Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Normal and Spondylolytic Pediatric Spine Movements With Reference to Instantaneous Axis of Rotation

Study Design. A radiologic study of lumbar kinematics in the pediatric spine was conducted. Objectives. To clarify the kinematic alteration in the pediatric spine with pars defects by measuring the location of the instantaneous axis of rotation. Summary of Background Data. Vertebral slippage and deformities such as wedging of L5 are observed frequently in pediatric patients with spondylolysis. However, the kinematics of pediatric lumbar spine with pars defects has not yet been well documented. Methods. Radiographs of 70 pediatric patients (57 boys and 13 girls) with low back pain were examined. The control group (without spondylolysis) consisted of 22 patients (15 boys and 7 girls; mean age, 14.6 years; range, 10–18 years), and the lysis group (with spondylolysis at L5) consisted of 48 patients (42 boys and 6 girls; mean age, 14.5 years; range, 11–18 years). The lysis group was further divided into four subgroups according to the stage of defects and existence of slippage: Group 1 (early stage defect), Group 2 (progressive stage defect), Group 3 (terminal stage defect without slippage), and Group 4 (terminal stage defect with slippage of more than 5%; olisthesis). The instantaneous axis of rotation at L4–L5 and L5–S1 from the extended to the flexed position was measured on lateral dynamic radiograms taken in with the subject in the recumbent position. The relation between lumbar index and the site of instantaneous axis of rotation at L5–S1 also was analyzed. Results. The site of instantaneous axis of rotation at L5–S1 and L4–L5 in the control group was not located in the rotating cranial vertebra. In 1 of the 11 patients in the early-stage subgroup, the instantaneous axis of rotation at L5–S1 was found in the cranial vertebra. In 4 of the 11 patients in the progressive stage, 11 of the 16 patients in the terminal stage, and in 7 of the 10 patients in the olisthesis subgroup, the instantaneous axis of rotation was located in the cranial vertebra. Cranial deviation in the instantaneous axis of rotation was observed more frequently in the vertebra with severe deformity less than 80% of the lumbar index than in the vertebra with milder deformity. Conclusions. The instantaneous axis of rotation deviated cranially as the stage of pars defects advanced, and as the wedge deformity increased. Kinematic alteration of the lumbar spine in pediatric patients with spondylolysis may affect chondrocytes of the endplate, perhaps contributing to the consequent spine deformities occurring secondarily to spondylolysis.
Clustering analysis of human finger grasping based on SOM neural network model

SOM (Self-organizing Maps) model was introduced to cluster and analyse on the human grasping activities of GloveMAP based on data reduction of the initial grasping data.By acquiring the data reduction of the initial hand grasping data of the several objects, it will be going to be functioned as the inputs to the SOM model.After the iterative learning of net-trained, all data of the trained network will be simulated and finally self-organized.The output results of models’ are farthest approached to the reality in 3-dimensional grasping features.The experimental result of the simulation signal will generate the simulate result of the grasping features from the selected object.The whole experiment of grasping features is derived into three features/groups and the results are satisfactory.
Ambulance diversion associated with reduced access to cardiac technology and increased one-year mortality.

Ambulance diversion, which occurs when a hospital emergency department (ED) is temporarily closed to incoming ambulance traffic, is an important system-level interruption that causes delays in treatment and potentially lower quality of care. There is little empirical evidence investigating the mechanisms through which ambulance diversion might affect patient outcomes. We investigated whether ambulance diversion affects access to technology, likelihood of treatment, and ultimately health outcomes for Medicare patients with acute myocardial infarction in twenty-six California counties. We found that patients whose nearest hospital ED had significant ambulance diversions experienced reduced access to hospitals with cardiac technology. This led to a 4.6 percent decreased likelihood of revascularization and a 9.8 percent increase in one-year mortality compared to patients who did not experience diversion. Policy makers may wish to consider creating a policy to specifically manage certain time-sensitive conditions that require technological intervention during periods of ambulance diversion.
Impact of through silicon via induced mechanical stress on fully depleted Bulk FinFET technology

This work provides for the first time an experimental assessment of the impact of thermo-mechanically induced stresses by copper through-silicon vias, TSVs, on fully depleted Bulk FinFET devices. Both n and p type FinFETs are significantly affected by TSV proximity, exhibiting lower impact on drive current with respect to the planar devices. The obtained results are in agreement with the thermo-mechanical models for Cu-TSV and are supported by the 4 point bending stress calibration.
The osseous and dental changes of patients with chronic renal failure by CBCT.

OBJECTIVES The aim of the present study was to evaluate the osseous changes of the jaws of patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) by CBCT. METHODS On CBCT scans obtained from 15 patients with CRF and 15 control patients (7 males and 8 females), the mean was calculated for the antegonial index (AI), mental index (MI), panoramic mandibular index (PMI) and mandibular cortical index (MCI). The MI, AI and PMI, pulp chamber size, number of teeth with pulp calcification and lamina dura loss were compared using the paired t-test, and the MCI values were analysed using the χ(2) test. RESULTS There were no statistically significant differences in the PMI, MI and AI values in patients with CRF and the control group. With regard to MCI, the cortical margins of the mandible were more porous in patients with CRF than in the control group, and also soft-tissue calcifications, lamina dura loss and radiolucent defects were more common in patients with CRF. There were no statistically significant differences in pulp chamber size and pulp calcifications between patients with CRF and the control group. CONCLUSIONS Radiographic changes in the jawbones of patients with CRF may be commonly seen. CBCT is a valuable diagnostic tool for the evaluation of osseous findings, pulp chamber, soft-tissue calcifications and MCIs and allows indices measurement in three dimensions without any superposition.
Effect of spinal osteophytosis on bone mineral density measurements in vertebral osteoporosis.

BMJ 1993;307:172-3 Bone mineral density measurements are used increasingly to assess the future risk of fracture and to monitor the response to treatment. The lumbar region, which is usually used for these measurements (L1-L4), is the most reproducible. It is also commonly affected by degenerative spinal disease, including osteophytosis, the prevalence of which increases dramatically with age. ' Other small studies on whether lumbar bone mineral density measurements are affected by osteophytes have been contradictory. )4 We have investigated to what extent varying degrees of spinal osteophytosis can affect bone mineral density measurements in the common clinical setting of women presenting with vertebral fractures.
Cardiac sympathetic nerve function in congestive heart failure.

BACKGROUND Increased availability of norepinephrine (NE) for activation of cardiac adrenoceptors (increased cardiac adrenergic drive) and depletion of myocardial NE stores may contribute to the pathophysiology and progression of congestive heart failure. This study used a comprehensive neurochemical approach to examine the mechanisms responsible for these abnormalities. METHODS AND RESULTS Subjects with and without congestive heart failure received intravenous infusions of [(3)H]NE. Cardiac spillover, reuptake, vesicular-axoplasmic exchange, and tissue stores of NE were assessed from arterial and coronary venous plasma concentrations of endogenous and [(3)H]-labeled NE and dihydroxyphenylglycol. Tyrosine hydroxylase activity was assessed from plasma dopa, and NE turnover was assessed from measurements of NE metabolites. NE release and reuptake were both increased in the failing heart; however, the efficiency of NE reuptake was reduced such that cardiac spillover of NE was increased disproportionately more than neuronal release of NE. Cardiac NE stores were 47% lower and the rate of vesicular leakage of NE was 42% lower in the failing than in the normal heart. Cardiac spillover of dopa and NE turnover were increased similarly in congestive heart failure. CONCLUSIONS Increased neuronal release of NE and decreased efficiency of NE reuptake both contribute to increased cardiac adrenergic drive in congestive heart failure. Decreased vesicular leakage of NE, secondary to decreased myocardial stores of NE, limits the increase in cardiac NE turnover in CHF. Decreased NE store size in the failing heart appears to result not from insufficient tyrosine hydroxylation but from chronically increased NE turnover and reduced efficiency of NE reuptake and storage.
Antimutagencity of Phyllamentus Embelica

Cancer is a leading cause of mortality in most countries. It is a third most cause of death worldwide preceded by cardiovascular and infectious diseases. Progress has been made in diagnosis and therapy of cancer by countries. There are many therapeutic strategies including chemotherapy for cancer treatment, but most of them have lots of side effects. Further drug resistance limits the successful outcomes in most cases. Therefore the usage of a variety of traditional remedies which have relatively less harmful side-effects are employed in folk medicine for the treatment of cancer. Moreover herbal remedies which cause less side-effects are believed to be safe and readily accepted by the general public. Emblica officinalis Gaertn (Phyllanthus emblica, Linn Family Euphorbiaceae) is a medicinal plant described in Ayurveda, the oldest medicinal system in the world and the World Health Organization has approved its medicinal efficacy. Various therapeutic properties of this genus such as antihepatotoxic, antilithic, antihypertensive and most recently anti-HIV have been reported . The most significant properties of Phyllanthus emblica which has been studied is its growth inhibitory activity on various cancer cell lines. also P. emblica has demonstrated antimutagencity activity on diffrent cancer .
Sociotechnical Systems and Ethics in the Large

Advances in AI techniques and computing platforms have triggered a lively and expanding discourse on ethical decision making by autonomous agents. Much recent work in AI concentrates on the challenges of moral decision making from a decision-theoretic perspective, and especially the representation of various ethical dilemmas. Such approaches may be useful but in general are not productive because moral decision making is as context-driven as other forms of decision making, if not more. In contrast, we consider ethics not from the standpoint of an individual agent but of the wider sociotechnical systems (STS) in which the agent operates. Our contribution in this paper is the conception of ethical STS founded on governance that takes into account stakeholder values, normative constraints on agents, and outcomes (states of the STS) that obtain due to actions taken by agents. An important element of our conception is accountability, which is necessary for adequate consideration of outcomes that prima facie appear ethical or unethical. Focusing on STS provides a basis for tackling the difficult problems of ethics because the norms of an STS give an operational basis for agent decision making.
WPP, No. 105: An Analysis of the Intonation of Complex Sentences in Farsi

UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics, No. 105, 35-50 An Analysis of the Intonation of Complex Sentences in Farsi * Timothy Arbisi-Kelm University of Wisconsin-Madison, arbisikelm@wisc.edu 1. Introduction This paper examines the intonation patterns of Farsi produced in complex sentences. The elicitations of two native Farsi speakers, Sharon and Henry, were compiled and analyzed following the ToBI transcription system. 2. Simple Declaratives It is proposed here that basic Farsi intonation structure consists of three levels, in increasing hierarchical order: the Accentual Phrase (AP), the intermediate phrase (ip), and the Intonation Phrase (IP). The end of the AP is often marked by a high tone, Ha, and rarely a low tone, La (La occurs vacuously utterance finally, marked by L-L%. In this paper, this type of La is not labeled). An AP has at most one pitch accent (L+H*, H*, or H*+L) and the most common type is L+H*. The end of an ip is marked by a boundary tone, H- or L-, and phrase-final lengthening. The end of an IP is also marked by H% or L%, but the degree of IP-final lengthening is stronger than that of ip-final lengthening. As a highly inflected language, Farsi has relatively free word order, although SOV occurs most commonly. Farsi intonation is characterized by rising contour pitch accents realized on both open and closed-class words. Figure 1 displays the canonical pattern, in which L+H* contour pitch accents are produced on the final syllable of nouns and on the initial syllable of a verb. Evidence for accentual phrases can also be identified in Figure 1 as a phonetically realized upstep following a pitch accented syllable. Except for cases when unbounded grammatical morphemes occur, each word boundary also represents an accentual phrase boundary (Ha or La). Declaratives terminate in low intermediate and intonational phrase boundary tones. The singleton high pitch accent (H*) could likely reflect the allotonic realization of an underlying bitonal L+H* pitch accent, given that very little material separates finally-stressed rusArio from the initially-stressed verb mikeSune. This paper is a revised version of the term project submitted for a proseminar (Ling251: Intonational Field Methods: Farsi) offered at UCLA, Department of Linguistics, in Spring 2003. The class was taught by Prof. Sun-Ah Jun. Thanks to the speakers for their patience and helpfulness in providing the data, and to the class participants for their analytical contributions.
Luteinizing hormone release in the rat induced by blood volume depletion.

In ether–anesthetized, ovariectomized 200–250–g rats treated for 3 days with estrogen, progesterone and thyroxine (OEPT rat), significant elevations in radioimmunoassayable LH occurred after 5 ml of blood were removed in divided amounts over a 30–min period. Significant elevations of LH also occurred 5 min after 4 ml of blood were removed acutely from OEPT rats and from normal diestrus female rats but not after identical blood loss from untreated ovariectomized rats whose LH levels were already high. Volume replacement with bovine serum albumin significantly reduced the effects of hemorrhage on LH levels. Altered peripheral metabolism of LH or peripheral release and recirculation of previously secreted LH could not account for these LH increases because the disappearance of injected 125Ilabeled rat LH from the plasma of OEPT rats was not altered by blood volume depletion. Pituitary sensitivity to LH—RF, as measured by plasma LH increment after injection of porcine hypothalamic extract, did not increase in.
Changes in Clinical and Hotel Expenditures Following Publication of the Nursing Home Compare Report Card

Background:Nursing Home Compare first published clinical quality measures at the end of 2002. It is a quality report card that for the first time offers consumers easily accessible information about the clinical quality of nursing homes. It led to changes in consumers' demand, increasing the relative importance of clinical versus hotel aspects of quality in their search and choice of a nursing home. Objectives:To examine the hypothesis that nursing homes responding to these changes in demand shifted the balance of resources from hotel to clinical activities. Subjects:The study included 10,022 free-standing nursing homes nationwide during 2001 to 2006. Research Design and Data:A retrospective multivariate statistical analysis of trends in the ratio of clinical to hotel expenditures, using Medicare cost reports, Minimum Data Set and Online Survey, Certification and Reporting data, controlling for changes in residents' acuity and facility fixed effects. Inference is based on robust standard errors. Results:The ratio of clinical to hotel expenditures averaged 1.78. It increased significantly (P < 0.001) by 5% following the publication of the report card. The increase was larger and more significant among nursing homes with worse reported quality, lower occupancy, those located in more competitive markets, for-profit ownership and owned by a chain. Conclusions:The increase in the ratio of clinical to hotel expenditures following publication of the report card suggests that nursing homes responded as expected to the changes in the elasticity of demand with respect to clinical quality brought about by the public reporting of clinical quality measures. The response was stronger among nursing homes facing stronger incentives.
Vaccinia Virus Envelope D8L Protein Binds to Cell Surface Chondroitin Sulfate and Mediates the Adsorption of Intracellular Mature Virions to Cells

ABSTRACT We previously showed that an envelope A27L protein of intracellular mature virions (IMV) of vaccinia virus binds to cell surface heparan sulfate during virus infection. In the present study we identified another viral envelope protein, D8L, that binds to chondroitin sulfate on cells. Soluble D8L protein interferes with the adsorption of wild-type vaccinia virions to cells, indicating a role in virus entry. To explore the interaction of cell surface glycosaminoglycans and vaccinia virus, we generated mutant viruses from a control virus, WR32-7/Ind14K (A27L+ D8L+) to be defective in expression of either the A27L or the D8L gene (A27L+D8L− or A27L− D8L+) or both (A27L− D8L−). The A27L+D8L+ and A27L− D8L+ mutants grew well in BSC40 cells, consistent with previous observations. However, the IMV titers of A27L+ D8L− and A27L− D8L− viruses in BSC40 cells were reduced, reaching only 10% of the level for the control virus. The data suggested an important role for D8L protein in WR32-7/Ind14K virus growth in cell cultures. A27L protein, on the other hand, could not complement the functions of D8L protein. The low titers of the A27L+ D8L− and A27L−D8L− mutant viruses were not due to defects in the morphogenesis of IMV, and the mutant virions demonstrated a brick shape similar to that of the control virions. Furthermore, the infectivities of the A27L+ D8L− and A27L−D8L− mutant virions were 6 to 10% of that of the A27L+ D8L+ control virus. Virion binding assays revealed that A27L+ D8L− and A27L− D8L− mutant virions bound less well to BSC40 cells, indicating that binding of viral D8L protein to cell surface chondroitin sulfate could be important for vaccinia virus entry.
Leishmania infantum (syn. chagasi) infection in cats from a Brazilian southeastern endemic area for canine and human leishmaniasis

Leishmaniose visceral (LV) e uma importante zoonose causada por Leishmania infantum (syn. chagasi ) nas Americas, e transmitida por flebotomineos do genero Lytzomyia . O diagnostico da infeccao por Leishmania em gatos e muito importante para a melhor compreensao do papel dos felinos na cadeia epidemiologica de LV. Este estudo objetivou determinar a ocorrencia de L. infantum (syn. chagasi ) em 109 gatos domesticos de Birigui-SP, Brasil, uma area endemica para leishmaniose canina e humana, utilizando o Teste de Imunofluorescencia Indireta (IFI), hemocultura e Reacao em Cadeia pela Polimerase (PCR). Cinquenta e dois (47,7%; CI95% 38.6-57.0%) amostras foram positivas pela hemocultura; tres (2.8%; CI95% 1.0-7.8%) pela IFI e 17 (15.6%; CI95% 10.0-23.6%) pela PCR. De acordo com os resultados apresentados, pode-se concluir que gatos provenientes de areas endemicas para leishmaniose podem estar frequentemente expostos ao agente e sugerem a importância desses animais no ciclo epidemiologico, demonstrando a necessidade de pesquisas e alternativas de diagnostico para auxiliar no estabelecimento de medidas preventivas de controle da doenca.
Changepoint detection using nonlinear filters

In this paper we study the optimal nonlinear filter for a jump process arising in changepoint detection problems. We formulate an suboptimal approximation to this filter which uses the Zakai equation to define projection operators in a suitably chosen probability density space. This is an extension of the powerful approach introduced in [4], where such operators where used to filter diffusion processes. We compare this Projection Filter with the optimal one in a simulation study, and indicate how its excellent performance may be exploited in detection and estimation problems.
Short multiwavelength fiber laser made of a large-band distributed Fabry-Pe/spl acute/rot structure

Multiwavelength fiber lasers are obtained by writing two superimposed chirped fiber Bragg gratings in a photosensitive Er/sup 3+/--Yb/sup 3+/ codoped optical fiber. The chirped gratings create a distributed Fabry-Pe/spl acute/rot structure in which the resonating fields of the different laser lines are spatially separated, thus, reducing cross-gain modulation. We demonstrate multiwavelength lasers emitting simultaneously over 8 and 16 lines spaced by 50 GHz. The active structure is very compact having a total active length of 8 cm. We discuss how the properties of the device are governed by the parameters of the chirped gratings giving high flexibility in the laser design.
Manipulation of the host cell death pathway by Shigella

Host cells deploy multiple defences against microbial infection. One prominent host defence mechanism, the death of infected cells, plays a pivotal role in clearing damaged cells, eliminating pathogens, removing replicative niches, exposing intracellular bacterial pathogens to extracellular immune surveillance and presenting bacteria‐derived antigens to the adaptive immune system. Although cell death can occur under either physiological or pathophysiological conditions, it acts as an innate defence mechanism against bacterial pathogens by limiting their persistent colonization. However, many bacterial pathogens, including Shigella, have evolved mechanisms that manipulate host cell death for their own benefit.
Research on the industrial network architecture of northbound interface

In modern industrial control, it is significant to achieve interoperability of state data and control data at field level and service management layer. Therefore, the demand for data exchange and sharing is getting higher and higher. This paper presents a research of the common mainstream network protocols on industrial network architecture of Northbound Interface, then it makes a comprehensive analysis of protocol vitality, protocol satisfaction capability, use-cost of protocol and its covering products, vendors that support the protocol and product richness, and the optimum protocol has been chosen for a locomotive manufacturing enterprise at last.