Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nitric oxide mediates flow-dependent epicardial coronary vasodilation to changes in pulse frequency but not mean flow in conscious dogs.

BACKGROUND Although epicardial coronary arteries dilate in response to changes in flow, the mechanisms responsible for this and the mechanical stimuli that are sensed by the endothelium are not completely defined. We performed the present study to determine the importance of nitric oxide in eliciting epicardial dilation to sustained changes in mean flow and pulse frequency in the coronary circulation of conscious dogs. METHODS AND RESULTS Dogs were chronically instrumented with a circumflex coronary occluder, piezoelectric crystals to measure epicardial diameter, and a coronary artery catheter placed distal to the crystals for intracoronary drug infusion. Studies were conducted in dogs in the conscious state. We inhibited nitric oxide production by administering the arginine analog N omega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, 10 mg/kg IV), which attenuated the epicardial artery diameter changes to left atrial infusions of acetylcholine (10 micrograms/min) from 140 +/- 23 (+/- SEM) to 46 +/- 20 microns (P < .05). Epicardial dilation to sustained increases in mean coronary artery at a constant heart rate. Intracoronary adenosine increased mean flow to the same extent (180 +/- 21 versus 177 +/- 24 mL/min after L-NAME, P = NS), but inhibiting nitric oxide production had no effect on flow-mediated epicardial dilation, with coronary diameter increasing by 264 +/- 36 microns under control conditions and 294 +/- 67 microns after L-NAME (P = NS). In contrast, when pulse frequency was increased by pacing to a rate of 200 beats per minute, mean coronary flow increased to a similar level (78 +/- 9 versus 75 +/- 9 mL/min after L-NAME), but the epicardial diameter change to pacing was attenuated from 170 +/- 29 microns under control conditions to 54 +/- 23 microns after L-NAME (P < .01). CONCLUSIONS These results demonstrate that in vivo, nitric oxide production is primarily responsible for eliciting epicardial coronary vasodilation to endothelium-dependent agonists and changes in coronary flow pulse frequency. The failure of L-NAME to affect epicardial vasodilation during sustained increases in mean flow when pulse frequency is held constant suggests that additional mechanisms are involved in flow-mediated vasodilation of epicardial coronary arteries.
Attitudes of Nurses and the General Public Towards Euthanasia on Individuals with Dementia and Cognitive Impairment

Objectives Despite the increasing prevalence of dementia, little is known about individuals’ attitudes towards euthanasia on patients with dementia or cognitive impairment. Methods Nurses (n = 1003) and representatives of the general public (n = 2796), recruited via social media and the Finnish Nurses Association, completed an electronic questionnaire in 2014. Results Euthanasia due to severe dementia was approved by 54.6% of nurses and 64.4% of the general public. Depending on the age of the patient, between 50.0% and 54.7% of nurses and between 58.3% and 60.9% of the general public supported euthanasia on patients with severe cognitive impairment. Discussion The attitudes towards euthanasia due to dementia or cognitive impairment are slightly more accepting among the general public than among nurses. Apart from religiosity, none of the background factors were found to be reliable predictors of individuals’ attitudes. Additional research is needed to describe the underlying reasons for the attitudes.
A novel protocol for secure data storage in Data Grid

Data Grid depends on a set of widely distributed and un-trusted storage nodes in Grid environment. Securing a Grid environment presents a distinctive set of challenges. These security challenges must be carefully managed before fully deploying Data Grids in sensitive distributed environments. In this paper we propose a cryptographic protocol able to fulfil the storage security requirements for Data Grid scenario. The proposed protocol uses three basic mechanisms to accomplish its goal: (a) symmetric cryptography and hashing, (b) an Information Dispersal Algorithm and the novel (c) “Quality of Security” (QoSec) quantitative metric.
Quantifying the individual auditory and visual brain response in 7-month-old infants watching a brief cartoon movie

Electroencephalography (EEG) continues to be the most popular method to investigate cognitive brain mechanisms in young children and infants. Most infant studies rely on the well-established and easy-to-use event-related brain potential (ERP). As a severe disadvantage, ERP computation requires a large number of repetitions of items from the same stimulus-category, compromising both ERPs’ reliability and their ecological validity in infant research. We here explore a way to investigate infant continuous EEG responses to an ongoing, engaging signal (i.e., “neural tracking”) by using multivariate temporal response functions (mTRFs), an approach increasingly popular in adult-EEG research. N=52 infants watched a 5-min episode of an age-appropriate cartoon while the EEG signal was recorded. We estimated and validated forward encoding models of auditory-envelope and visual-motion features. We compared individual and group-based (‘generic’) models of the infant brain response to comparison data from N=28 adults. The generic model yielded clearly defined response functions for both, the auditory and the motion regressor. Importantly, this response profile was present also on an individual level, albeit with lower precision of the estimate but above-chance predictive accuracy for the modelled individual brain responses. In sum, we demonstrate that mTRFs are a feasible way of analyzing continuous EEG responses in infants. We observe robust response estimates both across and within participants from only five minutes of recorded EEG signal. Our results open ways for incorporating more engaging and more ecologically valid stimulus materials when probing cognitive, perceptual, and affective processes in infants and young children.
The Effectiveness of Minimum-Wage Increases in Reducing Poverty: Past, Present, and Future

Extending the work of Card and Krueger, we find minimum‐wage increases (1988–2003) did not affect poverty rates overall, or among the working poor or among single mothers. Despite employment growth among single mothers, most gainers lived in nonpoor families and most working poor already had wages above the proposed minimums. Simulating a new federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, we find 87% of workers who benefit live in nonpoor families. Poor single mothers receive 3.8% of all benefits. Expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit would far more effectively reduce poverty, especially for single mothers. (JEL J21, J31, J38)
Liver sinusoidal endothelial cells have a capacity for inducing nonresponsiveness of T cells across major histocompatibility complex barriers

Livers transplanted across major histocompatibility complex (MHC) barriers in mice are normally accepted without recipient immune suppression. To identify the cell type that contributes to induction of such a tolerance state, we established an allogeneic mixed hepatic constituent cell‐lymphocyte reaction (MHLR) assay. Hepatic constituent cells were isolated from C57BL/6 (B6) and Balb/c mice as stimulators, and splenocytes were isolated from B6 mice as responders. Irradiated hepatic constituent cells were co‐cultured with fluorescent dye (CFSE)‐labeled B6 splenocytes. In the allogeneic MHLR using either whole hepatic constituent cells or parenchymal hepatocytes as stimulators, a lack of T‐cell proliferation was observed. Only when CD105+ cells, which are exclusively liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs), were depleted from hepatic constituent cell stimulators, the MHLR resulted in marked proliferation of both allo‐reactive CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. These results indicate that CD105+ LSECs have the capacity to induce nonresponsiveness of T cells across MHC barriers.
Effects of feeding schedule on growth, production and economics of pangasiid catfish (Pangasius hypophthalmus) and silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) polyculture

An experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of feeding schedule on growth, production and economics of pangasiid catfish (Pangasius hypophthalmus) and silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) polyculture in nine earthen ponds for a period of 135 days. There were three treatments (T) each with three replications. Species composition (1:1) and stocking density (25,000 fish/ha) were same in all treatments. A commercially available pelleted feed was given only for pangasiid catfish with same feeding rate in all treatments but the feeding frequency was different. The feeding rate was 10%, 8%, 7%, 6 %, 5%, 4% which was consecutively adjusted after each fortnightly sampling and 3% for the last 4 weeks of the study period. Feeding frequencies was once a day in T1, two times a day in T2 and three times a day in T3. The average weight gain of pangasiid catfish and silver carp in T3 (376.69 g and 81.02 g) was significantly higher (P<0.05) than those of T2 (330.25 g and 58.35 g) and T1 (261.76 g and 42.89 g). The survival rate was 95.2, 96.0 and 96.8% for pangasiid catfish and 83.2, 85.2 and 86.0% for silver carp in T1, T2 and T3, respectively. The net production of fish in T3 (5,430.64 kg/ha) was significantly higher (P<0.05) than those of T2 (4,584.70 kg/ha) and T1 (3,562.89 kg/ha). Significantly highest net return (Tk. 68,533.54/ha with benefit cost ratio of 1.36) was achieved from T3 followed by T2 (Tk. 40,080.56/ha with benefit cost ratio of 1.22) and T1 (Tk. 13,786.67/ha with benefit cost ratio of 1.08). The present research findings suggest that an increase of feeding frequency has positive effect on growth and production of pangasiid catfish and silver carp.
Health Inequalities: Europe in Profile

Foreword 2 Executive Summary 3 1. Introduction 4 • health inequalities were 'discovered' in the 19th century • unexpected widening of health inequalities has raised awareness 2. Mortality 6 2.1 Total mortality 6 • inequalities in mortality are omnipresent • health inequalities start early in life and persist in old age • inequalities in mortality also exist among women • life expectancy is shorter in lower socioeconomic groups 2.2 Cause-specific mortality 13 • cardiovascular disease mortality is higher in lower socioeconomic groups • cancer mortality is not always higher in lower socioeconomic groups • injury mortality is higher in lower socioeconomic groups, but not among women • which diseases account for the excess mortality in lower socioeconomic groups ? 3. Morbidity 20 3.1 General indicators: self reported morbidity 20 • inequalities in self-assessed health are omnipresent • inequalities in self assessed health can be found at all ages • 'healthy life expectancy' is shorter in lower socioeconomic groups 3.2 Specific indicators: diseases and disabilities 25 • most chronic conditions are more prevalent in lower socioeconomic groups • cancer: diverging patterns • most mental health problems are more prevalent in lower socioeconomic groups • disability is more prevalent in lower socioeconomic groups 4. Determinants of mortality and morbidity 30 4.1 Some conclusions of explanatory research in various European countries 30 • 'selection' is less important than 'causation' • many specific determinants are involved in the explanation 4.2 Health-related behaviours 32 • smoking plays an important role • excessive alcohol consumption may play a role too • role of diet is not yet clear • obesity may become much more important in the future • a final word of caution 5. Conclusions 41 Acknowledgements and References 43 Contents 1 Tackling health inequalities is an international issue and was a key health theme for the UK Presidency of the European Union in 2005. Almost all important health problems, and major causes of premature death such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, are more common among people with lower levels of education, income and occupational status. The health gap in life expectancy is typically 5 years or more. Narrowing this health gap within countries, and making good health a reality for everyone, is essential if we are to create a Europe of social justice as well as prosperity. As part of the Presidency, the UK commissioned two new reports of which this is one. The …
Geriatric evaluation and management units in the care of the frail elderly cancer patient.

BACKGROUND Geriatric assessment has been suggested as a possibly useful approach in dealing with frail elderly cancer patients. METHODS This was a secondary subset analysis from a randomized 2 x 2 factorial trial in 11 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers. Hospitalized, frail patients at least 65 years old, after stabilization of their acute illness, were randomized to receive care in a geriatric inpatient unit, a geriatric outpatient clinic, both, or neither. The interventions involved core teams that provided geriatric assessment and patient management. We identified 99 patients with a diagnosis of cancer by The International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision (ICD-9) codes, excluding all nonmelanoma skin cancers. Outcomes collected at discharge, 6 months, and 1 year after randomization were survival, changes in health-related quality of life (using the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form general health survey [SF-36]), activities of daily living, physical performance, health service utilization, and costs. RESULTS There was no effect on mortality (1-year survival 59.6%). The changes in the SF-36 scores from randomization for emotional limitation, mental health and bodily pain (also sustained at 1 year) on the SF-36 were better for geriatric inpatient care cancer patients at discharge. There was no difference in SF-36 scores between geriatric outpatient and usual outpatient care. Days of hospitalization and overall costs were equivalent for the interventions and usual care over the 1-year study. CONCLUSIONS This study suggests that inpatient geriatric assessment and management may be an effective approach to the management of pain and psychological status in the elderly cancer inpatient at no greater length of hospitalization or extra cost than usual care.
Hallucination Helps: Energy Efficient Virtual Circuit Routing

We consider virtual circuit routing protocols, with an objective of minimizing energy, in a network of components that are speed scalable, and that may be shutdown when idle. We assume that the speed s of a link is proportional to its load, and assume the standard model for component power, namely that the power is some constant static power σ plus sα, where typically α e [1.1, 3]. We give a polynomial-time offline algorithm for multicommodity routing, that has approximation ratio O(logα k), where k is the number of demand pairs. This is obtained as a combination of three natural combinatorial algorithms. The key step of the algorithm design is a random sampling technique that we call hallucination, which is reminiscent of the Sample-Augment framework for solving Buy-at-Bulk type problems, and sampling in cut-sparsification algorithms. The analysis of the approximation ratio is then a direct consequence of the flow-cut gap for multicommodity flow. The algorithm extends rather naturally to an online algorithm, which we show has competitive ratio O(log3α+1k. The analysis of the online algorithm introduces a natural "priority" multicommodity flow problem, and bounds the priority multicommodity flow-cut gap-this might also be of independent interest. We also explain how our hallucination technique can be used to achieve an (O(log km), O(log km)) bicriteria approximation result for the problem of buying a minimum cost collection of unit-capacitated edges to support a concurrent multicommodity flow, where m is the number of links in the network.
A New Quadratic Matrix Inequality Approach to Robust Adaptive Beamforming for General-rank Signal Model

The worst-case robust adaptive beamforming problem for generalrank signal model is considered. This is a nonconvex problem, and an approximate version of it (by introducing a matrix decomposition on the presumed covariance matrix of the desired signal) has been studied in the literature. Herein the original robust adaptive beamforming problem is tackled. Resorting to the strong duality of a linear conic program, the robust beamforming problem is reformulated into a quadratic matrix inequality (QMI) problem. There is no general method for solving a QMI problem in the literature. Here- in, employing a linear matrix inequality (LMI) relaxation technique, the QMI problem is turned into a convex semidefinite programming problem. Due to the fact that there often is a positive gap between the QMI problem and its LMI relaxation, a deterministic approximate algorithm is proposed to solve the robust adaptive beamforming in the QMI form. Last but not the least, a sufficient optimality condition for the existence of an optimal solution for the QMI problem is derived. To validate our theoretical results, simulation examples are presented, which also demonstrate the improved performance of the new robust beamformer in terms of the output signal-to-interference- plus-noise ratio.
Cross species transmission of ovine Johne's disease from sheep to cattle: an estimate of prevalence in exposed susceptible cattle.

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of infection of cattle with the sheep strain of Mycobacterium avium subsp paratuberculosis at least two years after exposure at < 6 months old. DESIGN Prospective survey One thousand seven hundred and seventy-four cattle from 12 properties (Farms A to L) were sampled by ELISA and faecal culture to detect evidence of infection with M a paratuberculosis. All properties had a known history of Johne's disease (JD) in sheep, and sampled cattle were likely to be susceptible to JD at the time they were first exposed, being at an age of 6 months or less. In addition, opportunistic investigations were undertaken of ELISA reactor cattle discovered during testing for the Australian Johne's Disease Market Assurance Program for Cattle (Farms M and N). RESULTS All animals in the survey gave negative results on serology while one animal from a herd of 349 gave a positive faecal culture result. Follow-up faecal culture, post-mortem and histopathology on the latter animal were negative, suggesting that it was a passive faecal shedder or carrier. Two occurrences of OJD transmission to cattle were detected during the opportunistic investigations. CONCLUSION These observations confirm existing beliefs about the risk of transmission of OJD to cattle, that the risk of transmission is low. However transmission occurs sporadically. An estimated upper limit of prevalence of S strain M a paratuberculosis infection in susceptible exposed cattle in the OJD high prevalence area of New South Wales is 0.8%, assuming a common prevalence within herds.
AniPaint: Interactive Painterly Animation from Video

This paper presents an interactive system for creating painterly animation from video sequences. Previous approaches to painterly animation typically emphasize either purely automatic stroke synthesis or purely manual stroke key framing. Our system supports a spectrum of interaction between these two approaches which allows the user more direct control over stroke synthesis. We introduce an approach for controlling the results of painterly animation: keyframed Control Strokes can affect automatic stroke's placement, orientation, movement, and color. Furthermore, we introduce a new automatic synthesis algorithm that traces strokes through a video sequence in a greedy manner, but, instead of a vector field, uses an objective function to guide placement. This allows the method to capture fine details, respect region boundaries, and achieve greater temporal coherence than previous methods. All editing is performed with a WYSIWYG interface where the user can directly refine the animation. We demonstrate a variety of examples using both automatic and user-guided results, with a variety of styles and source videos.
Epigenetic changes during disease progression in a murine model of human chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Epigenetic alterations, including gain or loss of DNA methylation, are a hallmark of nearly every malignancy. Changes in DNA methylation can impact expression of cancer-related genes including apoptosis regulators and tumor suppressors. Because such epigenetic changes are reversible, they are being aggressively investigated as potential therapeutic targets. Here we use the Eμ-TCL1 transgenic mouse model of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) to determine the timing and patterns of aberrant DNA methylation, and to investigate the mechanisms that lead to aberrant DNA methylation. We show that CLL cells from Eμ-TCL1 mice at various stages recapitulate epigenetic alterations seen in human CLL. Aberrant methylation of promoter sequences is observed as early as 3 months of age in these animals, well before disease onset. Abnormally methylated promoter regions include binding sites for the transcription factor FOXD3. We show that loss of Foxd3 expression due to an NF-κB p50/p50:HDAC1 repressor complex occurs in TCL1-positive B cells before methylation. Therefore, specific transcriptional repression is an early event leading to epigenetic silencing of target genes in murine and human CLL. These results provide strong rationale for the development of strategies to target NF-κB components in CLL and potentially other B-cell malignancies.
Budget impact of managing cow milk allergy in the Netherlands

Objective: To assess the resource implications and budget impact of managing cow milk allergy (CMA) in the Netherlands from the perspective of the healthcare insurers. Methods: A model was constructed depicting the management of CMA in the Netherlands using information obtained from interviews with youth healthcare doctors (n = 14), general practitioners (n = 6) and paediatricians (n = 11) with relevant clinical experience of managing CMA. The model was used to estimate the expected level of healthcare resource use and corresponding cost (at 2007/08 prices) attributable to managing 4,382 new CMA sufferers. Results: The expected cost of healthcare resource use attributable to managing 4,382 new CMA sufferers up to 1 year of age following initial consultation with a community-based physician at a mean 3 months of age was estimated to be €11.28 (95% CI: €7.82; €14.33) million. Clinical nutrition preparations emerged as the primary cost driver accounting for 91% of the total cost and clinician visits collectively accounted for a further 5%. The time taken for CMA sufferers to be put on an appropriate diet and achieve symptom resolution was estimated to be 30 (95% CI: 27; 32) days. Sensitivity analysis showed that the costs would increase by ∼16% if all new CMA sufferers were to undergo a double-blind placebo-controlled cow milk challenge in a hospital setting, as is currently being proposed. It is not clear how this proposal would affect time to symptom resolution since this would depend on the efficiency of hospitals being able to deal with the increased workload. Limitations: The intolerance rates were derived from a 1-year follow-up study among 1,000 infants with CMA in the UK, healthcare resource use was not collected prospectively and the study period was censured at 1 year of age and does not consider the impact of CMA in subsequent years. However, most children outgrow this form of allergy during their second year. Conclusion: Within the model's limitations, CMA imposes a substantial burden on the Dutch healthcare system. Moreover, initiating a double-blind placebo-controlled cow milk challenge for all CMA sufferers will potentially increase clinicians’ workload and use of limited resources within paediatric hospital departments in the Netherlands.