Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bilateral Upper Limb Training With Functional Electric Stimulation in Patients With Chronic Stroke

Background. The recovery rate of upper limb function after stroke is poor when compared with independent walking. Therefore, effective methods are warranted for upper limb rehabilitation. Objective. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of functional electric stimulation (FES) with bilateral activities training on upper limb function. Methods. This study was a double-blinded randomized controlled trial. Twenty patients were recruited 6 months after the onset of stroke and completed 15 training sessions. Participants were randomly assigned to the FES group or to the control group. Each session consisted of stretching activities (10 minutes), FES with bilateral tasks (20 minutes), and occupational therapy treatment (60 minutes). The participants used a self-trigger mechanism, with an accelerometer as a motion detector, for generating an electric stimulation pattern that was synchronized with the bilateral upper limb activities during the training. The participants in the control group received the same duration of stretching and occupational therapy training except that they just received placebo stimulation with the bilateral tasks. The outcome measures included Functional Test for the Hemiplegic Upper Extremity (FTHUE), Fugl—Meyer Assessment (FMA), grip power, forward reaching distance, active range of motion of wrist extension, Functional Independence Measure, and Modified Ashworth Scale. Results. At baseline comparison, there was no significant difference in both groups. After 15 training sessions, the FES group had significant improvement in FMA (P = .039), FTHUE (P = .001), and active range of motion of wrist extension (P = .020) when compared with the control group. Conclusions. Bilateral upper limb training with FES could be an effective method for upper limb rehabilitation of stroke patients after 15 training sessions.
Antennae and Sexual Receptivity in Drosophila melanogaster Females

For the female to be normally responsive to the display of wing vibrations by males, the arista and funiculus of the female's antenna must be intact and able to move freely. The arista probably acts as a sail, twisting the funiculus and thus stimulating units of Johnston's organ at its base.
Monocyte chemoattractant protein‐1 (MCP‐1) expression in primary lymphoepithelioma‐like carcinomas (LELCs) of the lung

Lymphoepithelioma‐like carcinoma (LELC) of the lung is a recently recognized primary non‐small cell lung carcinoma with distinct clinicopathological features and an aetiological association with Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infection. The tumour consists of clusters and sheets of poorly or undifferentiated tumour cells in close association with numerous mononuclear inflammatory cells, including a rich component of tumour‐associated macrophages (TAMs). To investigate the molecular mechanism leading to the TAM‐rich stroma, the expression of a monocyte‐specific chemotactic and activating factor, monocyte chemoattractant protein‐1 (MCP‐1), was studied by reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) and in situ hybridization (ISH), and the presence of TAMs was demonstrated by immunohistochemistry in nine LELCs. The results were compared with those found in 17 conventional non‐small cell lung carcinomas. RT‐PCR showed specific MCP‐1 amplification in both LELCs and non‐LELCs, but ISH demonstrated a unique and extensive expression of MCP‐1 transcripts by the tumour cells of LELCs only, while TAMs, stromal fibroblasts, and endothelial cells formed the major source of MCP‐1 in non‐LELCs. TAMs in LELCs were more abundant and showed a close topographical relationship with the MCP‐1‐expressing tumour cells. The results indicate that tumour cell expression of MCP‐1 in LELCs is an important mechanism contributing to their distinctive morphological features. This is the first study that demonstrates the in vivo upregulation of a monocyte‐specific chemokine by EBV‐related carcinomas, illustrating an interesting aspect of tumour biology in EBV‐related neoplasms. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Heterodimerization of Msx and Dlx homeoproteins results in functional antagonism

Protein-protein interactions are known to be essential for specifying the transcriptional activities of homeoproteins. Here we show that representative members of the Msx and Dlx homeoprotein families form homo- and heterodimeric complexes. We demonstrate that dimerization by Msx and Dlx proteins is mediated through their homeodomains and that the residues required for this interaction correspond to those necessary for DNA binding. Unlike most other known examples of homeoprotein interactions, association of Msx and Dlx proteins does not promote cooperative DNA binding; instead, dimerization and DNA binding are mutually exclusive activities. In particular, we show that Msx and Dlx proteins interact independently and noncooperatively with homeodomain DNA binding sites and that dimerization is specifically blocked by the presence of such DNA sites. We further demonstrate that the transcriptional properties of Msx and Dlx proteins display reciprocal inhibition. Specifically, Msx proteins act as transcriptional repressors and Dlx proteins act as activators, while in combination, Msx and Dlx proteins counteract each other's transcriptional activities. Finally, we show that the expression patterns of representative Msx and Dlx genes (Msx1, Msx2, Dlx2, and Dlx5) overlap in mouse embryogenesis during limb bud and craniofacial development, consistent with the potential for their protein products to interact in vivo. Based on these observations, we propose that functional antagonism through heterodimer formation provides a mechanism for regulating the transcriptional actions of Msx and Dlx homeoproteins in vivo.
Maturation of Energy Metabolism in the Lamb: Changes in Myosin ATPase and Creatine Kinase Activities

Summary: Studies have been carried out to assess maturation of myofibrillar and mitochondrial proteins in fetal (113 to 140 days gestation), neonatal (30 min to 21 days postpartum), and adult sheep hearts.Ca++-activated myosin ATPase activity was ˜20% lower in fetal than in adult left ventricular myocardium (1.13 ± 0.06, n = 12, versus 1.36 ± 0.07, n = 9, μmoles P1 per g protein per sec; P < 0.025). In fetal and neonatal hearts (but not in adult hearts), myosin ATPase activity was slightly higher (˜14%; P < 0.001) in right ventricular tissue than in left ventricular tissue. In contrast to these small changes in myosin ATPase activity, large changes indicative of maturation of energy metabolism occurred in the creatine kinase system: between 115 days gestation and 21 days postpartum, total creating kinase activity increased nearly 8-fold (0.2 to 1.6 IU/mg cardiac mass), the MM-creatine kinase isozyme increased 7-fold (0.2 to 1.5 IU/mg wet weight), and mitochondrial creatine kinase increased more than 25-fold (< 0.01 to 0.27 IU/mg wet weight). The total creatine pool, but not the ATP pool, increased (from ˜6 to ˜15 nmoles/g tissue). Neither the concentration nor isozyme distribution of lactate dehydrogenase, a glycolytic enzyme, changed during this 7-wk period of development.Speculation: We speculate that changes in biochemical composition of energy-utilizing and -producing proteins, coupled with alterations in the structure and cellular distribution of mitochondria and myofibrils, contribute to the changes in mechanical performance characteristic of the maturing heart.
La agricultura familiar en el desarrollo rural: continuidades y rupturas del paradigma neoliberal en Argentina y Colombia

Family farming in rural development: continuities and ruptures of the neoliberal paradigm in Argentina and Colombia The rural sector policies in Latin America have tried to mitigate the prevailing contradictions and encourage their participation in economic development, in the pursuit of improving the welfare of society. However, these strategies and actions emerge from a particular understanding of 'development' and the appropriate ways to achieve it; in this context, provides a leading or marginal role to family farming. However, after decades of policies and programs implementation aimed to the "rural development", them have failed to result in structural changes or improves in the living conditions of the less capitalized producers sector. Thus, the dominant development policies frame them as dependent subjects in an ongoing process of disappearance, and not as subjects in constant transformation dynamics looking to ensure their reproduction. At this, this article restates this discussion, with reference to two Latin American countries, with the aim of finding continuities and ruptures in the dominant development paradigms, and revealing the paper of family farming.
Ontogeny of 3D rib curvature and its importance for the understanding of human thorax development.

OBJECTIVES Sagittal and axial rib orientation relative to the spine are two factors that modify rib cage morphology during ontogeny. Some studies suggest that these factors do not operate in the same way at the upper (ribs 1-5) and lower thorax (ribs 6-10) during postnatal growth, but it is unknown if the ontogenetic thoracic changes are produced by morphological changes of the ribs (intrinsic rib factors) or by external factors related to costal joints (extrinsic rib factors). MATERIAL AND METHODS To clarify these questions, we applied 3D geometric morphometrics of landmarks and sliding semilandmarks (N = 20/rib) to 280 individual ribs (1-10) of Homo sapiens comprising the entire human ontogeny and growth simulations were carried out. RESULTS PCA shows that intrinsic rib factors (rib torsion and axial rib curvature) are ontogenetic factors of variability that contribute to configuring the adult thorax shape. Moreover, growth simulations and regression slopes suggest that the upper thorax unit is comprised by ribs 1-7 and the lower unit at least by ribs 8-10. DISCUSSION These results suggest anatomical constraints for ontogenetic rib variation, since ribs 1-7 (true ribs) are directly linked to the sternum. Moreover, these results are supported by functional anatomy because pulmonary kinematics would influence the upper unit and diaphragmatic kinematics would influence the lower one. Our findings are relevant not only to understanding how changes at individual ribs contribute to the adult thorax morphology, but also to the development and evolution of the modern human rib cage.
RESAR: Reliable storage at exabyte scale reconsidered

Stored data needs to be protected against device failure and irrecoverable sector read errors, yet doing so at exabyte scale can be challenging because of the large number of failures that must be handled. We have developed and presented RESAR (Robust, Efficient, Scalable, Autonomous, Reliable) storage, an approach to storage system redundancy that only uses XOR-based parity and employs a graph to lay out data and parity [5]. Here we add to our prior work by giving a proof of our analytic results for RESAR reliability. The results presented here are valid for any size RESAR layouts and allow us to make an exact comparison of spiral RESAR robustness with an equivalent RAID 6 disk array.
Health-related quality of life and determinant factors in celiac disease. A population-based analysis of adult patients in Spain.

BACKGROUND Celiac disease (CD) has a negative impact on the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of affected patients. Although HRQL and its determinants have been examined in Spanish CD patients specifically recruited in hospital settings, these aspects of CD have not been assessed among the general Spanish population. METHODS An observational, transversal study of a non-randomized, representative sample of adult celiac patients throughout all of Spain's Autonomous Regions. Subjects were recruited through celiac patient associations. A Spanish version of the self-administered Celiac Disease-Quality of Life (CD-QOL) questionnaire was used. Determinant factors of HRQL were assessed with the aid of multivariate analysis to control for confounding factors. RESULTS We analyzed the responses provided by 1,230 patients, 1,092 (89.2%) of whom were women. The overall mean value for the CD-QOL index was 56.3 ± 18.27 points. The dimension that obtained the most points was dysphoria, with 81.3 ± 19.56 points, followed by limitations with 52.3 ± 23.43 points; health problems, with 51.6 ± 26.08 points, and inadequate treatment, with 36.1 ± 21.18 points. Patient age and sex, along with time to diagnosis, and length of time on a gluten-free diet were all independent determinant factors of certain dimensions of HRQL: women aged 31 to 40 expressed poorer HRQL while time to diagnosis and length of time on a gluten-free diet were determinant factors for better HRQL scores. CONCLUSIONS The HRQL of adult Spanish celiac subjects is moderate, improving with the length of time patients remain on a gluten-free diet.
Change in cognitive function over time in very low‐birth‐weight infants.

CONTEXT Preterm very low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants have a high prevalence of neurodevelopmental disability when evaluated during the first several years of life. However, recent experimental data suggest that the developing brain may recover from or compensate for injury. OBJECTIVE To determine if there is cognitive improvement throughout early and middle childhood following VLBW birth. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Follow-up data of 296 infants born weighing 600 to 1250 g who participated in a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) prevention study performed at 3 northeastern US hospitals between September 1989 and August 1992 and who were serially evaluated at 36, 54, 72, and 96 months of corrected age (CA). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The age-normed Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) score and measures of intelligence. RESULTS Overall, the median PPVT-R score increased from 88 at 36 months of CA to 99 at 96 months of CA; when data from 36 and 96 months of CA were compared, 45% of children gained 10 points or more and 12.5% showed a 5- to 9-point increase in test scores. Similar findings were noted for full-scale and verbal IQ scores. Multivariate analyses demonstrated that increasing age, residence in a 2-parent household, and higher levels of maternal education were all significantly associated with higher PPVT-R scores (for each, P<.001). In addition, early intervention led to greater increases over time in PPVT-R scores among children whose mothers had less than a high school education compared with those with a high school education level or greater (P =.03 by test for interaction). Although most children showed improvement in PPVT-R scores with increasing CA, children with early-onset IVH and subsequent significant central nervous system injury had the lowest PPVT-R scores initially and the scores declined over time (P =.009 by test for interaction). CONCLUSIONS The majority of VLBW children had improvement in verbal and IQ test scores over time. Only children with early-onset IVH followed by significant central nervous system injury had low PPVT-R scores that declined over time.
Electronic Governance and Electronic Democracy

This book discusses: tools of electronic delivery of government services; modernizing government; E-citizen, E-business, E-government; applying knowledge management principles; becoming a wired nation; community access; lifelong learning; smart communities; cyberlaws and regulations; inter-agency co-ordination; electronic benefit transfer; web interactive network of government services; electronic democracy and the changing face of democracy; access, empowerment, governance in a wired world; advocacy on-line; tools; the lessons of experience. Includes case studies from Great Britain, Canada, USA, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Unlocking the full potential of absorptive capacity: the systematic effects of high commitment work systems

Abstract Integrating perspectives of absorptive capacity and strategic human resource management, we examine how high commitment work systems (HCWS) affect a firm’s absorptive capacity and subsequent new product and service performance. We posit that HCWS act as an antecedent of a firm’s absorptive capacity—the organizational ability to acquire, assimilate, transform and exploit knowledge. We also posit that HCWS strengthen the positive relationship between absorptive capacity and new product and service performance. Results from a sample of 198 firms support the major contention. This study shows that a firm’s realized absorptive capacity partially mediates the relationship between potential absorptive capacity and new product and service performance. In the process of a firm’s deploying absorptive capacity to enhancing new product and service performance, HCWS exhibit distinctive strategic value. They not only play an organizational capability-building role that fosters a firm’s absorptive capacity, but may also play an efficiency-enhancing role that facilitates the process of transforming absorptive capacity into superior new product and service performance. This study sheds light on how human resource practices affect the development and effectiveness of organizational capabilities.
Fractalkine functions as a chemoattractant for osteoarthritis synovial fibroblasts and stimulates phosphorylation of mitogen‐activated protein kinases and Akt

Fractalkine (FKN/CX3CL1) has been detected in synovial fluids from osteoarthritis (OA) patients. Additionally, low‐level expression of the FKN receptor, CX3CR1, has been demonstrated in OA synovial lining. This study aimed to determine a biological function for this ligand/receptor pair in OA and to assess a potential signalling mechanism for FKN in this predominant synovial lining cell type, using chemotaxis assays, Western blotting and F‐actin staining. Chemotaxis assays demonstrate that the chemokine domain of FKN effectively induces migration of OA fibroblasts. Consistent with this finding, visualization of F‐actin demonstrates that 1 or 10 nM FKN induces noticeable reorganization of cytoskeletal structure in OA fibroblasts after 30 min stimulation with a maximal enhancement at approximately 2 h. In addition, Western blotting analysis demonstrates that FKN stimulates phosphorylation of the mitogen‐activated protein (MAP) kinases p38, c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase (JNK) and extracellular‐regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2 as well as the serine‐threonine kinase Akt at Ser 473 and Thr 308. All these phosphorylation events occur in a time‐dependent manner, with little or no activation within 1 min, and maximal activation occurring typically between 5 and 30 min. Moreover, inhibition of ERK 1/2 significantly reduces FKN‐induced OA fibroblast migration. These results suggest that FKN is a novel chemoattractant for OA fibroblasts, consistent with FKN‐induced alterations in cytoskeletal structure. In addition, FKN induces OA fibroblast signalling via the MAP kinases p38, JNK and ERK 1/2, as well as Akt.
Optimisation Methods for Fast Restoration of Software-Defined Networks

The increasing complexity of modern day networked applications and the massive demand on the Internet resources has reignited interest and concern in the underlying networking infrastructures and their ability to cope with such complexity and adapt to the demands of the business applications, particularly where such applications require a high degree of robustness and reliability. As a result, software-defined networking has emerged as a promising approach to the definition of network architectures that could carry a high degree of adaptability and robustness reminiscent of the future Internet. Fault tolerance and network updates are considered two of the current research challenges that hamper the growth of software-defined networking in this area. Therefore, this paper represents a step toward tackling these two issues in the context of single link failures. Our main contribution lies in the definition of new algorithms that aim to enhance the problem of finding alternative paths in large-scale networks with minimal cost and time-to-update factors. The new solution aims at increasing the efficiency of flow operation reduction during link failures. We evaluate our framework and show how its implementation results in improved efficiency.
Analysis of Micro-grid under different loading conditions

Development of the Micro-grid contributed to reduction of emissions and alleviate the climate changes. The Micro-grid usually consists of a micro distributed generators (DGs), energy storage system (e.g. flywheel, battery, etc.,) and loads. The presence of generations close to demand results in increase in the service quality for the end customers. The new micro sources technologies (e.g. micro-gas turbine, fuel-cells, photo-voltaic system and wind turbines) used in the Micro-grid are not suitable for supplying energy to the grid directly. They have to be interface to the grid through inverter. Technical challenges associated with the operation and controls of the Micro-grid are immense. Development for the Micro-grid inverters in order to provide stable frequency and voltage in the presence of imperiously varying loads. The Micro-grid freestanding operation ensuring stable operation during network disturbances, thereby maintaining stability and power quality. The behavior of distributed generator (DGs) connected to distribution networks is being studied. However, the dynamics of the primary energy sources is not considered.
Major Photoaffinity Drug Binding Sites in Multidrug Resistance Protein 1 (MRP1) Are within Transmembrane Domains 10–11 and 16–17*

MRP1 is an ABC (or ATP binding cassette) membrane transport protein shown to confer resistance to structurally dissimilar drugs. Studies of MRP1 topology suggested the presence of a hydrophobic N-domain with five potential membrane-spanning domains linked to an MDR1-like core (MSD1-NBD1-L1-MSD2-NBD2) by an intracellular linker domain (L0). MRP1-mediated multidrug resistance is thought to be due to enhanced drug efflux. However, little is known about MRP1-drug interaction and its drug binding site(s). We previously developed several photoreactive probes to study MRP1-drug interactions. In this report, we have used eight MRP1-HA variants that were modified to have hemagglutinin A (HA) epitopes inserted at different sites in MRP1 sequence. Exhaustive in-gel digestion of all IAARh123 photoaffinity-labeled MRP1-HA variants revealed the same profile of photolabeled peptides as seen for wild type MRP1. Photolabeling of the different MRP1-HA variants followed by digestion with increasing concentrations of trypsin or Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease (1:800 to 1:5 w/w) and immunoprecipitation with anti-HA mAb identified two small photolabeled peptides (∼6–7 kDa) from MRP1-HA(574) and MRP1-HA(1222). Based on the location of the HA epitopes in the latter variants together with molecular masses of the two peptides, the photolabeled amino acid residues were localized to MRP1 sequences encoding transmembranes 10 and 11 of MSD1 (Ser542-Arg593) and transmembranes 16 and 17 of MSD2 (Cys1205-Glu1253). Interestingly, the same sequences in MRP1 were also photolabeled with a structurally different photoreactive drug, IACI, confirming the significance of transmembranes 10, 11, 16 and 17 in MRP1 drug binding. Taken together, the results in this study provide the first delineation of the drug binding site(s) of MRP1. Furthermore, our findings suggest the presence of common drug binding site(s) for structurally dissimilar drugs.