Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of a Totally Open Oval Window on Bone Conduction in Otosclerosis

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in bone conduction thresholds before, during and after total stapedectomy. Study Design: Prospective clinical study. Methods: In 27 ears of 26 patients undergoing stapedectomy under local anesthesia, bone conduction was measured before surgery, during surgery under open oval window conditions, and after the insertion of a steel wire connective tissue prosthesis. Statistical data analysis was performed on the audiometric results. Results: Under open oval window conditions, bone conduction hearing was found to be improved between 500 and 2000 Hz, but not at 4000 Hz. After insertion of the prosthesis, an additional improvement was evident at 500 and 1000 Hz, but a loss was seen at 2000 and 4000 Hz. Conclusion: This is the first investigation reported in which audiometry was performed under open oval window conditions during stapes surgery. Our results demonstrate that at least part of the preoperative bone conduction hearing loss in otosclerosis must be of mechanical, but not of sensorineural origin, as already suspected by Carhart. The fixed footplate suppresses cochlear micromechanics mainly at frequencies between 500 to 2000 Hz. Furthermore, the loss in bone conduction hearing at 2000 and 4000 Hz after insertion of the prosthesis indicates that rather than the surgical procedure of total removal of the footplate, other factors such as the handling of the prosthesis or its mechanical properties after insertion cause high-frequency hearing loss after stapes surgery.
ML performance analysis of digital relaying in bi-directional relay channels

The research challenges to enhance the throughput of communication networks revealed the concept of network coding which is based on the idea of coding at packet level. The bi-directional relay channel in which two user terminals exchange independent information with the help of a relay terminal is among the prominent applications of network coding in wireless cooperative communications. In this paper, maximum likelihood (ML) performance analysis of digital relaying based bi-directional communication is presented. The three stage communication scenario is considered where the first and second stages are allotted to the transmissions of the users and after demodulation the relay broadcasts the network encoded packet obtained by a bit-wise XOR operation to the users in the third stage. The average bit error rate of this scheme with ML detection is derived for Rayleigh fading channels under noncoherent BFSK and coherent BPSK signaling. Simulation results are also presented to validate the theoretical analysis. Analytical and simulation results show that digital relaying based three stage bi-directional communication scheme with ML detection not only outperforms the noncooperative system that involves direct transmissions between user terminals but also prevents the diversity level reduction due to error propagation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Modeling of rebound phenomenon between ball and racket rubber with spinning effect

We model the rebound phenomenon between a ping-pong ball and the table/racket rubber. In the model between the ball and racket rubber, it is assumed that the kinetic energy of the contact velocity is stored as the potential energy due to the elasticity of the rubber. This assumption leads to that the impulse in the horizontal direction is proportional to the contact velocity. The vertical and horizontal COR in the models of the table and rubber are identified with the measured velocity and spin of the ball by high-speed vision sensors. The models are verified by other experimental data.
On the complexity of variations of mixed domination on graphs†

This paper is motivated by the concept of the mixed domination problem on graphs and dedicated to the complexity of variations of the problem such as the signed mixed domination, signed edge domination, minus mixed domination, and minus edge domination problems. In this paper, we present NP-completeness and MAX SNP-hardness results for some of them, and present a general framework of solving these problems and various dominating and covering problems for trees in linear time.
Effects of biosocial variables on changes in nutritional status of rural Bangladeshi children, pre- and post-monsoon flooding

Summary This study examined the effects of biosocial variables on changes in nutritional status of rural Bangladeshi children, aged less than 2 years, pre- and post-1987 monsoon flooding. Nutritional status was measured by weight for age: variables included were age, sex, sickness during 2 weeks preceding the survey, intake of vitamin A capsules, socioeconomic status of household, and mother's education. A multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed an adverse effect of flood on nutrition and the effect was dependent on sex of child and intake of vitamin A. After the flood the proportion of severely malnourished children was significantly greater among those who had not taken vitamin A. For boys the proportion with severe malnutrition increased after the flood and the increase was greater than for girls; however, boys always had a lower risk of severe malnutrition than girls.
Resveratrol reduces light and electron microscopic changes in acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity in rats: Role of iNOS expression

ABSTRACT Introduction: Hepatotoxicity is a major complication of acetaminophen (APAP), a widely used analgesic and antipyretic drug. Resveratrol (RSV) is a naturally occurring diphenol and it has anticancer, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties. Objectives: In this study, the beneficial effects of RSV on APAP-induced hepatotoxicity was investigated in rats. Materials and methods: Group 1: Ethanol, Group 2: Saline, Group 3: RSV (10 mg/kg/ip), Group 4: APAP (1000 mg/kg/ip/single dose), Group 5: APAP+RSV (20 min after administration of APAP). The rats were sacrificed 24 h after administration of APAP. Light and electron microscopic changes were evaluated. Levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were determined in liver tissue. Results: Rats of the ethanol, saline, and RSV groups did not present any histopathological alterations. In the APAP group, we observed vascular congestion, necrosis, inflammation, sinusoidal dilatation, and loss of glycogen content. In the APAP+RSV group, these changes were markedly reduced. iNOS immunostaining showed very weak positive stained hepatocytes the sections of control, saline, and RSV groups. However, in the APAP group, iNOS immunostaining was most evident in pericentral hepatocytes. In the same areas in APAP+RSV group, intensity of iNOS immunostaining decreased. A significant increase in MDA and decreases in GSH level, CAT, and SOD activity indicated that APAP-induced hepatotoxicity was mediated through oxidative stress. Significant beneficial changes were noted in tissue oxidative stress indicators in rats treated with RSV. Conclusion: These biochemical, histopathological, and ultrastructural findings revealed that RSV reduced the severity of APAP-induced alterations in liver.
Performance Analysis of an 8/6 Switched Reluctance Machine Using Finite-Element Method

This paper presents a non-linear finite-element model of an 8/6 switched reluctance machine (SRM) under single-phase excitation. The performance of this switched reluctance machine has been determined using the two-dimensional finite-element method under different rotor positions (fully aligned to fully unaligned) for varying exciting current conditions. The FEM results have been compared with the experimental ones. The flux and air-gap torque as determined by the FE analysis are found to be in a good agreement with the experimental ones in the case of the single-phase excitation.
A Hybrid Approach for Arabic Semantic Relation Extraction

Information retrieval applications are essential tools to manage the huge amount of information in the Web. Ontologies have great importance in these applications. The idea here is that several data belonging to a domain of interest are represented and related semantically in the ontology, which can help to navigate, manage and reuse these data. Despite of the growing need of ontology, only few works were interested in Arabic language. Indeed, arabic texts are highly ambiguous, especially when diacritics are absent. Besides, existent works does not cover all the types of se-mantic relations, which are useful to structure Arabic ontol-ogies. A lot of work has been done on cooccurrence- based techniques, which lead to over-generation. In this paper, we propose a new approach for Arabic se-mantic relation extraction. We use vocalized texts to reduce ambiguities and propose a new distributional approach for similarity calculus, which is compared to cooccurrence. We discuss our contribution through experimental results and propose some perspectives for future research.
A Global Map of Human Impact on Marine Ecosystems

The management and conservation of the world's oceans require synthesis of spatial data on the distribution and intensity of human activities and the overlap of their impacts on marine ecosystems. We developed an ecosystem-specific, multiscale spatial model to synthesize 17 global data sets of anthropogenic drivers of ecological change for 20 marine ecosystems. Our analysis indicates that no area is unaffected by human influence and that a large fraction (41%) is strongly affected by multiple drivers. However, large areas of relatively little human impact remain, particularly near the poles. The analytical process and resulting maps provide flexible tools for regional and global efforts to allocate conservation resources; to implement ecosystem-based management; and to inform marine spatial planning, education, and basic research.
The desmopressin test in the differential diagnosis between Cushing's disease and pseudo-Cushing states.

Differentiating Cushing's disease (CD) from pseudo-Cushing (PC) states may still be difficult in current practice. Because desmopressin (1-deamino-8D-arginine vasopressin, DDAVP), a vasopressin analogue, stimulates ACTH release in patients with CD but not in the majority of normal, obese, and depressed subjects, we investigated its ability to discriminate CD from PC states. One hundred seventy-three subjects (76 with active CD, 30 with PC, 36 with simple obesity, and 31 healthy volunteers) were tested with an iv bolus of 10 microg DDAVP. Sixty-one of these subjects also underwent a control study with saline. DDAVP induced marked ACTH and cortisol rises in CD (P < 0.005 vs. saline, for both ACTH and cortisol) but not in PC. A significant ACTH elevation occurred upon DDAVP administration also in normal and obese subjects, but it was much smaller than that observed in patients with CD (P < 0.0001). A peak absolute ACTH increase (> or =6 pmol/L), after DDAVP, allowed us to recognize 66 of 76 patients with CD and 88 of 97 subjects of the other groups. The same criterion correctly identified 18 of 20 patients with mild CD (24-h urinary free cortisol < or = 690 nmol/day) and 29 of 30 PC, resulting in a diagnostic accuracy of 94%, which was definitely higher than that displayed by urinary free cortisol, overnight 1-mg dexamethasone suppression test, and midnight plasma cortisol. In conclusion, the DDAVP test seems to be a useful adjunctive tool for the evaluation of hypercortisolemic patients chiefly because of its ability to differentiate mild CD from PC states.
Accumulation Profiles of Embryonic Salt-Soluble Proteins in Maize Hybrids and Parental Lines Indicate Matroclinous Inheritance: A Proteomic Analysis

Maize is one of the most widely cultivated crops. It accumulates a large quantity of seed storage proteins, which are important for seed development and germination, and contribute to the nutritional quality of seeds. Based on solubility, the storage proteins are divided into albumins (water-soluble), globulins (salt-soluble), prolamins (alcohol-soluble), and glutelins (acid- or alkali-soluble). Maize hybrids are cultivated due to the superior performance of F1 hybrids than that of their parents, a phenomenon known as heterosis. However, the accumulation patterns of seed storage proteins in maize embryos between the hybrids and their parental inbred lines have not been compared. In the present study, two elite inbred lines of China, Zheng 58 and Chang 7-2, and their reciprocal hybrids (Zheng 58 × Chang 7-2 and Chang 7-2 × Zheng 58) were used to explore parental influences on the accumulation patterns of seed storage proteins in maize embryos. For this purpose, we focused on seed salt-soluble proteins (SSPs) in our experiments. The SSPs were selectively extracted from maize mature embryos after extensive removal of water-soluble albumin and separated using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE), followed by mass spectrometry analysis. Our results indicated that the 2-DE SSP profiles of hybrids closely resembled those of their maternal parent rather than the paternal parent. In other words, 2-DE SSP profiles of Zheng 58 × Chang 7-2 were more similar those of Zheng 58 whereas such profiles of Chang 7-2 × Zheng 58 were more similar to those of Chang 7-2 although the 2-DE profiles of all four maize types were quite similar. In total, 12 relatively abundant SSPs spots representing five kinds of proteins were identified, of which nine protein spots displayed non-additive accumulation in at least one hybrid. This study provided additional data on dominance and partial dominance effects on maize hybrids embryos. Besides, earlier studies on accumulation profiles of globulin-1 (also known as vicilin), which is one of the most abundant globulins in maize embryos, also support the above results. This study would be helpful in revealing the mechanisms underlying SSPs accumulation patterns in the hybrids.
Growth and Respiratory Response of Fig (Ficus carica L. cv. Mission) Fruits to Ethylene.

Growth in diameter of the fig (Ficus carica L. cv. Mission) fruit takes place in three distinct periods; two periods (I and III) of rapid growth are separated by a period (II) of slow growth. With respect to exposure to ethylene, the fruit exhibits a two phase response. Ethylene inhibits fruit growth in phase A (period I), the period of cell division, stimulates growth in early phase B (early period II), and stimulates both growth and ripening during the remainder of phase B (late period II and period III). The adverse effect of exogenous ethylene on fruits during phase A is thought to be due to inhibition of cell division. The gradual transition occurring in the response of fruits during phase B was interpreted in terms of carbohydrate level in the fruits.The onset of period III and a respiratory climacteric rise was preceded by or concomitant with a sudden burst of endogenous ethylene synthesis. This, together with the fact that exogenous ethylene applied at the proper stage of fruit growth triggers both ripening and the climacteric rise, leads to the conclusion that ethylene is the causal agent. In other words, the data support the concept that ethylene is a growth hormone that initiates a chain of metabolic and physiological events leading to fig fruit ripening.
Amino-terminal Domain Tetramer Organization and Structural Effects of Zinc Binding in the N-Methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) Receptor

Background: NMDA receptors are ion channels activated by glutamate and glycine and inhibited by zinc. Results: Zinc binding causes a decrease in distance between the amino-terminal domain lower and upper lobes without affecting intersubunit distances. Conclusion: Zinc induces cleft closure in the amino-terminal domain without causing large scale rearrangements in the upper lobe of the ATD tetramer. Significance: This work demonstrates zinc-induced conformational changes in a functional NMDA receptor. N-Methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors mediate excitatory neurotransmission in the mammalian central nervous system. An important feature of these receptors is their capacity for allosteric regulation by small molecules, such as zinc, which bind to their amino-terminal domain (ATD). Zinc inhibition through high affinity binding to the ATD has been examined through functional studies; however, there is no direct measurement of associated conformational changes. We used luminescence resonance energy transfer to show that the ATDs undergo a cleft closure-like conformational change upon binding zinc, but no changes are observed in intersubunit distances. Furthermore, we find that the ATDs are more closely packed than the related AMPA receptors. These results suggest that the stability of the upper lobe contacts between ATDs allow for the efficient propagation of the cleft closure conformational change toward the ligand-binding domain and transmembrane segments, ultimately inhibiting the channel.
The Usefulness of Twitter for Open Source Developers as A Feedback Tool for The Success of Their Projects

This paper analyzes correlations between success indicators of Open Source projects and Twitter posts containing emotional signals on such projects. Within a timeframe of two years (February 1st 2014 January 31st 2016), 61,570 Twitter posts containing names of Open Source projects were collected. These posts were classified into positive or negative signals based on their content. For instance, posts that contain the terms ”happy”, ”love”, ”fun”, ”good”, ”bad”, ”sad” and ”unhappy” represent positive or negative emotional signals. The purpose of this research is to find whether or not people express their feelings about Open Source projects on Twitter and to determine if these feelings are an indication of how successful an Open Source project is. This is interesting because this enables Open Source developers to use Twitter to get reliable feedback from their users about their projects. Among the aspects that are explored in this research are the number of tweets containing positive signals, number of tweets containing negative signals and the number of downloads of Open Source projects.
IMPROVEMENT IN OBESITY AND GLUCOSE TOLERANCE IN ELDERLY PEOPLE AFTER LIFESTYLE CHANGES 1 YEAR AFTER AN ORAL GLUCOSE TOLERANCE TEST IN A RURAL AREA IN LAO PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

having received house calls based on their response to the following question: ‘‘In the last month how many times did you see a doctor in your home? ’’ Participants who responded that they had at least one house call were labeled ‘‘House Call Group’’ and those with none were labeled ‘‘No House Call Group. ’’ The groups were compared on preselected demographic, functional, medical, and social measures. Descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon rank sum and chi-square tests were used. Statistical analysis was performed using SAS 9.1. 3 (SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC).
A Novel Use of Genipin-Fixed Gelatin as Extracellular Matrix for Peripheral Nerve Regeneration

Application of combining herbal medicine and biomedical material science to nerve regeneration is a new approach. In this study, we describe a novel use of purified genipin, which can be extracted from Gardenia jasminoides Ellis, fixing the gelatin to be an extracellular matrix for peripheral nerve regeneration. A 10-mm gap of rat sciatic nerve was created between the proximal and distal nerve stumps, which were sutured into silicone rubber tubes filled with either the genipin-fixed gelatin or collagen gel. Silicone rubber tubes filled with saline were used as controls. Six weeks after implantation, regeneration across the nerve gaps occurred in 80 and 90% of the animals from the groups of genipin-fixed gelatin and collagen, respectively, whereas only 30% in the control group. Large numbers of myelinated axons were also seen in the genipin-fixed gelatin (5104±3278) and the collagen groups (8063±1807). These findings indicated that the genipin-fixed gelatin could be an acceptable extracellular matrix for nerve regeneration.
C 4 Cycles : Past , Present , and Future Research on C 4 Photosynthesis

In the late 1960s, a vibrant new research field was ignited by the discovery that instead of fixing CO2 into a C3 compound, some plants initially fix CO2 into a four-carbon (C4) compound. The term C4 photosynthesis was born. In the 20 years that followed, physiologists, biochemists, and molecular and developmental biologists grappled to understand how the C4 photosynthetic pathway was partitioned between two morphologically distinct cell types in the leaf. By the early 1990s, much was known about C4 biochemistry, the types of leaf anatomy that facilitated the pathway, and the patterns of gene expression that underpinned the biochemistry. However, virtually nothing was known about how the pathway was regulated. It should have been an exciting time, but many of the original researchers were approaching retirement, C4 plants were proving recalcitrant to genetic manipulation, and whole-genome sequences were not even a dream. In combination, these factors led to reduced funding and the failure to attract young people into the field; the endgame seemed to be underway. But over the last 5 years, there has been a resurgence of interest and funding, not least because of ambitious multinational projects that aim to increase crop yields by introducing C4 traits into C3 plants. Combined with new technologies, this renewed interest has resulted in the development of more sophisticated approaches toward understanding how the C4 pathway evolved, how it is regulated, and how it might be manipulated. The extent of this resurgence is manifest by the publication in 2011 of more than 650 pages of reviews on different aspects of C4. Here, I provide an overview of our current understanding, the questions that are being addressed, and the issues that lie ahead.
Remote measurement of eye direction allowing subject motion over one cubic foot of space.

The remote oculometer is a new instrument for the remote measurement of eye direction and pupil diameter. The electrooptical sensor unit is located several feet from the subject, who is free to move the eye being sensed throughout 1 ft 3 of space. The video processing is performed in real time by a standard minicomputer. The oculometer processor (minicomputer) provides automatic calibration and linearization to each subject and can, supply the output eye-direction information in the form of either fixation-point coordinates on any specified fixation plane, azimuth and elevation, or direction cosines.The oculometer measures line-of-sight to an accuracy of 1° for eye rotation angles, relative to the sensor unit, of from 0° to + 30° elevation and from -30 ° to + 30 ° azimuth.
Intracranial venous system Magnetic Resonance Venography: Diagnostic radiological methods possibilities, limitations and indications

Poster: "ECR 2012 / C-0442 / Intracranial venous system Magnetic Resonance Venography: Diagnostic radiological methods possibilities, limitations and indications" by: "T. Kakkar1, S. Dzelzite2; 1Marupe/LV, 2Riga/LV"