Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Incremental prognostic value of the exercise electrocardiogram in the initial assessment of patients with suspected angina: cohort study

Objective To determine whether resting and exercise electrocardiograms (ECGs) provide prognostic value that is incremental to that obtained from the clinical history in ambulatory patients with suspected angina attending chest pain clinics. Design Multicentre cohort study. Setting Rapid access chest pain clinics of six hospitals in England. Participants 8176 consecutive patients with suspected angina and no previous diagnosis of coronary artery disease, all of whom had a resting ECG recorded. 4848 patients with a summary exercise ECG result recorded (positive, negative, equivocal for ischaemia) comprised the summary ECG subset of whom 1422 with more detailed exercise ECG data recorded comprised the detailed ECG subset. Main outcome measure Composite of death due to coronary heart disease or non-fatal acute coronary syndrome during median follow-up of 2.46 years. Results Receiver operating characteristics curves for the basic clinical assessment model alone and with the results of resting ECGs were superimposed with little difference in the C statistic. With the exercise ECGs the C statistic in the summary ECG subset increased from 0.70 (95% confidence interval 0.68 to 0.73) to 0.74 (0.71 to 0.76) and in the detailed ECG subset from 0.74 (0.70 to 0.79) to 0.78 (0.74 to 0.82). However, risk stratified cumulative probabilities of the primary end point at one year and six years for all three prognostic indices (clinical assessment only; clinical assessment plus resting ECG; clinical assessment plus resting ECG plus exercise ECG) showed only small differences at all time points and at all levels of risk. Conclusion In ambulatory patients with suspected angina, basic clinical assessment encompasses nearly all the prognostic value of resting ECGs and most of the prognostic value of exercise ECGs. The limited incremental value of these widely applied tests emphasises the need for more effective methods of risk stratification in this group of patients.
Adverse pregnancy outcomes in an area where multidrug-resistant plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum infections are endemic.

BACKGROUND Plasmodium falciparum infection exerts a considerable burden on pregnant women, but less is known about the adverse consequences of Plasmodium vivax infection. METHODS In Papua, Indonesia, where multiple drug resistance to both species has emerged, we conducted a cross-sectional hospital-based study to quantify the risks and consequences of maternal malaria. RESULTS From April 2004 through December 2006, 3046 pregnant women were enrolled in the study. The prevalence of parasitemia at delivery was 16.8% (432 of 2570 women had infections), with 152 (35.2%) of these 432 infections being associated with fever. The majority of infections were attributable to P. falciparum (250 [57.9%]); 146 (33.8%) of the infections were attributable to P. vivax, and 36 (8.3%) were coinfections with both species. At delivery, P. falciparum infection was associated with severe anemia (hemoglobin concentration, <7 g/dL; odds ratio [OR], 2.8; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 2.0-4.0) and a 192 g (95% CI, 119-265) reduction in mean birth weight (P<.001). P. vivax infection was associated with an increased risk of moderate anemia (hemoglobin concentration, 7-11 g/dL; OR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.2-2.9; P=.01) and a 108 g (95% CI, 17.5-199) reduction in mean birth weight (P<.019). Parasitemia was associated with preterm delivery (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.1-2.0; P=.02) and stillbirth (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.3-4.1; P=.007) but was not associated with these outcomes after controlling for the presence of fever and severe anemia, suggesting that malaria increases the risk of preterm delivery and stillbirth through fever and contribution to severe anemia rather than through parasitemia per se. CONCLUSIONS These observations highlight the need for novel, safe, and effective treatment and prevention strategies against both multidrug-resistant P. falciparum and multidrug-resistant P. vivax infections in pregnant women in areas of mixed endemicity.
Comparison of Li-Wong and loglinear mixed models for the statistical analysis of oligonucleotide arrays

MOTIVATION Li and Wong have described some useful statistical models for probe-level, oligonucleotide array data based on a multiplicative parametrization. In earlier work, we proposed similar analysis-of-variance-style mixed models fit on a log scale. With only subtle differences in the specification of their mean and stochastic error components, a question arises as to whether these models could lead to varying conclusions in practical application. RESULTS In this paper, we provide an empirical comparison of the two models using a real data set, and find the models perform quite similarly across most genes, but with some interesting and important distinctions. We also present results from a simulation study designed to assess inferential properties of the models, and propose a modified test statistic for the Li-Wong model that provides an improvement in Type 1 error control. Advantages of both methods include the ability to directly assess and account for key sources of variability in the chip data and a means to automate statistical quality control.
PseudoButton: enabling pressure-sensitive interaction by repurposing microphone on mobile device

We propose a new interaction technique, called PseudoButton, which emulates a pressure-sensitive touch sensor by repurposing a built-in microphone on mobile devices. This simple and novel technique increases input expressivity of the device and expands its interaction area for users to alleviate the occlusion problem caused by touchscreens without adding extra sensors. To verify our idea, we implemented a prototype and conducted a preliminary evaluation on it. The results show that participants can input at accuracy of 94% for five different pressure levels with minimal error.
Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy for Oligometastases Confined to the Para-Aortic Region: Clinical Outcomes and the Significance of Radiotherapy Field and Dose

We retrospectively reviewed 88 patients with oligometases in the para-aortic region from any controlled primary tumor site who were treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). The 5-year local control, disease-free survival, and overall survival rates were 83%, 31%, and 41%, respectively. A 90% tumor-control probability was predicted at a biological effective dose of 90 Gy. Severe gastrointestinal toxicities (grade ≥3) were observed in 2 of 88 patients (1%). The results of this study are limited by the retrospective nature of the study but could serve as the background and rationale for future prospective trials on SBRT-based treatment for oligometastses.
Neuroprotective effect of transcorneal electrical stimulation on the acute phase of optic nerve injury.

PURPOSE Traumatic optic neuropathy often induces a loss of vision that proceeds rapidly within several hours, together with retinal ganglion cell death, in a much slower time course. Electrical stimulation has previously been shown to rescue injured retinal ganglion cells from cell death. The present study tests whether transcorneal electrical stimulation could preserve visual function after an optic nerve crush. METHODS Transcorneal electrical stimulation was given immediately after a calibrated optic nerve crush. We measured visually evoked potentials (VEPs) in the visual cortex of rats before and immediately after the optic nerve crush and after the transcorneal stimulation to estimate an extent of damage and effects of stimulation in individual animals. In addition, the retinal axons were labeled with a fluorescent anterograde tracer to determine whether the transcorneal electrical stimulation can protect the retinal axons from degeneration. RESULTS The optic nerve crush was made at an intensity that does not allow a spontaneous recovery of VEP for 1 week. The transcorneal stimulation immediately increased VEP amplitude impaired by the optic nerve crush, and this augmentation was often preserved after 1 week. In the stimulated animals, a larger amount of retinal axons projected centrally beyond the crushed region in comparison to the unstimulated animals. CONCLUSIONS Transcorneal electrical stimulation would restore the functional impairment of optic nerve by traumatic injury at a very early stage and protect retinal axons from the ensuing degeneration.
Reduced caloric intake and nicontinic acid provocation tests in the diagnosis of Gilbert's syndrome.

Gilbert's syndrome is a benign condition characterized by a mild unconjugated hyperbilirubinaemia without severe haemolysis or liver disease. Fluctuations in the blood bilirubin levels can make the diagnosis difficult. We have compared the results of two tests-the fasting or reduced caloric intake test, and the nicotinic acid provocation test-which have recently been advocated for diagnosing Gilbert's syndrome.1 2
Female house mice avoid fertilization by t haplotype incompatible males in a mate choice experiment

The t haplotype in house mice is a well‐known selfish genetic element with detrimental, nonadditive fitness consequences to its carriers: recessive lethal mutations cause t/t homozygotes to perish in utero. Given the severe genetic incompatibility imposed by the t haplotype, we predict females to avoid fertilization by t haplotype incompatible males. Indeed, some of the strongest evidence for compatibility mate choice is related to the t haplotype in house mice. However, all previous evidence for compatibility mate choice in this system is based on olfactory preference. It is so far unknown how general these preferences are and whether they are relevant in an actual mating context. Here, we assess female compatibility mate choice related to t haplotypes in a setting that – for the first time – allowed females to directly interact and mate with males. This approach enabled us to analyse female behaviour during the testing period, and the resulting paternity success and fitness consequences of a given choice. We show that genetic incompatibilities arising from the t haplotype had severe indirect fitness consequences and t females avoided fertilization by t incompatible males. The results are inconclusive whether this avoidance of t fertilization by t females was caused by pre‐ or post‐copulatory processes.
Hepatitis B antigen-associated deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase activity and e antigen/anti-e system

Serum samples of 403 asymptomatic blood donors carrying hepatitis B surface antigen (HB5Ag) were concentrated threefold and tested for e antigen and antibody to e antigen (anti-e) by immunodiffusion. Hepatitis B antigen (HBAg)-associated deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) polymerase activity was specifically determined by the difference in incorporation of [methyl-3H]thymidine 5' -triphosphate into DNA by an aliquot of centrifuged serum samples after it had been treated either with normal rabbit serum or with rabbit antibody to HBSAg. All of 58 serum samples containing e antigen revealed HBAg-associated DNA polymerase activity, whereas none of 96 samples containing anti-e did. In the remaining 249 samples in which neither e antigen nor anti-e was found, 62 showed specific DNA polymerase activity, although at lower levels than the samples containing e antigen.
Discovering Functional DNA Elements Using Population Genomic Information: A Proof of Concept Using Human mtDNA

Identifying the complete set of functional elements within the human genome would be a windfall for multiple areas of biological research including medicine, molecular biology, and evolution. Complete knowledge of function would aid in the prioritization of loci when searching for the genetic bases of disease or adaptive phenotypes. Because mutations that disrupt function are disfavored by natural selection, purifying selection leaves a detectable signature within functional elements; accordingly, this signal has been exploited for over a decade through the use of genomic comparisons of distantly related species. While this is so, the functional complement of the genome changes extensively across time and between lineages; therefore, evidence of the current action of purifying selection in humans is essential. Because the removal of deleterious mutations by natural selection also reduces within-species genetic diversity within functional loci, dense population genetic data have the potential to reveal genomic elements that are currently functional. Here, we assess the potential of this approach by examining an ultradeep sample of human mitochondrial genomes (n = 16,411). We show that the high density of polymorphism in this data set precisely delineates regions experiencing purifying selection. Furthermore, we show that the number of segregating alleles at a site is strongly correlated with its divergence across species after accounting for known mutational biases in human mitochondrial DNA (ρ = 0.51; P < 2.2 × 10−16). These two measures track one another at a remarkably fine scale across many loci—a correlation that is purely the result of natural selection. Our results demonstrate that genetic variation has the potential to reveal with surprising precision which regions in the genome are currently performing important functions and likely to have deleterious fitness effects when mutated. As more complete human genomes are sequenced, similar power to reveal purifying selection may be achievable in the human nuclear genome.
Increased severity of 2009 pandemic influenza A virus subtype H1N1 infection in alveolar type II cells from patients with pulmonary fibrosis.

TO THE EDITOR—Weinheimer et al [1] reported that influenza A viruses preferentially infect alveolar epithelial type II (ATII) cells in lung tissue explants and suggested that the pathogenicity of influenza A viruses is associated with the ability of these viruses to replicate in ATII cells and induce the production of inflammatory cytokines. In contrast, an epidemiological study by Nguyen-Van-Tam et al [2] demonstrated that chronic pulmonary comorbidities such as pulmonary fibrosis were risk factors for poor outcomes for 2009 pandemic influenza A virus subtype H1N1 (A[H1N1]pdm09) infection. Pulmonary fibrosis is a collective and clinicopathological term for a disease characterized by shortness of breath during exercise, abnormal lung physiology, reduced gas transfer, and excessive scar formation in the lung interstitium. Two studies using genome-wide RNA interference screening identified host factors that are required for the replication of influenza virus [3, 4]. These studies suggest that not only viral strains but also host factors associated with existing pulmonary diseases should be studied to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms of influenza A virus pathogenesis. To our knowledge, there are no studies investigating whether influenza virus infection of ATII cells in diseased lungs is more severe than in normal lungs. On the basis of an epidemiological study [2], we hypothesized that the infection of ATII cells with A(H1N1) pdm09 is more severe for cells from pulmonary fibrotic lungs than for cells from nonfibrotic lungs. To address this question, we infected ATII cells isolated from fibrotic lungs and nonfibrotic lungs with A(H1N1)pdm09 and then compared viral titers in the culture supernatants. This study was approved by the ethics committees of the Tohoku University School of Medicine and the Japanese Red Cross Ishinomaki Hospital. All patients gave their informed consent. Nonfibrotic lung tissue specimens were obtained from 4 patients who underwent surgery because of lung cancer. The nonfibrotic tissue specimens were resected from portions distal to the cancerous lesions. A histopathological examination confirmed that these nonfibrotic lung tissues did not contain any lesions, including those associated with cancer, fibrosis, emphysema, or inflammatory changes (data not shown). Fibrotic lung tissue specimens were obtained from patients who underwent open lung biopsy or lung resection because of lung cancer. The clinical diagnoses based on pathological examinations of the fibrotic lesions included idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (in 3 patients), cellular nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (in 1), and chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis (in 1). We excluded patients in whom other respiratory disorders, such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, were diagnosed that might also be risk factors for poor outcomes for A(H1N1) pdm09 infection [5]. We also excluded patients who had been treated with chemotherapy before surgery.
Review of the safety profile for microfocused ultrasound with visualization

The Safety of Microfocused Ultrasound with Visualization (MFU‐V) has been well established in both controlled clinical studies and in clinical use, showing only mild and transient anticipated side effects and only rare unanticipated adverse events (AEs). This publication discusses the safety profile of MFU‐V based on data from a variety of sources. Reports of side effects and AEs were obtained from published peer‐reviewed medical literature, clinical studies, in‐market use reports (AEs reported to the manufacturer), and retrospective chart reviews of patient treatments. Events that were typical included tenderness, redness, and slight edema. Rare events included bruising, welting, and nerve‐related effects (paresthesia and paresis). Rare incidence of surface thermal effects was seen in some cases where improper technique was used. In all cases where the device was uses properly, the safety events reported tended to be transient, mild in nature, and resolved without sequelae. In general, unexpected and rare AEs could be attributed to incorrect treatment technique or classified as unrelated to MFU‐V treatment. Side effects that do occur are generally mild and transient in nature. MFU‐V consistently allows for safe treatment when correct treatment technique is used.
Interaction design: a multidimensional approach for learners with autism

In the special education context of children with autism, the design of educational software needs to focus on their unique learning styles. In this study, results of a survey in Irish Primary Schools, and interviews with tutors, indicate that characteristics of learners with autism need to be more integrated into the design process. An interaction model, based on Norman's and Abowd and Beale's models, provides a basis for mapping special user requirements and instructional strategies onto a model suited to the learner with autism. We propose this extended interaction model as a basis for design guidelines for effective educational software for these special needs learners.
A utility-based adaptive sensing and multihop communication protocol for wireless sensor networks

This article reports on the development of a utility-based mechanism for managing sensing and communication in cooperative multisensor networks. The specific application on which we illustrate our mechanism is that of GlacsWeb. This is a deployed system that uses battery-powered sensors to collect environmental data related to glaciers which it transmits back to a base station so that it can be made available world-wide to researchers. In this context, we first develop a sensing protocol in which each sensor locally adjusts its sensing rate based on the value of the data it believes it will observe. The sensors employ a Bayesian linear model to decide their sampling rate and exploit the properties of the Kullback-Leibler divergence to place an appropriate value on the data. Then, we detail a communication protocol that finds optimal routes for relaying this data back to the base station based on the cost of communicating it (derived from the opportunity cost of using the battery power for relaying data). Finally, we empirically evaluate our protocol by examining the impact on efficiency of a static network topology, a dynamic network topology, the size of the network, the degree of dynamism of the environment, and the mobility of the nodes. In so doing, we demonstrate that the efficiency gains of our new protocol, over the currently implemented method over a 6 month period, are 78%, 133%, 100%, and 93%, respectively. Furthermore, we show that our system performs at 65%, 70%, 63%, and 70% of the theoretical optimal, respectively, despite being a distributed protocol that operates with incomplete knowledge of the environment.
IODetector: a generic service for indoor outdoor detection

The location and context switching, especially the indoor/outdoor switching, provides essential and primitive information for upper layer mobile applications. In this paper, we present IODetector: a lightweight sensing service which runs on the mobile phone and detects the indoor/outdoor environment in a fast, accurate, and efficient manner. Constrained by the energy budget, IODetector leverages primarily lightweight sensing resources including light sensors, magnetism sensors, celltower signals, etc. For universal applicability, IODetector assumes no prior knowledge (e.g., fingerprints) of the environment and uses only on-board sensors common to mainstream mobile phones. Being a generic and lightweight service component, IODetector greatly benefits many location-based and context-aware applications. We prototype the IODetector on Android mobile phones and evaluate the system comprehensively with data collected from 19 traces which include 84 different places during one month period, employing different phone models. We further perform a case study where we make use of IODetector to instantly infer the GPS availability and localization accuracy in different indoor/outdoor environments.
The α7 nAChR agonist PNU-282987 reduces inflammation and MPTP-induced nigral dopaminergic cell loss in mice.

BACKGROUND Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with neurodegeneration of dopaminergic neurons and an accompanying neuroinflammatory process in the substantia nigra (SN). The cholinergic anti-inflammatory signalling pathway allows the autonomic nervous system to modulate immunologic stimuli and inflammatory processes. A major component of this pathway is the α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7 nACh receptor), which is expressed on immune cells such as microglia. OBJECTIVE To determine the role of this cholinergic anti-inflammatory signalling pathway, we investigated the effects of the selective α7 nACh agonist PNU-282987 and of the non-competitive nACh antagonist mecamylamine on microglia-induced neuroinflammation and toxin-induced degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in a mouse model of PD. METHODS PNU-282987, mecamylamine or placebo administration was started one day before MPTP intoxication and repeated daily until sacrifice after MPTP intoxication. C57Bl/6 mice were injected intraperitoneally four times at 2 h intervals with either 20 mg/kg MPTP-HCl or a corresponding volume of saline. Two or seven days after the end of the MPTP intoxication, the animals were killed and their brains were processed for further analysis. RESULTS Treatment with PNU-282987 resulted in an attenuation of neuroinflammation in the MPTP-lesioned SN. Furthermore, PNU-282987 attenuated MPTP-induced dopaminergic cell loss in the SN and reduced striatal dopamine depletion. Unexpectedly, mecamylamine lowered neuroinflammation as well, though it did not show a neuroprotective potential at the nigral level. CONCLUSIONS Our results demonstrate the therapeutic potential of the selective α7 nicotinic acetylcholine agonist PNU-282987 in attenuating neuroinflammation and toxin-induced loss of dopaminergic neurons in the acute MPTP mouse model of PD.