Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hypnotizability, Personality Style, and Attachment: An Exploratory Study, Part 1—General Results

This article is an exploratory study investigating the relationship between hypnotizability, personality style, and attachment. Data were collected from 99 students by means of the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A; Personality Styles and Disorders Inventory; and Relationship Scale Questionnaire. Results suggest that individual personality styles accounted for a significant amount of variance in hypnotizability in: (a) the whole sample, (b) the securely attached, and (c) the insecurely attached. High hypnotizables among both the whole sample and securely attached individuals shared the unselfish/self-sacrificing personality style as a main predictor of hypnotizability and displayed elevated scores for the charming/histrionic and the optimistic/rhapsodic personality style. Furthermore, two groups were identified among the high hypnotizables that differed mainly according to attachment style: one consists of securely attached, charming/histrionic, and optimistic/rhapsodic people, who are best described by socio-cognitive theories. The other is composed of insecurely attached intuitive/schizotypal people, who are better depicted by dissociation theories.
Growth kinetics in position-controlled and catalyst-free InAs nanowire arrays on Si(111) grown by selective area molecular beam epitaxy

We investigated the interwire distance dependence on the growth kinetics of vertical, high-yield InAs nanowire arrays on Si(111) grown by catalyst-free selective area molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Utilizing lithographically defined SiO2 nanomasks on Si(111) with regular hole patterns, catalyst-free and site-selective growth of vertically (111)-oriented InAs nanowires was achieved with very high yields of ∼90 percent. Interestingly, the yield of vertically ordered nanowires was independent of the interwire distance and the initial growth stages. Significant size variation in the nanowires was found to depend critically on the interwire distance and growth time. Two growth regimes were identified—(i) a competitive growth regime with shorter and thinner nanowires for narrow interwire distances and (ii) a diffusion-limited growth regime for wider distances, providing good estimates for the surface diffusion lengths. Surprisingly, despite these size-dependent effects the nanowire geometries remained unaltered with uniform, almost nontapered morphologies even over large variation in nanowire density (∼mid−106–109 cm−2 range). X-ray diffraction further confirmed the vertical (111) directionality with low crystal tilt by rocking curve widths (ω scans) as low as ∼0.6°. These findings demonstrate the capability to precisely tailor the position and size of well-oriented III-V semiconductor nanowires through noncatalytic MBE selective area growth and provide an important step toward fully integrated, uniform vertical III-V nanowire array-on-Si devices.
An animal model of central auditory pathway imaging in the rat brain by high resolution small animal positron emission tomography

Conclusions. Our study demonstrated that high resolution animal positron emission tomography (PET) can non-invasively assess the change in glucose metabolism of the central auditory pathway including the inferior colliculus and auditory cortex in the rat. Objectives. The traditional in vitro approach with immunohistochemical staining or autoradiography to assess chronological changes or topographic arrangement of central auditory pathway required sacrificing a large number of animals. Inter-individual difference is also a major concern. Therefore, development of an in vivo animal model using PET imaging would be a rational method to overcome these shortcomings. Materials and methods. Small animal PET scan using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) as a functional marker was performed in rats. Each animal was serially scanned before and after unilateral cochlear ablation, with and without acoustic stimulation. The images were analyzed by the region of interest (ROI) method. Ratios of radioactivity at the inferior colliculus and auditory cortex and a referenced cerebral cortex between bilateral hemispheres were measured. Results. These scans demonstrated several brain structures including the inferior colliculus (IC) and cortex (B). Moreover, unilateral cochlear ablation decreased the radioactivity at contralateral IC and auditory cortex (C) areas. Differences may reach 33% in IC and 27% in C, and average radioactivity ratios were 1.24±0.08 and 1.18±0.07 in selected adjacent sections, respectively.
Acceptability and yield of birth-cohort screening for hepatitis C virus in a Canadian population being screened for colorectal cancer: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND Screening for hepatitis C virus (HCV) is recommended in patients born between 1945 and 1965 ("baby boomers") in the United States. Because these patients are often screened for colorectal cancer, dual screening for HCV may enhance case identification. Our objectives were to assess the acceptability and yield of screening for HCV among patients undergoing screening for colorectal cancer. METHODS Patients referred for a colonoscopy to screen for colorectal cancer completed an anonymous survey regarding the acceptability of screening for HCV, risk factors and prior testing. The impacts of demographics and risk factors for HCV on willingness to be screened were determined using logistic regression, and the stored sera of 483 patients who had undergone screening for colorectal cancer between February 2011 and August 2012 were tested for HCV antibodies. RESULTS Among 1012 survey respondents (median age 56 yr; 911 [90.0%] were baby boomers, 880 [87.0%] were white and 223 [22.0%] were born outside Canada), 123 patients (12.2%) reported prior testing for HCV. HCV was previously diagnosed in 9 of these patients (0.9%, representing 1.0% of the patients who were baby boomers): 5 (55.6% of those diagnosed) reported risk factors. Excluding patients diagnosed with HCV, 903 (90.0%) respondents indicated that they would consent to testing of blood or saliva for HCV. After adjusting for age, sex and status of immigration, patients who were white (odds ratio [OR] 3.38, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.81-6.32) and patients with risk factors (> 1 v. 0: OR 3.67, 95% CI 1.12-12.02) had a greater acceptance of screening. Among 483 patients screened for colorectal cancer, 3 were anti-HCV positive (0.6%, 95% CI 0.1%-1.8%), representing 0.8% (95% CI 0.2%-2.4%) of the patients who were baby boomers. INTERPRETATION Acceptance of screening for HCV is high among patients undergoing screening for colorectal cancer in the Calgary area. However, the low prevalence of HCV suggests that the cost-effectiveness of birth-cohort screening in this population warrants evaluation.
Production and Characterization of Biosurfactants from Bacillus licheniformis F2.2

A biosurfactant-producing strain, Bacillus licheniformis F2.2, was isolated from a fermented food in Thailand. The strain was capable of producing a new biosurfactant, BL1193, as well as two kinds of popular lipopeptide biosurfactants, plipastatin and surfactin. Mass spectrometry and FT-IR analysis indicated that BL1193 had a molecular mass of 1,193 Da with no peptide portion in the molecule. While plipastatin and surfactin were abundantly produced in a nutrient YPD medium, BL1193 was produced only in a synthetic DF medium containing no amino acids. According to an oil displacement activity test, the specific activity of BL1193 (6.53 kBS units/mg) is equivalent to that of surfactin (5.78–6.83 kBS units/mg).
Creating Value Through Lean Product Development – Towards a Generic Framework

This conceptual article describes how companies can create value through applying Lean principles in product development. It provides input to a generic framework of Lean Product Development as it defines an explanatory model for effective knowledge capture and reuse. The model consists of a two by two matrix given by a division of, at one hand, product development in two value streams, the Product Value Stream and the Knowledge Value Stream, and at the other hand in two phases, the Concept phase and Implementation phase. With this as basis the article elaborates how the fundamental aspects of Lean Product Development, organizational learning and reuse of knowledge, could take place, thus giving companies that understand and apply the model an opportunity to “outlearn” their competitors.
Recombinant DNA and Surgery

We have the ability to isolate DNA from tissue, determine its base-pair sequence, and ask if a gene of interest is present. DNA strands can be isolated from one type of cell organism, cleaved, and inserted (recombined) with DNA from another cell or organism. Recombinant DNA techniques have already improved health care by providing clinically useful quantities of pure human protein hormones such as erythropoietin, insulin, and growth hormone. Furthermore these techniques may increase our understanding of cellular growth control mechanisms to a level that was previously unattainable. They will also increase our knowledge of the development of major diseases and provide a means of specific nontoxic therapies for these diseases. Surgeons will need to understand basic DNA research terminology to keep up with the revolution in medical therapies that these techniques will cause. Our purpose is to begin the process of linking surgery to DNA.
Screening for Thyroid Dysfunction

IN RESPONSE: Drs. Stern and Hennessey's comment seems to reflect a misunderstanding of our recommendation process, including the methods underlying our systematic evidence reviews. We welcome the opportunity to clarify these points. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force makes recommendations that apply to average-risk persons without signs or symptoms of disease; "aggressive case-finding" falls outside the scope of our work. An "I statement" is not a recommendation against screeningit is an acknowledgment that the requisite evidence is lacking so that the balance of benefits and harms cannot be determined (1). The systematic evidence review used a standardized, validated approach to assess all included studies. Quality ratings (good, fair, or poor) apply to the internal validity of studies and include such factors as randomization or intention-to-treat analysis (2). Such issues as excluding symptomatic participants (a goal of the review) or enrolling participants after a single abnormal TSH measurement relate to external validity. The strength of evidence is based on an assessment of information from all studies. Drs. Stern and Hennessey note additional randomized, controlled trials of levothyroxine treatment showing "significant" improvements in neurocognitive function. They cite their own review (3) of 10 treatment studies, 2 of which were in our review. The rest were not randomized, controlled trials; were composed of symptomatic participants; or did not assess neurocognitive function (for example, they asked about self-report of energy level). Drs. Stern and Hennessey concluded that "more research is required to determine whether thyroid hormone therapy is appropriate and effective in treating subclinical hypothyroidism-associated neurobehavioral impairments" (3). We agree. Our call for treatment trials of asymptomatic overt thyroid dysfunction is ethical and needed. The benefits of screening for and treatment of asymptomatic thyroid dysfunction are uncertain and, if they exist, likely occur in only a smaller proportion of the population than would be screened and treated. Harms also develop in many throughout the screening and treatment cascade. This is the exact situation in which a trial is most useful and is the proper course of action in the absence of certainty of net benefit.
Antimyosin scintigraphy compared with magnetic resonance imaging in inflammatory myopathies.

OBJECTIVE To compare indium In 111 altumomab pentetate-labeled antimyosin scintigraphy with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with myositis. DESIGN AND METHODS Sixteen patients with polymyositis and 1 patient with dermatomyositis, all verified with biopsy samples, were examined during diagnostic evaluation with antimyosin antibody scintigraphy and low-field MRI of the thighs and calves using T1- and T2-weighted sequences. Both examinations were repeated 6 to 22 months after therapeutic intervention with antiinflammatory drugs. The performance of the 2 methods for the assessment of the severity of muscle inflammation was evaluated using comparison with clinical examination and the serum creatine kinase level. RESULTS At diagnosis all patients had increased uptake of antimyosin antibody in the thighs and/or calves. In T2-weighted MRI images, increased signal intensity changes reflecting intramuscular edema and inflammation were seen in all patients in at least 1 muscle group in the thighs or calves. After anti-inflammatory drug therapy, the mean uptake of antibody and the mean signal intensity changes in T2-weighted MRI had decreased. However, in T1-weighted MRI the signal intensity changes reflecting intramuscular fatty degeneration were more pronounced in the follow-up study. The level of serum creatine kinase had decreased markedly by the second examination except in 1 patient who also had more accumulation of antibody in the calves after than before treatment. The clinical condition improved in 8 patients and remained unchanged in 9 patients. CONCLUSIONS Antimyosin scintigraphy and T2-weighted MRI are feasible tools for the detection and follow-up of lesions in patients with myositis. Scintigraphy findings correlate with serum creatine kinase activity and seem to reflect disease activity better than T2-weighted MRI changes, whereas secondary degenerative intramuscular lesions are only detectable using T1-weighted MRI.
Non-invasive measurement of diaphragmatic contraction timing in dogs

The movement of thoracic cage (TM) measured with a piezoelectric contact sensor placed on the costal wall is presented in this work as a new non-invasive technique for diaphragmatic contraction period (CP) monitoring. The relationship between CP estimated with this technique is compared with estimations done with other respiratory signals commonly employed for physiological research studies: diaphragm length measured with sonomicrometry (DL), transdiaphragmatic pressure (DP) and respiratory airflow (FL). Specific algorithms were developed to determinate the CP in the four signals. Experiments were performed in three pentotarbital-anesthetized mongrel dogs. Two respiratory tests were studied: spontaneous ventilations (SV) and respiration with an inspiratory load (IL). CP estimated with DL signal was used as reference because this signal is the directly related with the diaphragmatic contraction. Different parameters were estimated for the study of the relationship between CP measured with DL signal and CP measured with TM, FL and DP signals. High relationships were obtained in the IL respiratory test. Lower values were obtained in SV protocol, but the parameters obtained from TM signal correlated better with the ones obtained from DL signal than those from FL and DP signals. Results confirm that it is possible to monitor the diaphragmatic contraction timing with a non-invasive piezoelectric contact sensor.
The Face Inversion Effect—Parts and Wholes: Individual Features and Their Configuration

The face inversion effect (FIE) is a reduction in recognition performance for inverted faces (compared to upright faces) that is greater than that typically observed with other stimulus types (e.g., houses). The work of Diamond and Carey, suggests that a special type of configural information, “second-order relational information” is critical in generating this inversion effect. However, Tanaka and Farah concluded that greater reliance on second-order relational information did not directly result in greater sensitivity to inversion, and they suggested that the FIE is not entirely due to a reliance on this type of configural information. A more recent review by McKone and Yovel provides a meta-analysis that makes a similar point. In this paper, we investigated the contributions made by configural and featural information to the FIE. Experiments 1a and1b investigated the link between configural information and the FIE. Remarkably, Experiment 1b showed that disruption of all configural information of the type considered in Diamond and Carey's analysis (both first and second order) was effective in reducing recognition performance, but did not significantly impact on the FIE. Experiments 2 and 3 revealed that face processing is affected by the orientation of individual features and that this plays a major role in producing the FIE. The FIE was only completely eliminated when we disrupted the single feature orientation information in addition to the configural information, by using a new type of transformation similar to Thatcherizing our sets of scrambled faces. We conclude by noting that our results for scrambled faces are consistent with an account that has recognition performance entirely determined by the proportion of upright facial features within a stimulus, and that any ability to make use of the spatial configuration of these features seems to benefit upright and inverted normal faces alike.
Understanding innate immunity and inflammation in acne: implications for management

Acne has long been understood to have a complex physiological basis involving several main factors: hormonally‐stimulated sebum production, abnormal keratinization of the pilosebaceous duct, and an inflammatory immune response to Propionibacterium acnes. Recent studies at the molecular and cellular level have begun clarifying how all of these factors interact, and the role of the innate immune system is better appreciated. Inflammation has been demonstrated in all acne lesions ‐ the preclinical microcomedo, comedones, inflammatory lesions, ‘post‐inflammatory’ erythema or hyperpigmentation, and scarring. Inflammation localized to the pilosebaceous unit can be considered the defining feature of acne and should be addressed via multiple therapeutic pathways. Clinicians tend to think oral antibiotics should be used to ‘calm’ inflammatory acne, but there is good evidence showing that topical retinoids also have anti‐inflammatory properties as a class effect. For best therapeutic outcomes, most patients with acne should be treated first line with a topical retinoid plus an antimicrobial agent, as has been demonstrated in thousands of patients involved in clinical trials and recommended by the Global Alliance to Improve Outcomes in Acne for more than a decade. Moving away from reliance on antibiotic therapy for acne is particularly important in an era of worsening antimicrobial resistance and worldwide calls to reduce antibiotic use. Improved understanding about the role of P. acnes and the innate immune system in acne should help clinicians in designing efficacious treatment strategies.
Survival and virulence of salmonellae in water.

Survival and virulence of salmonellae in drinking and surface waters were tested in a series of model experiments using suspensions of fresh strains of Salmonella enteritidis as a tester strain. Environmental conditions in surface water, modeled by the addition of increasing amounts of municipal sewage, were simulated to have the organic pollution load equivalent COD to 5.3-9.7-15.2 mg O2/l and the coliform counts ranging from 2 X 10 to 2 X 10(3) per ml water. The experiments were carried out at 4 degrees C and 20 degrees C, i.e. at temperatures simulating the two crucial points of the year-round thermal characteristics of water in the external environment. Suspensions of S. enteritidis in water had the initial density ranging between 1 X 10(2) and 1 X 10(4) (per ml, tests for virulence were carried out in the guinea pig eye (conjunctivitis reaction). Time of S. enteritidis survival in the drinking water free of organic pollutants was directly affected by the initial density of strain and indirectly by water temperature, in surface water the most significant variable turned out to be the degree of organic pollution: the time of survival clearly tended to shorten as the complex of organic pollutants in water increased. At the highest degree of organic pollution (COD concentration 15.2 mg per ml) S. enteritidis survival was restricted to less than 24 h whereas in drinking water it could reach up to 30 days. The survival time was always identical with the time of virulence persistence.
Optimal storage sizing for composite energy storage and wind in Micro grid

Energy storage system is necessary to maintain steady operation of the micro-grid and decrease its influence on the distribution grid. In this paper, some research has been carried on in optimal storage sizing in composite energy storage system in wind micro grid. The energy storage system is composed of battery and fly-wheel, which combines advantages of both sides. Cost function is used as the objective function and the loss of load and the generation spilled are considered during the calculation. We considered the constraint functions from the power, energy aspects and set rules for composite storage system. The optimization for a one-week example has been studied in this paper. After summary and comparison, some conclusions are obtained.
Mouse peroxiredoxin V is a thioredoxin peroxidase that inhibits p53-induced apoptosis.

We have identified human and mouse peroxiredoxin V (Prx-V) by virtue of the sequence homologies to yeast peroxisomal antioxidant enzyme PMP20. Prx-V represents the fifth of the six currently known subfamilies of mammalian peroxiredoxins. It is a novel organellar enzyme that has orthologs in bacteria. Biochemically, Prx-V is a thioredoxin peroxidase. One important aspect of p53 function in mammalian cells involves induction of apoptosis likely mediated by redox. We show that overexpression of Prx-V prevented the p53-dependent generation of reactive oxygen species. Likewise, Prx-V inhibited p53-induced apoptosis. Thus, Prx-V is critically involved in intracellular redox signaling.
Sodium profiling: the key to reducing symptoms of dialysis?

BACKGROUND/AIMS A systematic review was undertaken in order to critically appraise the current knowledge base of sodium profiling in hemodialysis. Between 15%-80% of patients on hemodialysis experience symptoms of dialysis intolerance every dialysis session. The purpose of this review was to identify whether sodium profiling is an effective intervention in removing or reducing these untoward effects. METHODS A literature search was undertaken using Medline and Embase. Inclusion criteria were primary research or controlled clinical trials published between January 1990 and June 2006 and studies in the chronic dialysis setting and studies that identified sodium profiling as the intervention in hemodialysis or hemodiafiltration. Articles excluded included: those that could not establish whether sodium profiling was the intervention responsible for the outcome; articles on hemofiltration; and review articles and research pertaining to the acute setting. Thirteen articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in the final review. RESULTS A number of flaws were identified with methodological adequacy and consistency of findings. It was not possible to determine whether positive effects outweighed negative effects in this review. In the majority of studies, there was a lack offollow-up and the inability to determine long-term outcomes of patients who received sodium profiling. CONCLUSION This evaluative review could not provide evidence to support the clinical use of sodium profiling in the population of patients on hemodialysis who are symptomatic. There remains a theoretical base for the use of sodium profiling, however further studies are needed providing consistency in methodology, looking not only at reduction in morbidity but effects on quality of life, long-term outcomes, and mortality.