Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationship between electrocardiographic abnormalities and periodontal disease: the Hisayama Study.

BACKGROUND Recent studies have suggested a relationship between periodontitis and cardiovascular disease (CVD). This study investigated the relationship between periodontitis and electrocardiographic (ECG) abnormalities, which are known predictors of CVD. METHODS We examined the periodontal status of 1,111 residents of Hisayama Town, Fukuoka, Japan. Nine hundred fifty-seven (957) subjects (374 males, 583 females) with > or = 10 teeth and without a medical history of CVD were included in the analysis. Probing depth (PD) and clinical attachment level (CAL) were measured on two randomly selected quadrants, one maxillary and one mandibular. A 12-lead ECG was recorded using a standard electrocardiograph. ECG abnormalities included left ventricular hypertrophy (Minnesota code 3-1) and ST depression (4-1, 2, 3). The relation of periodontal condition and ECG abnormalities was assessed with logistic regression analysis. RESULTS Univariate analysis revealed that mean probing depth, mean attachment loss, number of teeth, and plaque index were significantly associated with ECG abnormalities, as well as with known risk factors of CVD. In multivariate analysis, the subjects with deep pockets (mean probing depth > or = 2 mm) had an increased risk for ECG abnormalities (odds ratio [OR] = 1.6; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.01 to 2.50) compared to the subjects with mean PD < 2 mm. Subjects with severe attachment loss (mean CAL > or = 2.5 mm) had also significant risk for ECG abnormalities (OR = 1.7; 95% CI = 1.07 to 2.67) compared to those whose mean CAL was < 2.5 mm. CONCLUSION This study clearly shows the relationship between periodontitis and ECG abnormalities, which are important predictors of CVD.
Contextual fear conditioning and baseline startle responses in the rat fear-potentiated startle test: a comparison of benzodiazepine/γ-aminobutyric acid-A receptor agonists

In the rat, fear-potentiated startle (FPS) test animals are first trained to associate brief light presentations with a mild electric footshock and then tested for startle responses to acoustic stimuli, delivered either in darkness (i.e. baseline startle) or after the conditioning stimulus. Following light presentation the magnitude of the startle response is markedly increased, and the test is commonly used to distinguish anxiolytic drug effects (i.e. a reduction in FPS) from non-specific effects such as sedation/muscle relaxation. However, recent studies suggest that the environment in which the animal is trained may also contribute towards the acquisition of a conditioned fear response (i.e. contextual fear conditioning) and that this may elevate startle responses recorded in the dark. In the present study, therefore, we have compared the benzodiazepine/γ-aminobutyric acid-A receptor agonist chlordiazepoxide with the partial agonists FG 8205 and bretazenil, which are known to have a reduced propensity to produce sedation/myorelaxation, using two different FPS procedures: (i) conditioning and testing in stabilimeter chambers, and (ii) conditioning and testing in different environments. The results show that FPS can be demonstrated in both procedures and that treatment with chlordiazepoxide, FG 8205 or bretazenil dose-dependently attenuates the response. However, animals conditioned and tested in stabilimeter chambers also showed a significant increase in dark-startle amplitudes compared with non-shocked rats, suggesting that this response was elevated by contextual fear conditioning. Furthermore, despite clear differences in side-effect liabilities, FG 8205 and bretazenil significantly reduced dark-startle responses, suggesting that this measure is also sensitive to the anxiolytic effects of benzodiazepines. In contrast, when animals were conditioned and tested in different environments, dark-startle responses were not significantly different from those recorded in non-shocked rats and treatment with FG 8205 or bretazenil had no effect. Thus, conditioning and testing animals in different environments may provide a more effective means of distinguishing anxiolytic from non-specific drug effects in the rat FPS test.
The Insulin Receptor Substrate of 53 kDa (IRSp53) Limits Hippocampal Synaptic Plasticity*

IRSp53 is an essential intermediate between the activation of Rac and Cdc42 GTPases and the formation of cellular protrusions; it affects cell shape by coupling membrane-deforming activity with the actin cytoskeleton. IRSp53 is highly expressed in neurons where it is also an abundant component of the postsynaptic density (PSD). Here we analyze the physiological function of this protein in the mouse brain by generating IRSp53-deficient mice. Neurons in the hippocampus of young and adult knock-out (KO) mice do not exhibit morphological abnormalities in vivo. Conversely, primary cultured neurons derived from IRSp53 KO mice display retarded dendritic development in vitro. On a molecular level, Eps8 cooperates with IRSp53 to enhance actin bundling and interacts with IRSp53 in developing neurons. However, postsynaptic Shank proteins which are expressed at high levels in mature neurons compete with Eps8 to block actin bundling. In electrophysiological experiments the removal of IRSp53 increases synaptic plasticity as measured by augmented long term potentiation and paired-pulse facilitation. A primarily postsynaptic role of IRSp53 is underscored by the decreased size of the PSDs, which display increased levels of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor subunits in IRSp53 KO animals. Our data suggest that the incorporation of IRSp53 into the PSD enables the protein to limit the number of postsynaptic glutamate receptors and thereby affect synaptic plasticity rather than dendritic morphology. Consistent with altered synaptic plasticity, IRSp53-deficient mice exhibit cognitive deficits in the contextual fear-conditioning paradigm.
Effective Human Resources Management: Key to Excellence in Service Organizations

A service organization differs from a manufacturing industry in several ways. Most importantly, the sale, production, and consumption take place almost simultaneously. Over 90 per cent of relevant activities is beyond the immediate influence of management. Effective human resources management becomes the key to building excellence in service organizations. Based on his experience with the Taj Group of Hotels, Mahesh identifies eight human resources management factors as crucial for any organization striving for service excellence.
A dermatoglyphic study of 219 Italian schizophrenic males

The quantitative and qualitative finger and palm ridge characteristics of a sample of Italian schizophrenic males showed minor deviations which were neither pathognomonic of the illness as a whole, nor of its Leonhard sub‐groups. In essence there was a slight tendency for an increase in finger loops, particularly on middle fingers, with a decrease of whorls, and the palmar ridges tended to a more transverse course than usual. Compared with two sets of controls there was an excess of short schizophrenic males.
Co-Evolutionary Analysis of Cognitive Radio Systems

Cognitive radio technology is commonly seen as a promise to form the basis of the next largest breakthrough in the development of ubiquitous wireless broadband services. However, the disruptive nature and complexity of this technology raises a host of associated issues, including the open question on reasons for the slow progression of the innovation. In this chapter, the authors offer a co-evolutionary analysis of the CR innovation context, aiming to reveal a stakeholders’ domain, which is best positioned to lead the further CR development. Having analysed the position of CR within technology, market, and regulatory domains, the authors come to conclude that the regulatory domain oversees some of the most crucial enabling factors that may decide the future of CR technology.
SwiftScan: Efficient Wi-Fi scanning for background location-based services

The provision of location-based services on consumer devices has moved from on-demand navigation capabilities to always-on ubiquitous location-aware tools such as weather updates, travel information, location-based reminders and many more. Background localisation is generally provided by Wi-Fi fingerprinting, since GPS does not provide service in indoor environments where we spend 80% of our time. However the power consumption of a Wi-Fi scan is proportional to the number of channels scanned, and so naive full-channel scans are inefficient. Here we describe and validate SwiftScan, an intelligent, self-training Wi-Fi fingerprinting scheme that reduces the energy consumption of periodic background Wi-Fi scanning for localisation. SwiftScan is tested with data from more than a thousand Android users over a six month time period and we show that energy savings of over 90% are possible, and that the majority of users benefit from more than a 70% reduction in the energy consumption associated with a Wi-Fi scan for localisation purposes.
The divalent cation‐binding sites of gramicidin A transmembrane ion‐channel

The conductance of the gramicidin A single channels in glycerolmonooleate membranes is strongly reduced in the presence of Mn2+ cations. The nmr experiments were performed for N‐terminal to N‐terminal gramicidin A dimer formed by two right‐handed single‐stranded helixes incorporated into the sodium dodecyl sulfate micelles in the presence of Mn2+ ions. Dependence of the nonselective spin–lattice relaxation rates of the gramicidin A protons on Mn2+ concentration was analyzed to determine coordinates of the divalent cation binding sites. It is inferred that Mn2+ ions are bound at the channel mouths at distances of 6.4, 8.6, and 8.8 Å (±2 Å) from the oxygen atoms of exposed carbonyl groups of D‐Leu 12, 14, and 10, respectively. The bounded Mn2+ retains its hydrate shell, the size of which (≈ 6 Å) exceeds the inner pore diameter (≈ 4 Å). That makes the gramicidin A channel impermeable for divalent cations.
Reinforcement learning based autonomic virtual machine management in clouds

Cloud computing is a rapidly emerging field, services and applications are more or less 24/7. Resource dimensioning in this field is a great issue. Research is already going on to imply reinforcement learning to automate decision making process in case of addition, reduction, migration and maintenance of the Virtual Machines (VM) to balance the service level performance and VM management cost. Models have been proposed in this case based on Q-learning, a very popular reinforcement learning technique that is used to find optimal action selection policy for any finite Markov Decision Process (MDP). In this paper we propose to work with the challenges like proper initialization of the early stages, designing the states, actions, transitions using Markov Decision Process (MDP) and solving the MDP with two popular reinforcement learning techniques, Q-learning and SARSA(λ).
Uniquely factorable space-time modulation for two-user uplink massive MIMO systems

In this paper, we propose a new space-time modulation scheme using quadrature amplitude modulation division for a two-user massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) uplink system, in which channel state information (CSI) is unavailable at both the transmitter and the receiver. It is proved that our proposed transmission scheme enables both the large scale channel coefficients and the transmitted symbols to be uniquely and explicitly determined in a noise-free case when the number of the receiver antennas tends to infinity. For a noisy channel with a limited number of the receiver antennas, three different detectors including a simple closed-form detector, a minimum Euclidean distance detector, and a minimum Riemannian distance detector, are investigated. In addition, when the distribution of the large scale channel coefficients is known to the transmitter, a power loading algorithm is proposed. Finally, computer simulations demonstrate that our proposed communication scheme performs very well in terms of bit error rate (BER) with a moderate number of base station (BS) antennas.
Beijing and Beyond: Women's Health and Gender-Based Analysis in Canada

On the tenth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, this article evaluates Canada's progress in the area of women's health by critically examining the Women's Health Strategy. Introduced in 1999 by Health Canada, the Strategy is considered Canada's key response to its international commitments for promoting women's health and in particular for implementing a gender-based analysis in all programs, services, policies, and research. By reviewing each objective of the Strategy, the article illustrates the limited progress that has been made to date. It provides arguments for why and how all levels of government should work to improve their response to women's health in Canada and, specifically, how the Women's Health Strategy can be redesigned to be more effective in attending to the needs and concerns of all Canadian women.
Organizations and Information

10-year study as well as from other studies, the chapter seeks to answer such questions as the following: How widespread is drug abuse/misuse in the older population, and what are the consequences of such behavior for individuals, their families, and society? What individual characteristics and demographic factors (e.g., age) might influence the use of illicit drugs or misuse of prescription drugs in late life? And can factors related to retirement (bridge employment, age at retirement) be identified as affecting individuals’ vulnerability to abusing substances other than alcohol?
Pleomorphic adenoma of the salivary glands: correlation between gallium-67 uptake and histopathological components.

UNLABELLED We correlated 67Ga uptake and histopathological findings in pleomorphic adenomas of the salivary glands. METHODS Sixty-two pleomorphic adenomas of the salivary glands were visually graded by degree of 67Ga uptake as negative, weakly positive or strongly positive in comparison to uptake in the nasal cavity. These adenomas were re-examined pathologically and classified as epithelial, intermediate or mesenchymal type according to their dominant histological components. The pathological presence of marginal invasion or associated sialoadenitis was also re-examined. RESULTS Eighteen adenomas were classified as strongly positive, eight as weakly positive and 36 as negative. Nine (50%) of the 18 strongly positive adenomas were of the epithelial type and the other nine (50%) strongly positive adenomas were of the intermediate type. While none of the strongly positive adenomas were of the mesenchymal type, 27 (75%) of the 36 negative adenomas were of the mesenchymal type. Six (75%) of the eight weakly positive adenomas were of the intermediate type. About half of the adenomas showed marginal invasion regardless of the grade of 67Ga uptake. None of the strongly positive adenomas were associated with sialoadenitis. CONCLUSION The epithelial component of pleomorphic adenomas may be responsible for 67Ga uptake. The presence of marginal invasion or associated sialoadenitis has little relation to 67Ga uptake in pleomorphic adenomas.
Pricing of spread options in energy markets

The objective of this thesis is to value spread options with payo function on the form max(S1(T )− hS2(T )−K, 0), where S1(T ) and S2(T ) are the spot prices of two energy commodities at maturity time T, h is the heatrate and K is the strike price. We model (X1(t), X2(t)) = (log(S1(t)), log(S2(t)) as a bivariate Ornstein-Uhlenbeck Levy process. First, we consider an OrnsteinUhlenbeck process driven by a bivariate Brownian motion, then we extend the model to an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process driven by a bivariate Levy process with jumps. We compute the characteristic function of (X1(t), X2(t)) in both models, and study the stationary properties of the distribution of (X1(t), X2(t)). Then we we derive a closed form formula for the option price in the continuous model for the case K = 0. In the model with jumps, we use a Fourier transform method to express the price as an integral of the characteristic function of (X1(t), X2(t)) times the Fourier transform of the payo function. When K 6= 0, we use a rst order Taylor-expansion to approximate the option price. We nd a closed form formula for the approximated price in the continuous model, and use simulations to check how good the approximation is for di erent values of K and for di erent values of the correlation between the two underlying price processes.
Privacy Preservation of Rsu Against Sybil Attacks in Vanet

- In urban vehicular networks, where privacy, especially the location privacy of anonymous vehicles is highly concerned, anonymous verification of vehicles is indispensable. Consequently, an attacker who succeeds in forging multiple hostile identifies can easily launch a Sybil attack, gaining a disproportionately large influence. In Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs), the vehicular scenario requires smart signaling, smart road maintenance and other services. A brand new security issue is that the semi-trusted Road Side Units (RSUs) may be compromised. The objective of our work is to propose a Threshold ElGamal system based key management scheme for safeguarding VANET from the compromised RSUs and their collusion with the malicious vehicles. By analyzing the packet loss tolerance for security performance demonstration, followed by a discussion on the threshold our method can promote security with low overhead in Emergency Braking Notification (EBN) and does not increase overhead in and Decentralized Floating Car Data (DFCD) during security promotion.
Mind-Mindedness as a Multidimensional Construct: Appropriate and Nonattuned Mind-Related Comments Independently Predict Infant-Mother Attachment in a Socially Diverse Sample.

In a socially diverse sample of 206 infant-mother pairs, we investigated predictors of infants' attachment security at 15 months, with a particular emphasis on mothers' tendency to comment appropriately or in a non-attuned manner on their 8-month-olds' internal states (so-called mind-mindedness). Multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that higher scores for appropriate mind-related comments and lower scores for non-attuned mind-related comments distinguished secure-group mothers from their counterparts in the insecure-avoidant, insecure-resistant, and insecure-disorganized groups. Higher scores for appropriate mind-related comments and lower scores for non-attuned mind-related comments also independently predicted dichotomous organized/disorganized attachment. General maternal sensitivity predicted neither attachment security nor organization, although sensitivity was found to relate to dichotomous secure/insecure attachment specifically in the context of low socioeconomic status. The findings highlight how appropriate and non-attuned mind-related comments make independent contributions to attachment and suggest that mind-mindedness is best characterized as a multidimensional construct.
Premature wear of the ABG artificial hip-joint and resulting complications

We report and analyse the case of catastrophic failure of the AGB I artificial hipjoint. Possible reasons of premature acetabulum wear and following complications are discussed. The results of histopathological studies are presented revealing a vast amount of metal particles in the granulation tissue formed around the hip prosthesis. The presence of polyethylene debris in the tissue is detected by Raman microspectroscopy method. The size of the polyethylene particles is estimated to be within the range known to cause the most severe ostheolysis, ponting to the quality of polyethylene as one of the reasons for poor prosthesis performance. It is concluded that the vastness of prosthesis wear and associated periacetabular lesions may not be obvious from the radiological examination and thus that early surgical interventions would be desirable to avoid severity of ostheolysis-associated complications. W pracy opisano przypadek rozleg3ego uszkodzenia sztucznego stawu biodrowego ABG. Omówiono mo¿liwe przyczyny oraz nastêpstwa zu¿ycia elementu panewkowego endoprotezy. Przedstawiono wyniki badañ histopatologicznych, które uwidoczni3y liczne drobiny metali w ziarninie otaczaj1cej implant. Przy pomocy mikrospektroskopii Ramana wykazano obecnoæ oraz oceniono wielkoæ cz1stek polietylenu. W podsumowaniu autorzy zalecaj1 wykonanie wczesnego zabiegu operacyjnego pomimo nieadekwatnych zmian w obrazie radiologicznym.
Gender Experiences in IT@School, an ICT enabled education project of Kerala, India

The IT@School project for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enabled education in Kerala, India, gave women unprecedented entry into ICT by virtue of the fact that women constitute a majority of the teachers in the state. It went beyond ICT awareness to build special technical skills and leadership capacity in the teachers. But the fact that the project does not have a gender perspective in its design, governance or implementation poses several challenges for the women who are involved in the project.
Mapping cardiac currents using Ultrasound Current Source Density Imaging

We describe the first mapping of biological current in a live heart using ultrasound current source density imaging (UCSDI). Ablation procedures that treat severe heart arrhythmias require detailed maps of the cardiac activation wave. UCSDI can potentially improve on existing mapping procedures which are time-consuming and limited by its poor spatial resolution (5-10 mm). UCSDI is based on a pressure-induced change in resistivity known as the acousto-electric (AE) effect, which is spatially confined to the ultrasound focus. Data from two experiments are presented. A 540 kHz ultrasonic transducer (f/#=1, focal length=90 mm, pulse repetition frequency=1600 Hz) was scanned over an isolated rabbit heart, perfused with excitation-contraction decoupler to significantly reduce motion while retaining electric function. Tungsten electrodes inserted in the left ventricles recorded simultaneously the AE signal and the low frequency electrocardiogram (ECG). UCSDI displayed spatial and temporal patterns consistent with the spreading activation wave. The propagation velocity estimated from UCSDI was 0.25plusmn0. 05 mm/ms, comparable to the values obtained with the ECG signals. The maximum AE signal-to-noise ratio after filtering was 18 dB, with an equivalent detection threshold of 0.1 mA/cm2. This study demonstrates that UCSDI is a potentially powerful technique for mapping current flow and biopotentials in the heart.
Identification of pathogenic fungi.

Introducing a new hobby for other people may inspire them to join with you. Reading, as one of mutual hobby, is considered as the very easy hobby to do. But, many people are not interested in this hobby. Why? Boring is the reason of why. However, this feel actually can deal with the book and time of you reading. Yeah, one that we will refer to break the boredom in reading is choosing identification of pathogenic fungi as the reading material.
Human Enhancing Technologies and Individual Privacy Right

This chapter provides a legal perspective on the application of Human Enhancing Technologies (HET), in particular on Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs), emphasizing threats they bring to individual privacy. The author discusses the geographical, political, and cultural differences in understanding the individual right to privacy, as granted by human rights treaties and customary international law, and confronts them with the threats brought about by HET. The era of globalized services rendered by transnational companies necessitates an answer to the question on the possible and desired shape of effective individual protection of human rights from the threats brought about by advancing HET. Be it biomedical or geolocalisation data, when fueled through the Big Data resources available online, individual data accompanying the HET becomes a powerful marketing tool and a significant national and international security measure. The chapter aims to identify the privacy threats brought about by the HET and proposes a business-ethics based solution.