Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Circumstances of Death and Gross and Microscopic Observations in a Series of 200 Cases of Sudden Death Associated With Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy and/or Dysplasia

Background—Sudden death is a possible consequence of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy/dysplasia (ARVC/D). Prevalence of ARVC/D in unexpected sudden cardiac death (USCD), however, remains imprecise, as do circumstances of death and ARVC/D-associated gross and microscopic findings, especially His bundle anomalies. Methods and Results—We reviewed 14 000 forensic autopsies required by judicial authorities from January 1980 to January 1999 in a 2 000 000-resident area. Age, gender, and circumstances of death were recorded. Hearts were examined macroscopically and microscopically. In this series, the ARVC/D group accounted for 200 consecutive cases (10.4%) of USCD, including 108 males and 92 females (average age 32.5 and 34.5 years, respectively). Nearly one third of deaths occurred during the fourth decade of life. Circumstances of death were various, but 75.6% occurred during everyday life events (at home, 63.1%; in the street, 6.6%; or at work, 6.1%); only 7 cases (3.5%) occurred during sports activity. Nineteen cases (9.5%) happened during the perioperative period. Adipose infiltration of the right ventricle was either isolated (20%) or associated with fibrosis (74.5%) and lymphocytes (5.5%). A total of 14.5% of cases had cardiac hypertrophy, assessed by an increase in heart weight and/or left ventricular wall thickness. In most cases, the His bundle and its branches were abnormal either because of infiltration of adipose tissue (8.1%), fibrosis (54.3%), or both (5.6%). Conclusions—In ARVC/D, both sexes are equally affected, and there is a peak of risk during the fourth decade. Death most frequently occurs during sedentary activity. His abnormalities and left ventricular hypertrophy may be associated with ARVC/D.
Histopathologic Examination of Penile Epithelial Lesions Is of Limited Diagnostic Value in Human Papillomavirus Infection

Background and Objectives: Guidelines for the histopathologic diagnosis of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection have been drawn from changes seen in cervical specimens not necessarily applicable to penile epithelium. Goal: To evaluate histopathologic examination as a means of diagnosing HPV infection of the male genital tract. Study Design: Ninety‐two consecutive male patients seen at the sexually transmitted diseases clinic. Twelve had condyloma acuminatum, and 80 had papular lesions, macular lesions, or both. Fifteen men without signs of HPV infection served as controls. Biopsy specimens were evaluated morphologically by light microscopy, and HPV DNA detection was performed by in situ hybridization and polymerase chain reaction. Results: All acuminate lesions were HPV DNA positive with in situ hybridization. Forty papular and/or macular lesions harbored HPV DNA, 28 (35%) of them positive with in situ hybridization and the other 12 (15%) positive with polymerase chain reaction. Morphologic signs attributed to HPV infection were found in HPV‐positive and HPV‐negative penile lesions, as well as in normal epithelium. In papular and macular lesions, the only criterion associated with HPV DNA positivity was neoplastic changes, which was present in 16 (40%) HPV DNA‐positive specimens, compared to 4 (10%) HPV DNA‐negative specimens (P < 0.01). Of the 16 lesions with neoplasia, 15 (94%) had detectable HPV DNA of a potentially oncogenic type. Conclusions: Histopathologic signs of HPV infection other than neoplasia seem to be of limited value. Detection of the infectious agent, in this case HPV, should be the gold standard for the diagnosis as it is for other infectious diseases. The strong association between neoplasia and potentially oncogenic HPV types makes this issue even more important.
Research on frequency control strategy of variable speed wind turbine

Large scale incorporation of wind farms may cause the issue of low inertia and lack of ability of frequency regulation in power systems. In this paper, the frequency control scheme of variable speed wind turbine under the whole wind condition was proposed. According to the reserve capacity required for the frequency regulation of the variable speed wind turbine, the de-loading scheme of the wind turbine in different operating stage is put forward. The simulation results show that the permanent magnet direct drive wind turbine can effectively improve the frequency stability of the system based on the control method proposed in the paper.
Preparation and nonisothermal crystallization behavior of polyamide 6/montmorillonite nanocomposites

Polyamide 6 (PA6)/montmorillonite (MMT) nanocomposites were prepared via melt intercalation. The structure, mechanical properties, and nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of PA6/MMT nanocomposites were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), tensile and impact tests, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Before melt compounding, MMT was treated with an organic surfactant agent. XRD traces showed that PA6 crystallizes exclusively in γ-crystalline structure within the nanocomposites. Tensile measurements showed that the MMT additions are beneficial in improving the strength and the stiffness of PA6, at the expense of tensile ductility. Impact tests revealed that the impact strength of PA6/MMT nanocomposites tended to decrease with increasing MMT content. The nonisothermal crystallization DSC data were analyzed by Avrami, Ozawa, modified Avrami-Ozawa, and Nedkov methods. The validity of these empirical equations on the nonisothermal crystallization process of PA6/MMT nanocomposites is discussed.
Kin in space: social viscosity in a spatially and genetically substructured network

Population substructuring is a fundamental aspect of animal societies. A growing number of theoretical studies recognize that who-meets-whom is not random, but rather determined by spatial relationships or illustrated by social networks. Structural properties of large highly dynamic social systems are notoriously difficult to unravel. Network approaches provide powerful ways to analyse the intricate relationships between social behaviour, dispersal strategies and genetic structure. Applying network analytical tools to a colony of the highly gregarious Galápagos sea lion (Zalophus wollebaeki), we find several genetic clusters that correspond to spatially determined ‘network communities’. Overall relatedness was low, and genetic structure in the network can be interpreted as an emergent property of philopatry and seems not to be primarily driven by targeted interactions among highly related individuals in family groups. Nevertheless, social relationships between directly adjacent individuals in the network were stronger among genetically more similar individuals. Taken together, these results suggest that even small differences in the degree of relatedness can influence behavioural decisions. This raises the fascinating prospect that kin selection may also apply to low levels of relatedness within densely packed animal groups where less obvious co-operative interactions such as increased tolerance and stress reduction are important.
Time-optimal controls of kinematically redundant manipulators with geometric constraints

Theoretical investigations of time-optimal control of kinematically redundant manipulators subject to control and state constraints are presented. The task is to move the end-effector along a prescribed geometric path (state equality constraints). In order to address a structure of time-optimal control, the concept of a regular trajectory derived in Pontryagin et al. (1961) and the extended state space introduced herein are used. Next, it is proved that if the dynamics of a manipulator are defined by n actuators and m path-constrained equations, where m<n, then at most n-m+1 actuators are saturated, provided that the time-optimal manipulator trajectory is regular with respect to a prescribed geometric path given in the work space. Besides, it is shown that these results are also consistent for a point-to-point time-optimal control problem. A computer example involving a planar redundant manipulator of three revolute kinematic pairs is included which confirms the obtained theoretical results.
Distributed Control: A Sequentially Semi-Separable Approach for Spatially Heterogeneous Linear Systems

We consider the problem of designing controllers for spatially-varying interconnected systems distributed in one spatial dimension. The matrix structure of such systems can be exploited to allow fast analysis and design of centralized controllers with simple distributed implementations. Iterative algorithms are provided for stability analysis, H infin analysis and sub-optimal controller synthesis. For practical implementation of the algorithms, approximations can be used, and the computational efficiency and accuracy are demonstrated on an example.
Proximal Humeral Fractures: A Review of Current Concepts

The majority of proximal humerus fractures are sustained via low energy falls in the elderly population. These patients can attain an acceptable level of function via non-operative treatment. There is yet to be a clear consensus on treatment options suitable for those that fall outside of this majority group. Open reduction internal fixation, intra medullary nailing and arthroplasty surgery have all been used to varying effects. Good results are achievable if complications such as mal-union, non-union and avascular necrosis can be avoided. This review aims to clarify the options available to the current day trauma surgeon.
THE EVOLUTION OF TETRAPOD FEEDING BEHAVIOR: KINEMATIC HOMOLOGIES IN PREY TRANSPORT

One of the major features of the aquatic‐to‐terrestrial transition in vertebrate evolution was the change in the mechanism used to transport prey from the jaws to the throat. Primarily, vertebrates use hydraulic transport, but the transition to terrestrial life was accompanied by modifications of the hyobranchial apparatus that permit tongue‐based transport. Despite an extensive data base on amniote feeding systems and mechanisms of intraoral prey transport, few data are available on the mechanism of prey transport in anamniote tetrapods. Transport cycles of four Ambystoma tigrinum (Amphibia) feeding on worms and crickets were filmed at 150 flames per second to produce quantitative profiles of the intraoral transport cycles for the two prey types. During the transport cycle the head and body remain stationary relative to the background: transport in Ambystoma tigrinum thus does not involve inertial movements of the head or body. Prey type had little effect on the kinematics of prey transport. The process of prey transport may be divided into four phases: preparatory, fast opening, closing, and recovery. The preparatory phase itself is divided into two parts: an extended segment that may include slight slow opening and a static phase prior to mouth opening where no change in gape occurs. The kinematic profile of transport in terrestrial salamanders is extremely similar to that used by fishes during hydraulic (aquatic) prey transport. We hypothesize that the distinct recovery and preparatory phases in the transport cycle of anamniote tetrapods are together homologous to the slow opening phases of the amniote cycle, and that during the evolution of terrestrial prey processing systems the primitive extended preparatory phase has become greatly compressed and incorporated into the amniote gape cycle.
Morphology and fracture behavior of intercalated epoxy/clay nanocomposites

Epoxy/clay nanocomposites were prepared by swelling organoclay in an epoxy resin, diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A, followed by curing with an aromatic hardener, diethyltoluenediamine. A combination of X-ray diffraction with transmission electron microscopy showed the coexist- ence of intercalated and exfoliated clay morphologies throughout the matrix. In addition, a microscopic and ho- mogeneous dispersion of clay agglomerations, with sizes ranging from about 2 to 5 m, was revealed by optical microscopy. Dynamic mechanical analysis indicated a steady increase in storage modulus and a gradual decrease in high glass-transition temperature as the clay loading in- creased. The fracture toughness of the nanocomposites sig- nificantly increased with increasing clay concentration, sug- gesting a toughening effect from the clay particles. Scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy observations of the epoxy/clay nanocomposites suggested that shear yield- ing of the matrix, crack deflection, voiding, and debonding of clay particles and epoxy matrix are among the operative toughening mechanisms observed. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals,
Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS). Review of the literature

Obstructive sleep apnea and hypopnea syndrome is characterized by repeated airway collapse during sleep. The li-terature describes multiple causes of the disease. The main cause is a reduction of the expansion forces of the pharyngeal dilator muscles, as in situations of genioglossal muscle dysfunction, and discoordination between the inspiratory activity of the muscle and respiratory effort, which play an important role in progression of the disease. Other described causes are soft tissue disorders, such as macroglossia or tonsillar hypertrophy, and skeletal structural alterations such as micrognathia and retrognathia. The syndrome is also more frequent in obese people, where the accumulation of fat in the neck region produces narrowing of the pharyngeal airway, thereby diminishing the passage of air. This review focuses on the pathogenesis, epidemiology, main features and diagnosis of the disease, and on its main forms of treatment. Key words:Sleep apnea, obstructive sleep apnea, sleep apnea syndrome, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.
Ride Sharing and Dynamic Networks Analysis

The potential of an efficient ride-sharing scheme to significantly reduce traffic congestion, lower emission level, as well as facilitating the introduction of smart cities has been widely demonstrated. This positive thrust however is faced with several delaying factors, one of which is the volatility and unpredictability of the potential benefit (or utilization) of ride-sharing at different times, and in different places. In this work the following research questions are posed: (a) Is ride-sharing utilization stable over time or does it undergo significant changes? (b) If ride-sharing utilization is dynamic, can it be correlated with some traceable features of the traffic? and (c) If ride-sharing utilization is dynamic, can it be predicted ahead of time? We analyze a dataset of over 14 Million taxi trips taken in New York City. We propose a dynamic travel network approach for modeling and forecasting the potential ride-sharing utilization over time, showing it to be highly volatile. In order to model the utilization's dynamics we propose a network-centric approach, projecting the aggregated traffic taken from continuous time periods into a feature space comprised of topological features of the network implied by this traffic. This feature space is then used to model the dynamics of ride-sharing utilization over time. The results of our analysis demonstrate the significant volatility of ride-sharing utilization over time, indicating that any policy, design or plan that would disregard this aspect and chose a static paradigm would undoubtably be either highly inefficient or provide insufficient resources. We show that using our suggested approach it is possible to model the potential utilization of ride sharing based on the topological properties of the rides network. We also show that using this method the potential utilization can be forecasting a few hours ahead of time.
University of Groningen The Effects of Tryptophan on Everyday Interpersonal Encounters and Social Cognitions in Individuals with a Family History of Depression

Background: Individuals with a family history of depression show subtle abnormalities in the processing of social stimuli. This could negatively affect their interpersonal functioning and contribute to their depression risk. Repeated administration of the serotonin precursor tryptophan has previously been shown to increase agreeable behavior and reduce quarrelsome behavior in irritable people, who are also considered at risk for depression. Methods: To examine the effects of tryptophan on social functioning in individuals with a family history of depression, 40 men and women with at least one first-degree relative with depression received tryptophan (1 g three times a day) and placebo for 14 days each in a double-blind crossover design and recorded their social behavior and mood during everyday interpersonal encounters. Participants also provided daily ratings of their positive and negative cognitions concerning their social functioning. Results: Tryptophan improved mood. Unexpectedly, tryptophan increased quarrelsome behavior and reduced agreeable behavior, specifically during interactions at home. The behavioral effects of tryptophan were not moderated by mood or by the interaction partner. Negative social cognitions were lower when tryptophan was given second and lower during placebo when placebo was given second. Conclusion: Overall, tryptophan may not alter social behavior in individuals with a family history of depression as it does in irritable people. However, the behavioral effects of tryptophan at home might be seen as a way for individuals with a family history of depression to achieve more control. Over time, this may positively influence the way they feel and think about themselves in a social context.
Nursing home spending patterns in the 1990s: the role of nursing home competition and excess demand.

OBJECTIVE To examine nursing home expenditures on clinical, hotel, and administrative activities during the 1990s and to determine the association between nursing home competition and excess demand on expenditures. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING Secondary data sources for 1991, 1996, and 1999 for 500 free-standing nursing homes in New York State. STUDY DESIGN A retrospective statistical analysis of nursing homes' expenditures. The dependent variables were clinical, hotel, and administrative costs in each year. Independent variables included outputs (inpatient and outpatient), wages, ownership, New York City location, and measures of competition and excess demand. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHOD Variables were constructed from annual financial reports submitted by the nursing homes, the Patient Review Instrument and Medicare enrollment data. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Clinical and administrative costs have increased over the decade, while hotel expenditures have declined. Increased competition was associated with higher clinical and administrative costs while excess demand was associated with lower clinical and hotel expenditures. CONCLUSIONS Nursing home expenditures are sensitive to competition and excess demand conditions. Policies that influence competition in nursing home markets are therefore likely to have an impact on expenditures as well.
Serum Levels of Copper, Ceruloplasmin and Angiotensin Converting Enzyme among Silicotic and Non-Silicotic Workers

BACKGROUND: Silicosis is the most frequently occurring pneumoconiosis. AIM: Measurement of serum levels of Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), Copper (Cu) and Ceruloplasmin (Cp) in cement workers occupationally exposed to silica dust as biomarkers of exposure rather than biomarkers of effect for silicosis. METHODS: Plain chest X-ray & pulmonary functions were done for 30 silicotic and 42 non-silicotic workers and 42 controls. CT scan was done for the exposed groups. Serum levels of Cu, Cp and ACE were estimated. RESULTS: The results showed a higher significant difference between the exposed groups and controls, and between the two exposed groups regarding the mean levels of all measured biochemical parameters. The pulmonary functions were significantly lower among silicotic workers than controls and non-silicotic groups. There was a significant positive correlation between duration of employment and serum ACE and Cu. CONCLUSION: Since respirable dust exposure-linked lung fibrosis disease is non-curable, the biochemical parameters (Cu, ACE and Cp) can be used as exposure biomarkers to silica dust, providing a better way for early diagnosis of this deadly disease. Down regulating the inflammatory responses could potentially reduce the adverse clinical pulmonary effects of air pollution.
The Bioenergetic Status Relates to Dopamine Neuron Loss in Familial PD with PINK1 Mutations

Mutations in the PINK1 gene cause autosomal recessive familial Parkinson’s disease (PD). The gene encodes a mitochondrial protein kinase that plays an important role in maintaining mitochondrial function and integrity. However, the pathophysiological link between mutation-related bioenergetic deficits and the degenerative process in dopaminergic neurons remains to be elucidated. We performed phosphorous (31P) and proton (1H) 3-T magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) in 11 members of a German family with hereditary PD due to PINK1 mutations (PARK6) compared to 23 age-matched controls. All family members had prior 18-Fluorodopa (FDOPA) positron emission tomography (PET). The striatal FDOPA uptake was correlated with quantified metabolic brain mapping in MRSI. At group level, the heterozygous PINK1 mutation carriers did not show any MRSI abnormalities relative to controls. In contrast, homozygous individuals with manifest PD had putaminal GPC, PCr, HEP and β-ATP levels well above the 2SD range of controls. Across all subjects, the FDOPA Ki values correlated positively with MI (r = 0.879, p<0.001) and inversely with β-ATP (r = −0.784, p = 0.008) and GPC concentrations (r = −0.651, p = 0.030) in the putamen. Our combined imaging data suggest that the dopaminergic deficit in this family with PD due to PINK1 mutations relates to osmolyte dysregulation, while the delivery of high energy phosphates was preserved. Our results corroborate the hypothesis that PINK1 mutations result in reduced neuronal survival, most likely due to impaired cellular stress resistance.
Passive immunotherapy of tauopathy targeting pSer413-tau: a pilot study in mice

Cellular inclusions of hyperphosphorylated tau are a hallmark of tauopathies, which are neurodegenerative disorders that include Alzheimer's disease (AD). Active and passive immunization against hyperphosphorylated tau has been shown to attenuate phenotypes in model mice. We developed new monoclonal antibodies to hyperphosphorylated tau and sought high therapeutic efficacy for future clinical use.
Legacy of human-induced C erosion and burial on soil–atmosphere C exchange

Carbon exchange associated with accelerated erosion following land cover change is an important component of the global C cycle. In current assessments, however, this component is not accounted for. Here, we integrate the effects of accelerated C erosion across point, hillslope, and catchment scale for the 780-km2 Dijle River catchment over the period 4000 B.C. to A.D. 2000 to demonstrate that accelerated erosion results in a net C sink. We found this long-term C sink to be equivalent to 43% of the eroded C and to have offset 39% (17–66%) of the C emissions due to anthropogenic land cover change since the advent of agriculture. Nevertheless, the erosion-induced C sink strength is limited by a significant loss of buried C in terrestrial depositional stores, which lagged the burial. The time lag between burial and subsequent loss at this study site implies that the C buried in eroded terrestrial deposits during the agricultural expansion of the last 150 y cannot be assumed to be inert to further destabilization, and indeed might become a significant C source. Our analysis exemplifies that accounting for the non–steady-state C dynamics in geomorphic active systems is pertinent to understanding both past and future anthropogenic global change.