Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Editorial: Improvers, Adapters and Rejecters — the Link between `Evidence-based Practice' and `Evidence-based Practitioners'

W H E T H E R I N M E D I C I N E , education or mental health, the culture of ‘evidence based practice’ (EBP) pervades almost every aspect of our public lives. The term is now so pervasive that some critics have spoken of us living in a society in which ‘evidence-based everything’ is the norm. Although the roots of an evidence-based approach to clinical practice can be traced back to antiquity, the birth of the modern EBP movement can be dated quite exactly to the publication of Archie Cochrane’s book Effectiveness and Efficiency in 1972. In his book, Cochrane offered a powerful critique of the medical establishment, arguing that ‘chaotic, individualistic, often ineffective and sometimes harmful’ patterns of care were the norm, largely due to the fact that medicine itself had not organized its knowledge ‘in any systematic, reliable and cumulative way’ (Oakley, Gough, Silver, & Thomas, 2005, p. 7). Almost 40 years on from Cochrane’s book, nobody could doubt the degree to which EBP is impacting on the provision of mental health services world-wide. At best, this development has led to a deeper understanding of ‘what works for whom’ and a corresponding improvement in the provision of high-quality care; at worst, it has been a way of rationalizing services by withdrawing funding for any forms of treatment that cannot be proven to work within the very restrictive definitions of evidence used by many of the advocates of EBP. But EBP is not just about identifying what works for whom. It is also about articulating a new way of working for mental health (and other) professionals, a new way of being an ‘evidence-based practitioner’ (Olsson, 2007). But what do such evidence based practitioners actually look like? And how do the ideals of EBP translate into the swampy lowlands of clinical practice? Perhaps the most widely accepted definition of the evidence-based practitioner comes from Sackett, Rosenberg, Muir Gray, Haynes, and Richardson (1996). They argue that the ideal clinician is someone who is always ‘integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research’ while also taking into account client values, preferences and expectations (p. 71). While such a definition implies that an evidence-based practitioner would have an extremely high level of agency in making clinical decisions, in practice EBP often comes across as a devaluing of professional competence, in so far as it leads to assertions that ‘children with X should be offered Y because the evidence-based guidelines say so’. When coupled with decision
Multimodal integration : Resolving sensory ambiguities to build novel representations

Summary—Multisensory integration plays several important roles in the nervous system. One is to combine information from multiple complementary cues to improve stimulus detection and discrimination. Another is to resolve peripheral sensory ambiguities and create novel internal representations that do not exist at the level of individual sensors. Here we focus on how ambiguities inherent in vestibular, proprioceptive and visual signals are resolved to create behaviorally useful internal estimates of our self-motion. We review recent studies that have shed new light on the nature of these estimates and how multiple, but individually ambiguous, sensory signals are processed and combined to compute them. We emphasize the need to combine experiments with theoretical insights to understand the transformations that are being performed.
Cytoplasmic localization during testicular biogenesis of the murine mRNA for Spam1 (PH‐20), a protein involved in acrosomal exocytosis

The Sperm Adhesion Molecule1 (SPAM1) is the most widely conserved sperm antigen with important roles in mammalian fertilization. Light and electron microscopy were used to localize, by in situ hybridization, the cellular and subcellular sites of Spam1 mRNA in the murine testis. Transcripts were first detected in step 3 round spermatids, gradually increased until step 8 and abruptly decreased between steps 9–11. They were predominantly localized near the ER and were not dispersed throughout the cytoplasm. Immunohistochemistry revealed that Spam1 is present on both the head and tail of sperm in the seminiferous tubules, and provided support for transcriptional regulation of its transcript. Immunocytochemistry confirmed the location of Spam1 on the tail of testicular sperm and demonstrated that it is localized to both the principal piece and the midpiece. Spam1 on epididymal sperm is localized to the midpiece of the tail and changes from a uniform distribution on the head in the caput to a regionalized pattern, first on the posterior and then on the anterior head, in caudal sperm. Spam1 on the surface of caudal sperm was shown to mediate the increase in acrosome reactions induced by the synergistic effects of HA and progesterone, as confirmed in sperm from the Rb(6.16) translocation‐bearing mice which are Spam1 mutants. The similar response of human and mouse sperm to these agonists of the acrosome reaction, underscores the usefulness of the mouse as a model to study physiological aspects of SPAM1 in humans where, unlike the mouse, it is the only sperm hyaluronidase. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 69: 475–482, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The glucocorticoid receptor: part of the solution or part of the problem?

Clinical studies have demonstrated hyperactivity of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis and increased levels of cortisol in patients with major depression, because of an impairment of glucocorticoid receptor (GR)-mediated negative feedback (glucocorticoid resistance). Moreover, clinical and experimental studies have shown that antidepressants increase GR function, thus leading to resolution of glucocorticoid resistance. Interestingly, a number of studies have also demonstrated that manipulating GR function with both agonists and antagonists has an antidepressant effect, and indeed that other drugs targeting the HPA axis and cortisol secretion – even drugs with opposite effects on the HPA axis – have antidepressant effects. These studies do not support the notion that cortisol has ‘negative’ effects on the brain. On the contrary, this paper concludes that a lack of the ‘positive’ effects of cortisol on the brain, because of glucocorticoid resistance, is likely to be involved in the pathogenesis of depression.
Controlling chaos in systems described by partial differential equations.

A model one-dimensional drift-wave equation driven by a sinusoidal wave is used to study controlling chaos in partial differential equations. By injecting negative feedback through a monochromatic wave or pinning at a certain x-space point we can successfully stabilize unstable steady states and control chaos. In the case of bistability, an unstable steady state in the middle branch can be also stabilized by these controlling approaches. The methods used in this Letter can be applied to general continuous spatiotemporal systems
How shadowing hurts vehicular communications and how dynamic beaconing can help

We study the effect of radio signal shadowing dynamics, caused by vehicles and by buildings, on the performance of beaconing protocols in Inter-Vehicular Communication (IVC). Recent research indicates that beaconing, i.e., one hop message broadcast, shows excellent characteristics and can outperform other communication approaches for both safety and efficiency applications, which require low latency and wide area information dissemination, respectively. We show how shadowing dynamics of moving obstacles hurt IVC, reducing the performance of beaconing protocols. At the same time, shadowing also limits the risk of overloading the wireless channel. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study identifying the problems and resulting possibilities of such dynamic radio shadowing. We demonstrate how these challenges and opportunities can be taken into account and outline a novel approach to dynamic beaconing. It provides low-latency communication (i.e., very short beaconing intervals), while ensuring not to overload the wireless channel. The presented simulation results substantiate our theoretical considerations.
[Treatment of Chronic Heart Failure Patients with Qi-Yang Deficiency and Blood Stasis Resistance Syndrome by Xnmallong Injection: a Multi-center Randomized Control Study].

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Xinmailong Injection (XI) in treatment of chronic heart failure (CHF) patients with qi-yang deficiency and blood stasis resistance syndrome (QY-DBSRS). METHODS Totally 238 CHF patients with QYDBSRS were assigned to the treatment group (118 cases) and the control group (120 cases) by randomized, double-blind, placebo parallel controlled method. Patients in the treatment group received routine therapy and XI (100 mg/2 mL, by dripping at 5 mg/kg, twice per day for 5 consecutive days), while those in the control group received routine therapy and XI mimetic agent (100 mg/2 mL, by dripping at 5 mg/kg, twice per day for 5 consecutive days). The heart function classification of New York Heart Association (NYHA), 6-min walking distance, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), scores for Chinese medical symptoms were observed before and after treatment, and safety assessed. RESULTS Totally 235 patients actually entered full analysis set (FAS), including 120 cases in the control group and 115 cases in the treatment group. The total effective rate of heart function, 6-min walking distance and increased post-pre-treatment distance in the experimental group were superior to those of the control group with statistical difference (all P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, increased value of post-pre-treatment LVEF, the total effective rate of Chinese medical syndrome efficacy, scores for Chinese medical symptoms and decreased post-pre-treatment value of Chinese medical syndrome scores were obviously improved (all P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse events between the two groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS XI could improve the heart function of CHF patients, improve Chinese medical symptoms, elevate exercise tolerance, and improve LVEF. It had no obvious toxic and side effects.
Correlation between Socioeconomic Status and Clinical Course in Patients with Cutaneous Leishmaniasis

Objective: Leishmaniasis has long been known as a poverty-associated disease, which is particularly prevalent in developing and less developed countries. The role of socioeconomic status in the clinical course of the disease is less clearly defined. In this study, we investigated the potential relationship between the clinical course of cutaneous leishmaniasis in terms of its evolution into chronic forms and the socioeconomic status of the patients. Methods: A total of 140 patients attending the dermatology clinic in Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad, Iran, were enrolled. The patients were grouped into high, medium, and low socioeconomic classes according to a comprehensive questionnaire. They received routine treatment protocols for leishmaniasis and were followed up for 1 year. Results: We found a statistically significant relationship between the clinical course of the disease and socioeconomic status. Conclusion: Poverty might prolong the course of cutaneous leishmaniasis for many different reasons.
The impacts of tropical cyclones on the net carbon balance of eastern US forests (1851–2000)

In temperate forests of the eastern US, tropical cyclones are a principal agent of catastrophic wind damage, with dramatic impacts on the structure and functioning of forests. Substantial progress has been made to quantify forest damage and resulting gross carbon emissions from tropical cyclones. However, the net effect of storms on the carbon balance of forests depends not only on the biomass lost in single events, but also on the uptake during recovery from a mosaic of past events. This study estimates the net impacts of tropical cyclones on the carbon balance of US forests over the period 1851–2000. To track both disturbance and recovery and to isolate the effects of storms, a modeling framework is used combining gridded historical estimates of mortality and damage with a mechanistic model using an ensemble approach. The net effect of tropical cyclones on the carbon balance is shown to depend strongly on the spatial and temporal scales of analysis. On average, tropical cyclones contribute a net carbon source over latter half of the 19th century. However, throughout much of the 20th century a regional carbon sink is estimated resulting from periods of forest recovery exceeding damage. The large-scale net annual flux resulting from tropical cyclones varies by up to 50 Tg C yr−1, an amount equivalent to 17%–36% of the US forest carbon sink.
Therapy for a group of tongue thrust swallowers and their mothers.

A brief description of tongue thrusting and associated problems is given. The therapy programme for a group of tongue thrusting children and their mothers is described. Traditional swallow retraining was used with the group of children in conjunction with exercises for strengthening and increasing oro-sensory awareness of tongue and lips. A therapist guided the mothers' discussions while they observed therapy. Results indicated that therapy was successful. The conclusions suggest further avenues of research.
Support Vector Machines Based Adaptive Controller for Piston Hydraulic Motor

Speed control of hydraulic actuator is mainly desirable in diverse hydraulic systems including those for agriculture and most of them are for manufacturing. In all these systems the main demand is to accurately control the speed of the hydraulic actuator under variable operating conditions including various set-points and disturbances. In this paper a generalized predictive control (GPC) which is well known is used based on least squares support vector machines (LS-SVM) as a model reference control. The main drawback of LSSVM is that the sparseness of standard SVM is lost which means that some of the system parameters are equal to zero. In this contribution a new method for sparseness is introduced. The electro-hydraulic servo system is modeled recursively each sample based on LS-SVM using linear kernel function avoiding linearization when radial basis function (RBF) is employed. Based on the model obtained the control signal is calculated at each sample using GPC. The presented controller performance is compared to that of self-tuning PID controller based on recursive least squares (RLS) algorithm.
Phytoplankton motility and the competition for nutrients in the thermocline

Diatoms and dinoflagellates are 2 important groups of phytoplankton that co-exist in the competition for light and nutrients. Following the diatom-dominated spring bloom, the shelf sea subsurface chlorophyll maximum (SCM) is often dominated by motile species of phytoplankton, in particular dinoflagellates and sometimes coccolithophores. Turbulence in shelf seas, driven by surface winds and by tidal currents, is likely to easily counteract the typically weak swimming capabilities of phytoplankton. The thermocline marks a low turbulence region, separating the nutrient-depleted surface (wind-mixed) layer and the nutrient-replete bottom (tidally-mixed) layer, and so would seem to be an ideal environment for employing a strategy of vertical migration. However, the positioning within the thermocline is crucial, as turbulence in the adjoining boundary layers removes cells that stray too close to the edges of the thermocline and mixes them into resource-limited layers of the water column. We combined a Lagrangian random walk model, a k-epsilon turbulence scheme and a simple photosynthesis model to track individual phytoplankton cells in a tidally-mixed, stratified water column (e.g. a summer, temperate shelf sea). By allowing motile and non-motile species to compete, we found that an ability to use motility to balance resource requirements can offset modest physiological disadvantages compared to the non-motile phytoplankton, leading to either co-existence or even dominance of the motile species. However, more severe physiological disadvantages (e.g. combinations of growth rate, nutrient uptake capabilities, and/or respiration) cannot be compensated for by motility alone, and further adaptations (such as mixotrophy) would be required. We also show that the SCM can be a place for significant new production (values of 1 g C m(-2) d(-1) and f-ratios of over 0.5 are possible), which stresses its potential importance as a source of food to the pelagic throughout summer
[The current state of the art concerning quality of life in Parkinson's disease: II. Determining and associated factors].

INTRODUCTION Health-related quality of life (HRQL) in Parkinson's disease (PD) is an area that is receiving a growing amount of interest as the new biopsychosocial model of medicine is adopted. AIM. This paper is the second part of a review of the current state of the art concerning HRQL in PD and focuses on its main determining and associated factors. DEVELOPMENT A total of 56 studies are reviewed and the determining factors are grouped according to different variables, which may be disease-related (including motor and non-motor symptoms), sociodemographic (level of schooling, economic factors, gender and others), psychological and related to mental status (depression, anxiety, cognitive impairment, physician-patient relationship and others), and disability. The following characteristics of the studies were taken into account: the type of design (longitudinal or cross-sectional), the instrument used for measuring the HRQL (generic or specific), the statistical method employed (univariate or multivariate) and the sample size. CONCLUSIONS Most of the studies are cross-sectional and the majority use the 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire as a measure of HRQL with multivariate data analysis. The three most important factors determining HRQL in PD are depression, the stage of the disease and the time elapsed since onset of the disease. Nevertheless, the preferred methodology does not allow for causal inferences, due to the scarcity of longitudinal studies.
22.2 A 176-channel 0.5cm3 0.7g wireless implant for motor function recovery after spinal cord injury

Epidural spinal stimulation has shown effectiveness in recovering the motor function of spinal cord transected rats by modulating neural networks in lumbosacral spinal segments [1, 2]. The state-of-the-art neuromodulation implant [3] reports a 4-channel stimulator with wireless data and power links for small animal experiments, yet weighs 6g and has a volume of 3cm3. It is preferable that the implant package has a comparable size to its bioelectronics and a high-density stimulator to support stimulation with high spatial resolution. Furthermore, the epidural electrode should be soft and flexible because a mechanical mismatch exists at the tissue-electrode interface [1]. Unlike other implant/SoCs that stimulate with pre-loaded patterns [4-5], the implant for motor function recovery should be capable of adaptively adjusting its stimulation patterns at run time in response to the subject's varying physiological states [2]. Measuring the electrode-tissue impedance is also critical to ensure safe stimulation. Deriving the equivalent circuit model of the electrode-tissue interface determines the safe stimulation boundary (i.e. pulse width and intensity) to ensure the electrode overpotential is within the water window [6]. However, an SoC implementation of this function has not been reported.
Sensitivity-enhanced refractive index sensor by using tapered thin-core fiber based inline Mach-Zehnder interferometer

A sensitivity-enhanced optical fiber refractive index sensor based on inline Mach-Zehnder interferometer is proposed. The sensor head is formed by splicing a tapered thin-core diameter fiber between two sections of single mode fibers. The taper (less than 1 mm) plays an important role in improving the sensitivity of the sensor. The sensitivity of refractive index is measured to be 0.447 nm for a 1% change of refractive index in the typical refractive index range of 1.333–1.3725. The whole fabrication process (including splicing and tapering) can be operated by a commercial fiber splicing machine. The proposed sensor also shows the merits of simple structure, low cost, and easy fabrication.
Efficacy of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation as Support for Neurorehabilitation Therapy: A Meta-analysis of Available Studies

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive, well-tolerated, brain stimulation technique, using a weak current applied on the scalp. Rational of tDCS use has been based on the assumption of the post-stroke inter-hemispheric competition model, resulting in a hypo-excitability hemispheric lesion and a hyper-excitability healthy hemisphere, to improve the recovery of motor function. Several small studies have been published but the efficacy of tDCS is not established. We performed a systematic review of published studies to assess efficacy of tDCS on motor function of patients with stroke. A thorough search of main databases has been performed to identify randomized, controlled studies on efficacy of tDCS in patients with stroke. The values derived from the primary outcome measures of these studies have been standardized to make them comparable; eight comparisons were planned: degree of dependence, improvement of upper limb, improvement of global motor function, improvement of lower limb and visual perception; comparison between anode stimulation and sham, anode stimulation and follow-up. 8 studies have been included in the meta-analysis. 3 studies have been excluded because of lack of statistical data, non-randomized assignment and lack of a control group; 178 participants have been included altogether. Most of comparisons did not produce significant results; however a significant improvement of dependence scores (p=0.02), of lower limb index (p=0.02), and of visual perception (p=0.02) have been found. Despite the encouraging results by neurophysiological and instrumental investigations, in some heterogeneous cases, our study shows that there is a need to conduct studies with larger sample sizes.
Design and Synthesis of bis-carbamate Analogs of Cyclic bis-(3′-5′)-Diguanylic Acid (c-di-GMP) and the Acyclic Dimer PGPG

The bacterial second messenger cyclic bis-(3′-5′)-diguanylic acid (c-di-GMP) regulates diverse Gram-negative bacterial virulence functions. The pathways that control, or are controlled by, c-di-GMP suggest that c-di-GMP signaling systems may encompass potential drug targets. It is presently undetermined, however, whether up- or down-modulation of c-di-GMP signaling would be the desired therapeutic state. We addressed potential drug target validation by synthesizing nonhydrolysable carbamate analogs of both the cyclic dinucleotide and the acyclic (seco) dinucleotide. A molecular docking simulation of the carbamate isostere suggests that this analog is capable of assuming the correct conformation and pose at a c-di-GMP binding site.