers 11 (48%) would return back to the same airline company they flew with because of its ticket price. Moreover, 22% would return back because of flight schedule flexibility. In addition, 17% would return back due to the airline reputation in its safety procedures. Therefore, airline companies should focus on reducing tickets fees, flight schedules, and their safety reputation in order to have the lion's share of the airline market. Overall, out of the 23 passengers 14 (61%) agree that they were satisfied with the entire service process of the airline industry. On the other hand, only 10% were dissatisfied with the entire process. From the importance/favorability grids it was obvious that the overall satisfaction by passengers for all subsets was high, which shows that airline industries are doing their utmost in providing excellent service. Although all subsets had high performance by the airline companies, some of them were with low importance to the customer. This is due to the small sample size collected as some of these subsets are obviously significant. (Alamoudi RH, Balubaid M. A Comprehensive Evaluation of Passengers' Satisfaction of Selected Airline Companies. Life Sci J 2015;12(4):43-57). (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite. com . 6
A Novel Routing Algorithm for Wireless Ad-Hoc Networks

This article examines the importance of wireless ad-hoc networks and the LORA-CBF routing algorithm for inter-vehicular communications in the context of optimizing traffic flow and increasing vehicular safety. The LORA-CBF algorithm is discussed in detail and static test bed results are provided. Applying LORA-CBF in a dynamic test bed is proposed to fully implement this geographic routing algorithm in vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANET).
The Effect of Membrane Differential Filtration on the Colloid Osmotic Pressure in Patients with Age‐Related Macular Degeneration: Significance to Visual Function?

Abstract: To investigate the effect of membrane differential filtration (MDF) on plasma colloid osmotic pressure (COP) and visual functions in age‐related geographic macular degeneration (AMD). Ten consecutive patients with non‐exudative AMD underwent one MDF cycle. Primary endpoint was COP. Secondary endpoints were visual acuity and the mean defect of visual field. The COP was markedly reduced after one MDF cycle by 23.9% (P = 0.001). Compared with the baseline examination, visual acuity and the mean defect of visual field improved significantly after MDF. A significant positive correlation was found between the improvement in visual field and the decrease in COP (Pearson's coefficient = 0.65; P= 0.04). Membrane differential filtration lowers plasma colloid osmotic pressure in patients with non‐exudative AMD. Based on the observation that visual field and COP are correlated, one may hope for a means to improve decreased central retinal function in eyes with geographic AMD by modulation of COP plasma level.
Characterization of IKI1 and IKI3 genes conferring pGKL killer sensitivity on Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae iki mutants show an insensitive phenotype to the pGKL killer toxin, and we have cloned some IKI genes by complementation of this phenotype [Kishida et al., Biosci. Biotech. Biochem. , 60, 798-801 (1996)]. Here, we identified and characterized the IKI1 and IKI3 genes. DNA sequencing of the genes showed that both have 100% identity with hypothetical genes identified by the yeast genome project, YHR187w (481,911-480,985 in chromosome VIII) for IKI1, and YLR384c (888,852-892,898 in chromosome XII) for IKI3. Both are novel genes with no significant identity with other known genes and they do not belong to any homology domain group, gene family, or superfamily. The disruption of IKI1 is not lethal, but growth of the disruptant was slower than that of the wild type at all temperatures examined. The disruptant was the killer-insensitive phenotype. The sequence of the IKI1 gene predicted a hydrophilic protein with a molecular mass of 35 kDa (309 amino acids). A 35-kDa protein band was also detected by immunoblotting the 25,000 x g pellet fraction of the wild type yeast cell lysate. Disruption of the IKI3 gene is also non-lethal and it has the killer-insensitive phenotype. Iki3p may contain a transmembrane domain near the NH2-terminal region (97-113 residues in a total of 1349 amino acids).
Speech Spectra for Six Recorded Monosyllabic Word Tests

ABSTRACT Speech spectra (long-term RMS levels and 1 % speech peaks] in third-octave bands were determined for six monosyllabic word test materials: digital recordings of the Central Institute for the Deaf W-22 word test and the Northwestern University NU-6 word test obtained from Qualitone; audio-tape recordings of the Central Institute for the Deaf W-22 word test, the Northwestern University NU-6 word test, and the Harvard PsycheAcoustic Laboratory PE50 word test obtained from Auditec of St. Louis; and an audio-tape recording of the Maryland CNC word test obtained from Olsen Distributors. The spectra were generally within 2 SD of previous results for continuous speech speken by an average male talker [Cox, Matesich, & Moore, 1988; Cox & Moore, 19881, but differed sufficiently from those data and from one another to affect the accuracy of Articulation Index calculations. The relationship between the level of the Calibration tone and the speech in the third-octave band centered at 1000 Hz was different for each recording.
Epstein frame measurement based determination of original non-degraded and fully degraded magnetic characteristics of material submitted to laser cutting

The degrading effect of laser cutting on steel sheet material, and thus on the material's magnetic characteristics, is much less understood than that of mechanical cutting. Furthermore, the estimated degrading influence on magnetic properties is still difficult to determine and not sufficiently known. In this paper, the magnetic characteristics of the degraded and non-degraded zones are computed from data obtained by two Epstein frame measurements using sample strips of different widths. Subsequently, these new characteristics are inserted into a finite-element model, which accounts for arbitrary geometries. The simulation results for the influence of laser cutting on the magnetic characteristics of the stator lamination stacks are verified by measurements.
Strategic management in institutions of higher learning: the case of Makerere University

The strategic perspective in which an institution of higher learning is managed aims at ensuring that clear goals and objectives are specified by moving away from routine traditional orientation to management by considering in a systematic way, longer–term considerations of the very future of the institution. In the case of a higher institution of learning such as Makerere University, the Vice Chancellor, as the Chief Executive Officer, has to manage the institution with a sense of strategy where strategy is concerned with positioning the institution to face an increasingly uncertain future-in mind. The article argues that Makerere University, which over the last two or so decades, has expanded exponentially in terms of student numbers and programmes amidst scarce resources, requires its management to constantly have an idea of optimising resources to gain its objectives and by following instructions while taking into account the institution's externalities. Short of this key strategy, the University is bound to experience extreme difficulties in attaining its gaols and objectives as well as its mission and vision. Makerere Journal of Higher Education Vol. 1, 2004: 13-24