Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pulmonary perfusion heterogeneity is increased by sustained, heavy exercise in humans.

Exercise presents a considerable stress to the pulmonary system and ventilation-perfusion (Va/Q) heterogeneity increases with exercise, affecting the efficiency of gas exchange. In particular, prolonged heavy exercise and maximal exercise are known to increase Va/Q heterogeneity and these changes persist into recovery. We hypothesized that the spatial heterogeneity of pulmonary perfusion would be similarly elevated after prolonged exercise. To test this, athletic subjects (n = 6, Vo(2max) = 61 ml. kg(-1). min(-1)) with exercising Va/Q heterogeneity previously characterized by the multiple inert gas elimination technique (MIGET), performed 45 min of cycle exercise at approximately 70% Vo(2max). MRI arterial spin labeling measures of pulmonary perfusion were acquired pre- and postexercise (at 20, 40, 60 min post) to quantify the spatial distribution in isogravitational (coronal) and gravitationally dependent (sagittal) planes. Regional proton density measurements allowed perfusion to be normalized for density and quantified in milliliters per minute per gram. Mean lung density did not change significantly in either plane after exercise (P = 0.19). Density-normalized perfusion increased in the sagittal plane postexercise (P =or <0.01) but heterogeneity did not (all P >or= 0.18), likely because of perfusion redistribution and vascular recruitment. Density-normalized perfusion was unchanged in the coronal plane postexercise (P = 0.66), however, perfusion heterogeneity was significantly increased as measured by the relative dispersion [RD, pre 0.62(0.07), post 0.82(0.21), P < 0.0001] and geometric standard deviation [GSD, pre 1.74(0.14), post 2.30(0.56), P < 0.005]. These changes in heterogeneity were related to the exercise-induced changes of the log standard deviation of the ventilation distribution, an MIGET index of Va/Q heterogeneity (RD R(2) = 0.68, P < 0.05, GSD, R(2) = 0.55, P = 0.09). These data are consistent with but not proof of interstitial pulmonary edema as the mechanism underlying exercise-induced increases in both spatial perfusion heterogeneity and Va/Q heterogeneity.
Developmental Evaluation

Developmental evaluation is an emerging approach to program evaluation that emphasizes innovation and learning. It is particularly well suited to evaluating innovative programs in their earliest stages of development and adapting existing programs to complex or changing environments. Key features of the developmental evaluation approach include a tight integration between evaluators and program staff and the use of data for continuous program improvement. This article presents developmental evaluation as a complementary approach to the traditional formative–summative evaluation cycle, especially when used for preformative evaluation. To illustrate this emerging approach, the article features a case example from the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health’s evaluation of its school board sexuality education policy change project. The article concludes by suggesting ways that developmental evaluation can be useful in health promotion practice.
3D chitosan–gelatin–chondroitin porous scaffold improves osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells

A porous 3D scaffold was developed to support and enhance the differentiation process of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) into osteoblasts in vitro. The 3D scaffold was made with chitosan, gelatin and chondroitin and it was crosslinked by EDAC. The scaffold physicochemical properties were evaluated. SEM revealed the high porosity and interconnection of pores in the scaffold; rheological measurements show that the scaffold exhibits a characteristic behavior of strong gels. The elastic modulus found in compressive tests of the crosslinked scaffold was about 50 times higher than the non-crosslinked one. After 21 days, the 3D matrix submitted to hydrolytic degradation loses above 40% of its weight. MSC were collected from rat bone marrow and seeded in chitosan–gelatin–chondroitin 3D scaffolds and in 2D culture plates as well. MSC were differentiated into osteoblasts for 21 days. Cell proliferation and alkaline phosphatase activity were followed weekly during the osteogenic process. The osteogenic differentiation of MSC was improved in 3D culture as shown by MTT assay and alkaline phosphatase activity. On the 21st day, bone markers, osteopontin and osteocalcin, were detected by the PCR analysis. This study shows that the chitosan–gelatin–chondroitin 3D structure provides a good environment for the osteogenic process and enhances cellular proliferation.
Exp-HE: a family of fast exponentiation algorithms resistant to SPA, fault, and combined attacks

Security and privacy are growing concerns in modern embedded software, given the increasing level of connectivity as well as complexity and features in embedded devices. Use of cryptographic techniques is often a requirement on which the security of the device relies. However, important challenges arise when potential attackers have physical access to the device. Side-channel analysis, including simple power analysis (SPA), is a class of powerful non-intrusive attacks that are suitable for adversaries with physical access to the device. Countermeasures exist, but they typically involve a considerable performance penalty, and some of them in turn introduce a vulnerability to induced fault attacks. In this work, we present several new efficient cryptographic exponentiation algorithms that work by splitting the exponent in two halves for simultaneous processing while using special representations derived from signed-digit encoding that improve computational efficiency. A key detail in the design of these algorithms is that they are compatible with the idea of buffering the operations to provide resistance to SPA. Experimental results are presented, including implementations of the proposed methods with both modular integer exponentiation and elliptic curve (ECC) scalar multiplication. We also performed statistical analysis of the traces, showing that trace segments for different exponent bits are statistically indistinguishable. Our proposed techniques also exhibit better resistance against fault attacks and combined fault and side-channel attacks, compared to previous SPA-resistant techniques.
Royal Jelly Promotes Ovarian Follicles Growth and Increases Steroid Hormones in Immature Rats

Background Royal jelly (RJ) is a complementary diet widely prescribed by traditional medicine specialists for treatment of in- fertility. The aim of present study was to evaluate the effects of RJ on a set of reproductive parameters in immature female rats. Materials and Methods In this experimental study, thirty two immature female rats (30-35 g) were divided into four groups (n=8/group): three experimental groups and one control. The experimental groups received 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg/body weight doses of RJ daily for 14 days, and the control group received 0.5 ml distilled water interaperito- nealy (i.p). The treated rats were sacrificed and their ovaries were dissected for histological examination. The serum levels of ovarian hormones, nitric oxide (NO) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) were evaluated, and the ratios of the ovarian and uterine weight to body weight were calculated. One-way ANOVA was used for data analysis. Results The body weights were significantly different (P=0.002) among the rat groups, with an increase in all RJ treated animals. Uterine and ovarian weights and the serum levels of progesterone (P=0.013) and estradiol (P=0.004) were significantly increased in experimental groups compared to the control group. In addition, a significant increase in the number of mature follicles and corpora lutea (P=0.007) was seen in RJ recipients compared to the controls. A significant increase in the serum levels of FRAP (P=0.009) and a significant decrease in NO level (P=0.013) were also observed. Conclusion RJ promotes folliculogensis and increases ovarian hormones. This product can be considered as a natural growth stimulator for immature female animals.
Enhanced Trajectory Based Similarity Prediction with Uncertainty Quantification

Today, data driven prognostics acquires historic data to generate degradation path and estimate the Remaining Useful Life (RUL) of a system. A successful methodology, Trajectory Similarity Based Prediction (TSBP) that details the process of predicting the system RUL and evaluating the performance metrics of the estimate was proposed in 2008. Two essential components of TSBP identified for potential improvement include 1) a distance or similarity measure that is capable of determining which degradation model the testing data is most similar to and 2) computation of uncertainty in the remaining useful life prediction, instead of a point estimate. In this paper, the Trajectory Based Similarity Prediction approach is evaluated to include Similarity Linear Regression (SLR) based on Pearson Correlation and Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) for determining the degradation models that are most similar to the testing data. A computational approach for uncertainty quantification is implemented using the principle of weighted kernel density estimation in order to quantify the uncertainty in the remaining useful life prediction. The revised approach is measured against the same dataset and performance metrics evaluation method used in the original TBSP approach. The result is documented and discussed in the paper. Future research is expected to augment TSBP methodology with higher accuracy and stronger anticipation of uncertainty quantification.
A Multidimensional Sequence Approach to Measuring Tree Similarity

Tree is one of the most common and well-studied data structures in computer science. Measuring the similarity of such structures is key to analyzing this type of data. However, measuring tree similarity is not trivial due to the inherent complexity of trees and the ensuing large search space. Tree kernel, a state of the art similarity measurement of trees, represents trees as vectors in a feature space and measures similarity in this space. When different features are used, different algorithms are required. Tree edit distance is another widely used similarity measurement of trees. It measures similarity through edit operations needed to transform one tree to another. Without any restrictions on edit operations, the computation cost is too high to be applicable to large volume of data. To improve efficiency of tree edit distance, some approximations were introduced into tree edit distance. However, their effectiveness can be compromised. In this paper, a novel approach to measuring tree similarity is presented. Trees are represented as multidimensional sequences and their similarity is measured on the basis of their sequence representations. Multidimensional sequences have their sequential dimensions and spatial dimensions. We measure the sequential similarity by the all common subsequences sequence similarity measurement or the longest common subsequence measurement, and measure the spatial similarity by dynamic time warping. Then we combine them to give a measure of tree similarity. A brute force algorithm to calculate the similarity will have high computational cost. In the spirit of dynamic programming two efficient algorithms are designed for calculating the similarity, which have quadratic time complexity. The new measurements are evaluated in terms of classification accuracy in two popular classifiers (k-nearest neighbor and support vector machine) and in terms of search effectiveness and efficiency in k-nearest neighbor similarity search, using three different data sets from natural language processing and information retrieval. Experimental results show that the new measurements outperform the benchmark measures consistently and significantly.
Role of PARP activity in lung cancer‐induced cachexia: Effects on muscle oxidative stress, proteolysis, anabolic markers, and phenotype

Strategies to treat cachexia are still at its infancy. Enhanced muscle protein breakdown and ubiquitin‐proteasome system are common features of cachexia associated with chronic conditions including lung cancer (LC). Poly(ADP‐ribose) polymerases (PARP), which play a major role in chromatin structure regulation, also underlie maintenance of muscle metabolism and body composition. We hypothesized that protein catabolism, proteolytic markers, muscle fiber phenotype, and muscle anabolism may improve in respiratory and limb muscles of LC‐cachectic Parp‐1‐deficient (Parp‐1−/−) and Parp‐2−/− mice. In diaphragm and gastrocnemius of LC (LP07 adenocarcinoma) bearing mice (wild type, Parp‐1−/−, and Parp‐2−/−), PARP activity (ADP‐ribose polymers, pADPr), redox balance, muscle fiber phenotype, apoptotic nuclei, tyrosine release, protein ubiquitination, muscle‐specific E3 ligases, NF‐κB signaling pathway, markers of muscle anabolism (Akt, mTOR, p70S6K, and mitochondrial DNA) were evaluated along with body and muscle weights, and limb muscle force. Compared to wild type cachectic animals, in both respiratory and limb muscles of Parp‐1−/− and Parp‐2−/− cachectic mice: cancer induced‐muscle wasting characterized by increased PARP activity, protein oxidation, tyrosine release, and ubiquitin‐proteasome system (total protein ubiquitination, atrogin‐1, and 20S proteasome C8 subunit) were blunted, the reduction in contractile myosin and atrophy of the fibers was attenuated, while no effects were seen in other structural features (inflammatory cells, internal or apoptotic nuclei), and markers of muscle anabolism partly improved. Activation of either PARP‐1 or ‐2 is likely to play a role in muscle protein catabolism via oxidative stress, NF‐κB signaling, and enhanced proteasomal degradation in cancer‐induced cachexia. Therapeutic potential of PARP activity inhibition deserves attention.
Effect of alfacalcidol on cardiac function in patients with chronic kidney disease stage 4 and secondary hyperparathyroidism: A pilot study

Abstract Objective. Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is highly prevalent in chronic kidney disease (CKD) and a risk marker for cardiovascular mortality. It was hypothesized that vitamin D deficiency could play an important role in the pathogenesis of left ventricular hypertrophy and dysfunction in CKD. An open-labelled randomized study was performed comparing the effect of alfacalcidol versus no treatment in patients with CKD 4, secondary hyperparathyroidism and LVH. The primary endpoint was regression of LVH. Secondary endpoints were changes in left ventricular function. Material and methods. Twenty-four patients were screened. Of these, 14 had LVH according to the criteria used. Six were randomized to alfacalcidol and seven to no treatment. The patient follow-up was 6 months. Left ventricular mass and function were measured by echocardiography. Results. Parathyroid hormone decreased by 72% and –3% in the alfacalcidol-treated and non-treated groups, respectively (p < 0.05), while serum Ca2+ increased by 9% and –1.6%, respectively (p < 0.05), and serum phosphate was unchanged. The left ventricular mass index was unchanged, whereas fractional shortening (20% vs 2%, p < 0.005) and Tei index (36% vs 12%, p < 0.05) increased significantly. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure was unchanged. Conclusion. Short-term treatment with alfacalcidol did not induce regression of LVH; however, left ventricular function became hyperdynamic but less effective in patients with CKD. This could be problematic in the long term.
Near-Capacity Coding for Discrete Multitone Systems with Impulse Noise

We consider the design of near-capacity-achieving error-correcting codes for a discrete multitone (DMT) system in the presence of both additive white Gaussian noise and impulse noise. Impulse noise is one of the main channel impairments for digital subscriber lines (DSL). One way to combat impulse noise is to detect the presence of the impulses and to declare an erasure when an impulse occurs. In this paper, we propose a coding system based on low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes and bit-interleaved coded modulation that is capable of taking advantage of the knowledge of erasures. We show that by carefully choosing the degree distribution of an irregular LDPC code, both the additive noise and the erasures can be handled by a single code, thus eliminating the need for an outer code. Such a system can perform close to the capacity of the channel and for the same redundancy is significantly more immune to the impulse noise than existing methods based on an outer Reed-Solomon (RS) code. The proposed method has a lower implementation complexity than the concatenated coding approach.
Behavioral treatment and normal educational and intellectual functioning in young autistic children.

Autism is a serious psychological disorder with onset in early childhood. Autistic children show minimal emotional attachment, absent or abnormal speech, retarded IQ, ritualistic behaviors, aggression, and self-injury. The prognosis is very poor, and medical therapies have not proven effective. This article reports the results of behavior modification treatment for two groups of similarly constituted, young autistic children. Follow-up data from an intensive, long-term experimental treatment group (n = 19) showed that 47% achieved normal intellectual and educational functioning, with normal-range IQ scores and successful first grade performance in public schools. Another 40% were mildly retarded and assigned to special classes for the language delayed, and only 10% were profoundly retarded and assigned to classes for the autistic/retarded. In contrast, only 2% of the controlgroup children (n = 40) achieved normal educational and intellectual functioning; 45% were mildly retarded and placed in language-delayed classes, and 53% were severely retarded and placed in autistic/retarded classes. Kanner (1943) defined autistic children as children who exhibit (a) serious failure to develop relationships with other people before 30 months of age, (b) problems in development of normal language, (c) ritualistic and obsessional behaviors ("insistence on sameness"), and (d) potential for normal intelligence. A more complete behavioral definition has been provided elsewhere (Lovaas, Koegel, Simmons, & Long, 1973). The etiology of autism is not known, and the outcome is very poor. In a follow-up study on young autistic children, Rutter (1970) reported that only 1.5% of his group (n = 63) had achieved normat functioning. About 35% showed fair or good adjustment, usually required some degree of supervision, experienced some diffaculties with people, had no personal friends, and showed minor oddities of behavior. The majority (more than 60%) remained severely handicapped and were living in hospitals for mentally retarded or psychotic individuals or in other protective settings. Initial IQ scores appeared stable over time. Other studies (Brown, 1969; DeMyer et al., 1973; Eisenberg, 1956; Free
Currents in Contemporary Ethics: Improve Privacy in Research by Eliminating Informed Consent? IOM Report Misses the Mark

In February 2009, the Institute of Medicine released its report on privacy in health research, Beyond the Privacy Rule: Enhancing Privacy, Improving Health Through Research. The report is based on formal presentations, commissioned and invited surveys and papers, a literature review, and deliberations by the Committee on Health Research and the Privacy of Health Information: The HIPAA Privacy Rule. The Committee was charged with addressing the often-expressed concern of researchers that the Privacy Rule burdens research without adequately protecting the privacy interests of patients and subjects.
Can perioperative acupuncture reduce the pain and vomiting experienced after tonsillectomy? A meta‐analysis

Acupuncture has been shown to reduce pain, nausea, and vomiting. However, its use alongside surgical interventions remains a novel practice, despite the increasing applications of alternative medicine. The goal of this meta‐analysis was to perform a systematic review of the literature addressing the effect of acupuncture on postoperative pain, nausea, and vomiting following tonsillectomy.
Neuroblastoma screening at one year of age.

BACKGROUND Neuroblastoma is the second most common type of childhood tumor. It is not known whether screening for neuroblastoma at one year of age reduces the incidence of metastatic disease or mortality due to neuroblastoma. METHODS We offered urine screening for neuroblastoma at approximately one year of age to 2,581,188 children in 6 of 16 German states from 1995 to 2000. A total of 2,117,600 eligible children in the remaining states served as controls. We compared the two groups in terms of the incidence of disseminated disease and mortality from neuroblastoma. RESULTS A total of 1,475,773 children (61.2 percent of those who were born between July 1, 1994, and October 31, 1999) underwent screening. In this group, neuroblastoma was detected by screening in 149 children, of whom 3 have died. Fifty-five children who had negative screening tests were subsequently given a diagnosis of neuroblastoma; 14 of these children have died. The screened group and children in the control area had a similar incidence of stage 4 neuroblastoma (3.7 cases per 100,000 screened children [95 percent confidence interval, 2.7 to 4.7] and 3.8 per 100,000 controls [95 percent confidence interval, 2.9 to 4.6]) and a similar rate of death among children with neuroblastoma (1.3 deaths per 100,000 screened children [95 percent confidence interval, 0.7 to 1.8] and 1.2 per 100,000 controls [95 percent confidence interval, 0.7 to 1.7]). Comparison of the screened group and the children in the control area revealed substantial overdiagnosis in the former group (an estimated rate of 7 cases per 100,000 children [95 percent confidence interval, 4.6 to 9.2]); the overdiagnosis rate represents children who had neuroblastoma that was diagnosed by screening but who would not benefit from earlier diagnosis and treatment. CONCLUSIONS The present findings do not support the usefulness of general screening for neuroblastoma at one year of age.
Comparative safety of inhaled medications in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: systematic review and mixed treatment comparison meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Background The active-treatment comparative safety information for all inhaled medications in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is limited. We aimed to compare the risk of overall and cardiovascular death for inhaled medications in patients with COPD. Methods Through systematic database searching, we identified randomised controlled trials of tiotropium Soft Mist Inhaler, tiotropium HandiHaler, long-acting β2 agonists (LABAs), inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), and LABA-ICS combination with at least a 6-month treatment duration. Direct comparison and mixed treatment comparison (MTC) meta-analyses were conducted to estimate the pooled ORs of death for each comparison. Results 42 trials with 52 516 subjects were included. The MTC meta-analysis with the fixed effect model indicated tiotropium Soft Mist Inhaler was associated with an universally increased risk of overall death compared with placebo (OR 1.51; 95% CI 1.06 to 2.19), tiotropium HandiHaler (OR 1.65; 95% CI 1.13 to 2.43), LABA (OR 1.63; 95% CI 1.10 to 2.44) and LABA-ICS (OR 1.90; 95% CI 1.28 to 2.86). The risk was more evident for cardiovascular death, in patients with severe COPD, and at a higher daily dose. LABA-ICS was associated with the lowest risk of death among all treatments. No excess risk was noted for tiotropium HandiHaler or LABA. The results were similar for MTC and direct comparison meta-analyses, with less precision in the random effects model. Conclusion Our study provided a comparative safety spectrum for each category of inhaled medications. Tiotropium Soft Mist Inhaler had a higher risk of mortality and should be used with caution.