nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Comparison of intravesical (Cohen) and extravesical (Lich-Gregoir) ureteroneocystostomy in the treatment of unilateral primary vesicoureteric reflux in children.

Various intravesical and extravesical techniques have been described for the surgical correction of vesicoureteral reflux (VUR). Among those techniques Cohen (intra-vesical) and Lich-Gregoir (extra-vesical) are the most commonly used ones. However, there are limited studies that compare those two surgical techniques in the literature.



In this study, we aim to compare the outcomes of the open intravesical and extravesical procedures for unilateral primary VUR in children.



We analyzed the records of 118 consecutive children with primary VUR who underwent open ureteral reimplantation surgery by single surgeon from January 2011 to October 2015 at our institution. Among them, intravesical reimplantation was group A, and extravesical reimplantation procedure was group B. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of both groups, including age, sex, preoperative reflux grade, presence of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), operative time, postoperative complications and hospitalization period. Success of surgery was defined as the resolution of the VUR as determined by voiding cystourethrography 6 -12 months after surgery. All the parameters were statistically compared.



A total of 58 patients were found eligible for the study. In 23 cases intravesical (group A) and in 35 cases extravesical (group B) procedure were performed. The operative time in group A was significantly higher than group B (110.3±16.9 and 87±29.8 min, respectively, p = 0.002). The mean hospital stay was also longer in group A (2.8±0.8 and 1.2±0.6 days, respectively, p = 0.007). The ureteral catheterization periods were 14.1±6.1 days for group A and there was no ureteral catheter placement in group B. The success rate of the two groups were comparable (100% vs 94.9%, p = 0.513). No intraoperative complications were detected in either group. The number of febrile urinary tract infections were similar between the groups after a mean follow up of 18.2 months (p = 0.746).



Our results confirmed that both Cohen and Lich-Gregoir procedures had equivalent success and complication rates. Lich-Gregoir technique was found superior to Cohen technique in terms of hospital stay and operative time. Moreover, it avoids the necessity of urethral and ureteral stenting which probably might increase the comfort of the patients postoperatively. The main limitations of our study are unrecorded pain scores and amount of analgesics taken the after surgery and retrospective analysis of the data.



Both the open intravesical and extravesical ureteroneocystostomy procedures are equally effective in the treatment of primary unilateral VUR. Any of the techniques can be opted by the surgeons depending on their surgical experience.

Field of study: Medicine
Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction studies of bleomycin-binding protein encoded on the transposon Tn5.

A bleomycin-binding protein, designated BLMT, encoded on the transposon Tn5 was crystallized using the vapour-diffusion method in a form suitable for X-ray diffraction analysis. Crystals were grown at pH 6.5 in 0.1 M sodium cacodylate and 0.2 M calcium acetate, using 25% PEG 6000 as a precipitant. They belong to the orthorhombic system, space group C2221, with unit-cell dimensions a = 81.56, b = 85.25, c = 78.91 A and one dimer in the asymmetric unit. The diffraction intensity data were collected on beamline 18B of the Photon Factory to 2.0 A resolution with a merging R value of 0.052. The diffraction data set is 91% complete.

Field of study: Chemistry
Occurrence of sulfate-reducing bacteria under a wide range of physico-chemical conditions in Au and Cu-Zn mine tailings.

Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) have been observed in mining environments, but their presence has not been linked to specific physico-chemical and mineralogical factors. The present study was undertaken to assess the presence of SRB in several Au and Cu-Zn mine tailings located near Timmins, Ont., Canada, and determine the factors responsible for their presence. Vegetated and non-vegetated mine tailings were sampled for SRB enumeration, pH, Eh, water content, total carbon content and sequential chemical extraction. Results first showed that SRB populations were present at all sites and that their distribution varied with depth. Populations were recovered from neutral pH and slightly anoxic tailings and from highly acidic (pH 2) and oxic tailings. The total carbon content of the tailings was generally low and not related to the presence of vegetation. In addition, the carbon content did not affect SRB population distribution and appeared to be more related to the type of tailings, i.e., oxidized and acidic Cu-Zn tailings contained on average more carbon than Au tailings. Results also indicated that the water content of the tailings varied greatly with depth and was not related to the presence of SRB populations. The sequential chemical extraction showed that the pyrite content of the tailings was lower in Au tailings than in Cu-Zn tailings, and that some oxidized Cu-Zn sites were depleted in pyrite due to microbial and chemical oxidation. Our results indicate that SRB could be cultured from a variety of sites and sample types, and that factors such as pH, Eh, water content and carbon content at the collection sites did not exert control on their presence.

Field of study: Biology, Environmental science
Impact of Pilgrimage (Hajj) on the Urban Growth of the Mecca

The holy city of Makkah is located in the southwest of Saudi Arabia, and it is considered the spiritual capital of one and half billion Muslims worldwide and being visited by millions of pilgrims every year. However, the urban extent of Makah is constrained by the surrounding mountain ranges, but the developments of modern transport means (i.e. roads and ports) has resulted in the increase of pilgrims visiting Makah around the year. Concurrently, the landuse of Makah has drastically changed to cope with the increasing services required for pilgrims. Therefore, the town center of Makah, particularly around the Holy Mosque and the sacred sites of pilgrimage was redeveloped into sets of hotels and stores, which can be considered as the tourism zone in Makah. Moreover, the residential areas has expanded outside the current tourism zone, thus the urban development is being affected by the pilgrims activities. Therefore, this paper investigated the interaction between the evolution of pilgrims numbers, the urban growth and problems arising during the pilgrimage season. 
 DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v3n2p255

Field of study: Education, Sociology
Development of a 90-K beta type Stirling cooler with rhombic drive mechanism

This paper is aimed at developing a beta-type Stirling cooler with rhombic drive mechanism. A prototype cooler is manufactured. Thermodynamic model and experimental study are built and conducted in parallel. In the model, the mass, the temperature, and the pressure of working fluid as well as the temperature of cold head are solved. Also, the pressure drop in regenerator, the effect of regenerator porosity, the temperature dependence of conductivity of working fluid and cold head, and the effect of operating speed fluctuation are considered. Heat losses produced by axial conduction, pressure drop, and displacer motion are also included in the energy equation for cold head. To simulate the transient behavior of the cooler, a corrected coefficient of thermal inertia is introduced here. On the other hand, a parametric study under different geometrical parameters and operating conditions are performed. Performance measurements under different heat loading, charged pressure, and operating speed for verifying present model are also conducted. The experimental results show that the present cooler is able to reach 93 K no-loading temperature at 1000 rpm with 3 atm helium.

Field of study: Engineering
Assessment of boscalid and pyraclostrobin disappearance and behavior following application of effective microorganisms on apples

The aim of this study is to assess the disappearance of boscalid (IUPAC name: 2-chloro-N-[2-(4-chlorophenyl)phenyl]pyridine-3-carboxamide) and pyraclostrobin (IUPAC name: methyl N-[2-[[1-(4-chlorophenyl)pyrazol-3-yl]oxymethyl]phenyl]-N-methoxycarbamate) residues in apple fruit, and to verify whether an organic fertilizer enriched with strains of antagonistic microorganisms can reduce pesticide residue levels. Field trials were conducted in a commercial orchard on apples of the Gloster variety, during 21 days after the treatment with Bellis 38 WG and the subsequent application of Zumba Plant formulation containing Bacillus spp., Trichoderma spp. and Glomus spp. In control samples, the decrease rate of boscalid and pyraclostrobin residue levels followed an exponential function, described by formulae Rt = 0.2824e−0.071t and Rt = 0.1176e−0.060t, with the coefficient of determination of r2 = 0.8692 and r2 = 0.9268, respectively. These levels dropped to half (t1/2) of their initial values after 9.8 and 11.5 days, respectively. The treatment with Zumba Plant resulted in a reduction in boscalid and pyraclostrobin residue levels by 52% and 41%, respectively. The results of this study are of importance for horticulture sciences and for producers of apples using plant protection products (PPPs).

Field of study: Agricultural and Food sciences
Analysis of Red Supergiants in VDBH 222

Recent surveys uncovered new Young Massive Clusters (YMCs) that host dozens of Red Supergiants (RSGs) in the inner Milky Way. 
These clusters are ideal for studying the most recent and violent star formation events in the inner Galaxy. However, due to the high extinction that affects the Galactic plane, they need to be studied through infrared (IR) spectroscopy. IR spectra of RSGs have proven to be powerful tools for obtaining chemical abundances. We present the first [Fe$/$H] measurement ($-$0.07$\pm$0.02) for the YMC VdBH 222 through analysis of its RSGs using VLT/X-shooter spectra. We find no evidence for Multiple Stellar Populations (MSPs) in this YMC, contrary to what is routinely observed in older massive clusters.

Field of study: Physics
Scalability Analysis of Optical Intrasystem Interconnects

Architecture of network elements such as large routers and switches is becoming more and more complex due to the constantly increasing requirements on both capacity and performance. Already today, high-performance routers having capacities of more than several Tb/s can not be packaged in a single rack of equipment. Complex and spatially distributed multirack routers comprising a large number of line cards, switching modules and high-speed ports have already become reality. A consequence of this trend is that internal interconnecting system also becomes large and complex. Interconnection distances, total number of cables and power consumption increase rapidly with the increase in capacity, which can cause limitations in scalability of the whole system. This paper addresses requirements and limitations of large-scale optical interconnects. Various point-to-point interconnects and two optically switched interconnection options were studied with regard to their scalability by considering various impairments on optical signal, required number of fiber links and power consumption. Results of this study are presented and discussed in this paper.

Field of study: Computer science
Geological and geophysical synthesis of the tectonics of portions of British Columbia, the Yukon Territory, and Alaska

The seismic activity of Alaska is associated with the Aleutian Island arc and with a line of faulting in southeastern Alaska that appears to be the northward extension of the San Andreas fault system. The activity in western Alaska is enhanced where the Aleutian Range intersects the Alaska Range. It is again enhanced where the Chugach Range intersects the Aleutian Range. 
 
The Denali fault can be traced from the Bering Sea through the Kuskokwim Mountains, past Mt. McKinley, to a point past Lake Dezadeash. Here it is joined by a line of faulting associated with a northern extension of the San Andreas system. 
 
A similar line of faulting runs from Lake Clark past Anthracite Ridge to join the faulting in southeastern Alaska. 
 
It is suggested that the major Yakutat Bay earthquakes took place on a very long, straight lateral fault running from north of Yakutat Bay to south of the Queen Charlotte Islands. 
 
The Denali fault is thought to be right lateral strike slip in habit, with over 150 miles of movement. 
 
Seismic data and geologic observations indicate that the north Pacific Basin, from Baja California to the Kurile Islands at least, is and has been for a long time, rotating counterclockwise.

Field of study: Geology
Debiasing the hidden curriculum

To compare the academic performance of students who entered family medicine residency programs with that of students who entered other disciplines and discern whether or not family physicians are as academically talented as their colleagues in other specialties.  Retrospective quantitative study.  University of Calgary in Alberta.  Three graduating classes of students (2004 to 2006) from the University of Calgary medical school.  Student performance on various undergraduate certifying examinations in years 1, 2, and 3, along with third-year in-training evaluation reports and total score on the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination Part I.  Complete data were available for 99% of graduates (N = 295). In the analysis, residency program (family medicine [n = 96] versus non–family medicine [n = 199]) served as the independent variable. Using a 1-way multivariate ANOVA (analysis of variance), no significant difference among any of the mean performance scores was observed ( F 5289 = 1.73, P > .05). Students who entered family medicine were also well represented within the top 10 rankings of the various performance measures.  The academic performance of students who pursued careers in family medicine did not differ from that of students who chose other specialties. Unfounded negativity toward family medicine has important societal implications, especially at a time when the gap between the number of family physicians and patients seeking primary care services appears to be widening.

Field of study: Medicine
A Very Special Education: The Israeli Kibbutz

as the Kibbutz has stimulated great interest among behavioral scientists. To an extent far greater than in any other existing community, Kibbutz life is purposely and totally built around the principles of communal ownership of property, cooperative enterprise, comprehensive collective living, and collective education (chinuch meshutaf).2 For the past two years my wife and I have been engaged in a research project on personality development in the second generation reared in a Kibbutz. The Kibbutz we chose for

Field of study: Education
Development of associations between microalgae and denitrifying bacteria in streams of contrasting anthropogenic influence.

We compared the development of microalgal and bacterial-denitrifier communities within biofilms over 28 days in a restored-prairie stream (RP) and a stream receiving treated wastewater effluent (DER). Inorganic nutrient concentrations were an order of magnitude greater in DER, and stream waters differed in the quality of dissolved organics (characterized via pyrolysis-GC/MS). Biofilm biomass and the densities of algae and bacteria increased over time in both systems; however, algal and denitrifier community composition and the patterns of development differed between systems. Specifically, algal and denitrifier taxonomic composition stabilized more quickly in DER than RP, whereas the rates of algal and denitrifier succession were more closely coupled in RP than DER. We hypothesize that, under unenriched conditions, successional changes in algal assemblages influence bacterial denitrifiers due to their dependence on algal exudates, while under enriched conditions, this relationship is decoupled. Between-system differences in organic signatures supported this, as RP biofilms contained more labile, aliphatic compounds than DER. In addition, potential denitrification rates (DNP) were negatively correlated with the percentage of aromatic compounds within the biofilm organic signatures, suggesting a significant relationship between algal exudate composition and denitrification. These results are significant because anthropogenic factors that affect biofilm community composition may alter their capacity to perform critical ecosystem services.

Field of study: Biology, Environmental science
Elevation of cyclic AMP levels in cell lines derived from latently infectable sensory neurons increases their permissivity for herpes virus infection by activating the viral immediate-early 1 gene promoter.

Immortalized cell lines derived from sensory neurons are relatively non-permissive for lytic infection with herpes simplex virus (HSV) and fail to transcribe the viral immediate-early genes following infection. Treatment of these cells with agents which raise the intra-cellular level of cyclic AMP results in increased activity of the IE1 gene which contains a cyclic AMP response element within its promoter and produces a consequent increase in permissivity for HSV infection. The significance of these effects for the regulation of HSV infection of neuronal cells are discussed in the light of the finding that cyclic AMP treatment can reactivate latent HSV infections.

Field of study: Biology
High excitation molecular gas in the galactic center loops; 12CO (J = 2-1 and J = 3-2) observations

We have carried out 12CO(J =2-1) and 12CO(J =3-2) observations at spatial resolutions of 1.0-3.8 pc toward the entirety of loops 1 and 2 and part of loop 3 in the Galactic center with NANTEN2 and ASTE. These new results revealed detailed distributions of the molecular gas and the line intensity ratio of the two transitions, R3-2/2-1. In the three loops, R3-2/2-1 is in a range from 0.1 to 2.5 with a peak at ~ 0.7 while that in the disk molecular gas is in a range from 0.1 to 1.2 with a peak at 0.4. This supports that the loops are more highly excited than the disk molecular gas. An LVG analysis of three transitions, 12CO J =3-2 and 2-1 and 13CO J =2-1, toward six positions in loops 1 and 2 shows density and temperature are in a range 102.2 - 104.7 cm-3 and 15-100 K or higher, respectively. Three regions extended by 50-100 pc in the loops tend to have higher excitation conditions as characterized by R3-2/2-1 greater than 1.2. The highest ratio of 2.5 is found in the most developed foot points between loops 1 and 2. This is interpreted that the foot points indicate strongly shocked conditions as inferred from their large linewidths of 50-100 km s-1, confirming the suggestion by Torii et al. (2010b). The other two regions outside the foot points suggest that the molecular gas is heated up by some additional heating mechanisms possibly including magnetic reconnection. A detailed analysis of four foot points have shown a U shape, an L shape or a mirrored-L shape in the b-v distribution. It is shown that a simple kinematical model which incorporates global rotation and expansion of the loops is able to explain these characteristic shapes.

Field of study: Physics
Photo-Switched Current through Bilayer Lipid Membrane Containing Spirobenzopyran

The current through the bilayer lipid membrane (BLM) formed from glyceryl-1-monoolein (GMO) and spirobenzopyran with a long alkyl chain (1) increased upon UV light irradiation and decreased upon subsequent irradiation of visible light during the voltage application. This photoinduced increase in the current suggests that defects in BLM are formed as pass ways for ions associated with the conformational change of 1.

Field of study: Chemistry
Involvement of extracellular oxidative burst in salicylic acid-induced stomatal closure in Arabidopsis.

Salicylic acid (SA), a ubiquitous phenolic phytohormone, is involved in many plant physiological processes including stomatal movement. We analysed SA-induced stomatal closure, production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO), cytosolic calcium ion ([Ca²+](cyt)) oscillations and inward-rectifying potassium (K+(in)) channel activity in Arabidopsis. SA-induced stomatal closure was inhibited by pre-treatment with catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), suggesting the involvement of extracellular ROS. A peroxidase inhibitor, SHAM (salicylhydroxamic acid) completely abolished SA-induced stomatal closure whereas neither an inhibitor of NADPH oxidase (DPI) nor atrbohD atrbohF mutation impairs SA-induced stomatal closures. 3,3'-Diaminobenzidine (DAB) and nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) stainings demonstrated that SA induced H₂O₂ and O₂⁻ production. Guard cell ROS accumulation was significantly increased by SA, but that ROS was suppressed by exogenous CAT, SOD and SHAM. NO scavenger 2-(4-carboxyphenyl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide (cPTIO) suppressed the SA-induced stomatal closure but did not suppress guard cell ROS accumulation whereas SHAM suppressed SA-induced NO production. SA failed to induce [Ca²+](cyt) oscillations in guard cells whereas K+(in) channel activity was suppressed by SA. These results indicate that SA induces stomatal closure accompanied with extracellular ROS production mediated by SHAM-sensitive peroxidase, intracellular ROS accumulation and K+(in) channel inactivation.

Field of study: Environmental science
Evaluations of JaguarCode: A web-based object-oriented programming environment with static and dynamic visualization

To increase program comprehension and overcome learning obstacles of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), various visualization techniques have been adopted in educational OOP environments. Some provide software development with visual notations without source code, while others support programming with visual aids. Our research supports Java programming along with UML diagrams (class, object, and sequence) and dynamic execution traces of program synchronized in a web-based programming environment - JaguarCode. It aims to help students better understand the static structure and dynamic behavior of Java programs, as well as object-oriented design concepts. This paper reports on the evaluation results of JaguarCode to investigate its effectiveness and user satisfaction through quantitative and qualitative experiments. The experimental results revealed that having both static and dynamic visualizations did positively impact the correctness of program understanding and tracing problems, while the visual representations did affect students' understanding on the program execution of the problems to higher accuracy. It was also observed that students were satisfied with the aspects of those visualizations provided in JaguarCode.

Field of study: Computer science, Engineering
Saccharomyces cerevisiae GPI10, the functional homologue of human PIG-B, is required for glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchor synthesis.

An increasing number of plasma membrane proteins have been shown to be attached to the membrane via a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) moiety. All eukaryotes share a highly conserved GPI-core structure EthN-P-Man3-GlcN-PI, where EthN is ethanolamine. We have identified a protein encoded by the yeast open reading frame YGL142C that shares 33% identity with the human Pig-B protein. Deletion of this essential gene leads to a block in GPI anchor biosynthesis. We therefore named the gene GPI10. Gpi10p and Pig-B are functional homologues and the lethal deletion of GPI10 can be rescued by expression of the PIG-B cDNA. As found for PIG-B mutant cells, gpi10 deletant cells cannot attach the third mannose in an alpha-1,2 linkage to the GPI core-structure intermediate. Overexpression of GPI10 gives partial resistance to the GPI-synthesis inhibitor YW3548, suggesting that this gene product may affect the target of the inhibitor.

Field of study: Biology, Computer science