Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Perioperative changes in platelet count and function in patients undergoing cardiac surgery

Background: Patients undergoing cardiac surgery are at increased risk of bleeding due to multifactorial coagulopathies. In the present study, we aimed at investigating the changes in platelet count and function during and after surgery as well as determining the association of the platelet dysfunction with bleeding and transfusion requirements in these patients. Methods: A total of 40 adult patients scheduled for elective valve coronary cardiac surgery were included in this prospective observational study. Changes in platelet count and function with ADP, acid arachidonic, and collagen (light transmission aggregometry) were analyzed at three time points: before CPB, after CPB, and 24 hours after end of surgery. Postoperative bleeding and intraoperative transfusion requirements were recorded. Results: There were a significant reverse correlation between CPB time and ADP-induced aggregation, particularly after CPB and postoperative AA-induced aggregation. There was not any significant correlation between platelet count and function at all-time points. Both platelet count and platelet aggregation significantly reduced during CPB. While platelet aggregation increased on postoperative Day 1, platelet count reduced by about 40% after CPB, and remained at this level postoperatively. Patients with abnormal ADP-induced aggregation had significant increased postoperative bleeding and transfusion requirements. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that platelet count and platelet aggregation are reduced during CPB. Our results emphasized the effect of platelet dysfunction on increased postoperative bleeding and transfusion requirements. Perioperative monitoring of platelet function can be considered as a bleeding management strategy for implantation of PBM programs.
Beyond triangles: gigavoxels effects in video games

Voxel representations are commonly used for scientific data visualization, but also for many special effects involving complex or fuzzy data (e.g., clouds, smoke, foam). Since voxel rendering permits better and easier filtering than triangle-based representations it is also an efficient high-quality choice for complex meshes (with several triangles per pixel) and detailed geometric data (e.g., boats in Pirates of the Caribbean).
Chemical Synthesis of K0.5Na0.5NbO3 Ceramics and Their Electrical Properties

Powders of K0.5Na0. 5NbO3 (KNN) were prepared by the Polymerized Complex Method (PC method), based on the Pechini-type reaction route. The crystallization process of KNN during the calcination of an amorphous precursor was observed, using TG-DSC analysis and X-ray powder diffraction. After calcination the powders were ball milled, pressed into pellets, and sintered at 1100°C, which is lower than the sintered temperature of the conventional solid-state method. Using this procedure, we achieved relatively high-density and very homogeneous KNN ceramics. The electric properties of the ceramics were investigated. The results showed that these values are superior to those of sintered KNN ceramic counterparts made by the conventional solid-state method.
Missing depth cues in virtual reality limit performance and quality of three dimensional reaching movements

Background Goal-directed reaching for real-world objects by humans is enabled through visual depth cues. In virtual environments, the number and quality of available visual depth cues is limited, which may affect reaching performance and quality of reaching movements. Methods We assessed three-dimensional reaching movements in five experimental groups each with ten healthy volunteers. Three groups used a two-dimensional computer screen and two groups used a head-mounted display. The first screen group received the typically recreated visual depth cues, such as aerial and linear perspective, occlusion, shadows, and texture gradients. The second screen group received an abstract minimal rendering lacking those. The third screen group received the cues of the first screen group and absolute depth cues enabled by retinal image size of a known object, which realized with visual renderings of the handheld device and a ghost handheld at the target location. The two head-mounted display groups received the same virtually recreated visual depth cues as the second or the third screen group respectively. Additionally, they could rely on stereopsis and motion parallax due to head-movements. Results and conclusion All groups using the screen performed significantly worse than both groups using the head-mounted display in terms of completion time normalized by the straight-line distance to the target. Both groups using the head-mounted display achieved the optimal minimum in number of speed peaks and in hand path ratio, indicating that our subjects performed natural movements when using a head-mounted display. Virtually recreated visual depth cues had a minor impact on reaching performance. Only the screen group with rendered handhelds could outperform the other screen groups. Thus, if reaching performance in virtual environments is in the main scope of a study, we suggest applying a head-mounted display. Otherwise, when two-dimensional screens are used, achievable performance is likely limited by the reduced depth perception and not just by subjects’ motor skills.
Few-Example Object Detection with Model Communication

In this paper, we study object detection using a large pool of unlabeled images and only a few labeled images per category, named “few-example object detection”. The key challenge consists in generating trustworthy training samples as many as possible from the pool. Using few training examples as seeds, our method iterates between model training and high-confidence sample selection. In training, easy samples are generated first and, then the poorly initialized model undergoes improvement. As the model becomes more discriminative, challenging but reliable samples are selected. After that, another round of model improvement takes place. To further improve the precision and recall of the generated training samples, we embed multiple detection models in our framework, which has proven to outperform the single model baseline and the model ensemble method. Experiments on PASCAL VOC'07, MS COCO'14, and ILSVRC'13 indicate that by using as few as three or four samples selected for each category, our method produces very competitive results when compared to the state-of-the-art weakly-supervised approaches using a large number of image-level labels.
A 13.56-MHz Wireless Power Transfer System With Enhanced Load-Transient Response and Efficiency by Fully Integrated Wireless Constant-Idle-Time Control for Biomedical Implants

In this paper, a complete wireless power transfer system with transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) chips is presented. Both RX local and TX wireless output voltage regulations are achieved by the proposed constant-idle-time control without using any wires or additional discrete components, such as MCU, DAC, various kinds of controllers, and decoders, which were required in previous works. The system and circuitry design complexity is significantly reduced. Both TX and RX chips are fabricated in the TSMC 65-nm process with standard 2.5-V I/O devices, and the RX coil is fabricated using flexible printed circuits to demonstrate the performance for implantable applications. Up to 17.5% end-to-end total efficiency improvement is observed when enabling the wireless constant-idle-time controlled TX voltage regulation, and an instant load-transient response is also achieved. As a result, compared to previous works, this design achieves a higher total efficiency, a faster load-transient response, and a higher level of integration with a much lower system and circuitry design complexity.
Sensor Scheduling With Time, Energy, and Communication Constraints

In this paper, we present new algorithms and analysis for the linear inverse sensor placement and scheduling problems over multiple time instances with power and communications constraints. The proposed algorithms, which deal directly with minimizing the mean squared error (MSE), are based on the convex relaxation approach to address the binary optimization scheduling problems that are formulated in sensor network scenarios. We propose to balance the energy and communications demands of operating a network of sensors over time while we still guarantee a minimum level of estimation accuracy. We measure this accuracy by the MSE for which we provide average case and lower bounds analyses that hold in general, irrespective of the scheduling algorithm used. We show experimentally how the proposed algorithms perform against state-of-the-art methods previously described in the literature.
Agility through Discipline: A Debate

While Beck asserts that agility is only possible through greater discipline on the part of everyone involved, Boehm counters that you don't broaden the definition of "discipline" by rejecting parts of it. Yet, from inside extreme programming, it seems that the only way to achieve the desired results is to view the world in 'both-and" terms instead of "either-or" terms.
Polyporales Brown Rot Species Fomitopsis pinicola: Enzyme Activity Profiles, Oxalic Acid Production, and Fe3+-Reducing Metabolite Secretion

ABSTRACT Basidiomycota fungi in the order Polyporales are specified to decomposition of dead wood and woody debris and thereby are crucial players in the degradation of organic matter and cycling of carbon in the forest ecosystems. Polyporales wood-decaying species comprise both white rot and brown rot fungi, based on their mode of wood decay. While the white rot fungi are able to attack and decompose all the lignocellulose biopolymers, the brown rot species mainly cause the destruction of wood polysaccharides, with minor modification of the lignin units. The biochemical mechanism of brown rot decay of wood is still unclear and has been proposed to include a combination of nonenzymatic oxidation reactions and carbohydrate-active enzymes. Therefore, a linking approach is needed to dissect the fungal brown rot processes. We studied the brown rot Polyporales species Fomitopsis pinicola by following mycelial growth and enzyme activity patterns and generating metabolites together with Fenton-promoting Fe3+-reducing activity for 3 months in submerged cultures supplemented with spruce wood. Enzyme activities to degrade hemicellulose, cellulose, proteins, and chitin were produced by three Finnish isolates of F. pinicola. Substantial secretion of oxalic acid and a decrease in pH were notable. Aromatic compounds and metabolites were observed to accumulate in the fungal cultures, with some metabolites having Fe3+-reducing activity. Thus, F. pinicola demonstrates a pattern of strong mycelial growth leading to the active production of carbohydrate- and protein-active enzymes, together with the promotion of Fenton biochemistry. Our findings point to fungal species-level “fine-tuning” and variations in the biochemical reactions leading to the brown rot type of wood decay. IMPORTANCE Fomitopsis pinicola is a common fungal species in boreal and temperate forests in the Northern Hemisphere encountered as a wood-colonizing saprotroph and tree pathogen, causing a severe brown rot type of wood degradation. However, its lignocellulose-decomposing mechanisms have remained undiscovered. Our approach was to explore both the enzymatic activities and nonenzymatic Fenton reaction-promoting activities (Fe3+ reduction and metabolite production) by cultivating three isolates of F. pinicola in wood-supplemented cultures. Our findings on the simultaneous production of versatile enzyme activities, including those of endoglucanase, xylanase, β-glucosidase, chitinase, and acid peptidase, together with generation of low pH, accumulation of oxalic acid, and Fe3+-reducing metabolites, increase the variations of fungal brown rot decay mechanisms. Furthermore, these findings will aid us in revealing the wood decay proteomic, transcriptomic, and metabolic activities of this ecologically important forest fungal species.
Texture Synthesis From Photographs

The goal of texture synthesis is to generate an arbitrarily large high‐quality texture from a small input sample. Generally, it is assumed that the input image is given as a flat, square piece of texture, thus it has to be carefully prepared from a picture taken under ideal conditions. Instead we would like to extract the input texture from any surface from within an arbitrary photograph. This introduces several challenges: Only parts of the photograph are covered with the texture of interest, perspective and scene geometry introduce distortions, and the texture is non‐uniformly sampled during the capture process. This breaks many of the assumptions used for synthesis.
Band Gap and Conductivity Measurement of TiO2 Thin Films Deposited by Sol-Gel Spin Coating Method

Thin films of TiO2 have been deposited on to cleaned glass substrate by sol gel spin coating method. The XRD analyses confirm different crystalline phases of TiO2 thin films. The grain size calculated by the help of Scherer’s formula and found to be 23nm, 37nm and 54 nm respectively for TiO2(004), TiO2(200) and TiO2(211) orientations. The band gap was calculated 3.6 eV by UV-spectrophotometer. The refractive index of the TiO2 film was measured by Ellipsometry and found to be 2.33. Conductivity was measured using Current voltage (I-V) characteristics. To determine composition and thermal stability, thermo gravimetric Analyzer (TGA) and Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) analysis was made on samples.
Dental fluorosis, dental caries and fluoride exposure among 7-year-olds.

Mild dental fluorosis is frequently linked to fluoridated water, but discretionary fluoride sources may also be important. The aim of this study was to record age of weaning and fluoride exposure from water, toothpaste and supplements, and to relate these to the presence of caries and fluorosis in children born in 1983. In Perth (Western Australia) 14 school classes were selected. The 350 children (mean age 7.5 years) ultimately included gave fluoride exposure data for the period birth to 4 years of age. Caries (DMFT, WHO criteria, no radiographs) and dental fluorosis (TF index, dry permanent incisors) were registered clinically. Most (89%) children had lived at least 2.5 years in a fluoridated area. Supplement use was minimal and unrelated to caries or fluorosis. Mean age of weaning of those who had been breast-fed was 7.7 months; by 9 months, 74% had been weaned. Eighty-five percent liked toothpaste, 60.7% had swallowed it, and the mean age of starting to use it was 1.5 (SD 0.96) years. Caries prevalence was 0.1 and mean DMFT was 0.13. The prevalence of fluorosis was 0.48; 63% of fluorosis was TF score 1. Residence in a fluoridated area for > or = 2.5 of the first 4 years of life had an odds ratio (OR) of 4.9 for fluorosis. Weaning before 9 months of age, swallowing toothpaste and liking toothpaste were also statistically significant risk factors. Major risk factors for more severe fluorosis (TF > or = 2) were early weaning and swallowing toothpaste (ORs 2.77 and 2.64, respectively). Residence in a fluoridated area (OR 2.2) was not a statistically significant risk factor. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A deep learning approach to estimate stress distribution: a fast and accurate surrogate of finite-element analysis

Structural finite-element analysis (FEA) has been widely used to study the biomechanics of human tissues and organs, as well as tissue–medical device interactions, and treatment strategies. However, patient-specific FEA models usually require complex procedures to set up and long computing times to obtain final simulation results, preventing prompt feedback to clinicians in time-sensitive clinical applications. In this study, by using machine learning techniques, we developed a deep learning (DL) model to directly estimate the stress distributions of the aorta. The DL model was designed and trained to take the input of FEA and directly output the aortic wall stress distributions, bypassing the FEA calculation process. The trained DL model is capable of predicting the stress distributions with average errors of 0.492% and 0.891% in the Von Mises stress distribution and peak Von Mises stress, respectively. This study marks, to our knowledge, the first study that demonstrates the feasibility and great potential of using the DL technique as a fast and accurate surrogate of FEA for stress analysis.
Population-based cohort study on comparative effectiveness and safety of biologics in inflammatory bowel disease

Background The comparison of effectiveness and safety of anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha agents for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is relevant for clinical practice and stakeholders. Objective The objective of this study was to compare the risk of abdominal surgery, steroid utilization, and hospitalization for infection in Crohn’s disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) patients newly treated with infliximab (IFX) or adalimumab (ADA). Methods A retrospective population-based cohort study was performed using health information systems data from Lazio region, Italy. Patients with CD or UC diagnosis were enrolled at first prescription of IFX or ADA during 2008–2014 (index date). Only new drug users were followed for 2 years from the index date. IFX versus ADA adjusted hazard ratios were calculated applying “intention-to-treat” approach, controlling for several characteristics and stratifying the analysis on steroid use according to previous drug utilization. Sensitivity analyses were performed according to “as-treated” approach, adjusting for propensity score, censoring at switching or discontinuation, and evaluating different lengths of follow-up periods. Results We enrolled 1,432 IBD patients (42% and 83% exposed to IFX for CD and UC, respectively). In both diseases, treatment effects did not differ in any outcome considered, and sensitivity analyses confirmed the results from the main analysis. Conclusion In our population-based cohort study, effectiveness and safety data in new users of ADA or IFX with CD or UC were comparable for the outcomes we tested.
The Relationship between Antisocial and Borderline Features and Aggression in Young Adult Men in Treatment for Substance Use Disorders

ABSTRACT There is a large literature documenting that adult men in treatment for substance use disorders perpetrate more aggression than men without substance use disorders. Unfortunately, there is minimal research on aggression among young adult men (i.e., 18–25 years of age) in treatment for substance use. Moreover, although aggression is more likely to occur when individuals are acutely intoxicated by alcohol or drugs, research also suggests that antisocial (ASPD) and borderline (BPD) personality features increase the chances an individual will use aggression. The current study therefore examined the associations between ASPD and BPD features, including specific features that are reflective of impulsivity, and aggression in young adult men in treatment for substance use disorders (N = 79). Controlling for age, education, alcohol and drug use, ASPD features were positively associated with various indicators of aggression (e.g., physical, verbal, attitudinal), whereas BPD features were only associated with physical aggression. However, ASPD and BPD features that were specific to impulsivity were robustly related to indicators of aggression. Findings suggest that substance use treatment should attempt to target ASPD and BPD features in young adult men, which may help reduce aggression after treatment.
Serum prolactin levels in rats with pituitary transplants or hypothalamic lesions.

Serum prolactin levels were determined by radioimmunoassay in hypophysectomized, ovariectomized rats bearing 0, 1, 2, or 4 anterior pituitaries (AP) underneath the kidney capsule at 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 weeks after transplantation. Rats with no AP transplants had barely detectable levels of serum prolactin, whereas rats with 1 AP transplant from female cycling rats had serum prolactin values as high as those seen in estrous rats (120 ng/ml serum). In rats bearing 2 AP transplants, serum prolactin increased to 170 ng/ml serum, whereas 4 AP transplants elevated serum prolactin to 250 ng/ml, which is about equivalent to that in lactating postpartum rats (280 ng/ml). Injections of estradiol benzoate (1 µg/day for 5 days) into rats bearing 0, 1, 2, or 4 AP transplants, beginning 10 weeks after transplantation, increased serum prolactin over pre-treatment levels, except in the rats with no pituitary transplants. Bilateral lesions placed in the median eminence or anterior hypothalamus of ovariectomized rats significantly increased serum prolactin to 125 and 85 ng/ml, respectively, as compared with sham-lesioned controls (20 ng/ml). Posterior hypothalamic lesions increased serum prolactin concentration slightly and lesions in the amygdaloid nuclei had no effect. These results indicate that removal of hypothalamic inhibition of prolactin release by pituitary transplantation or by appropriate lesion placement in the hypothalamus results in elevated serum prolactin levels.
Mortars with Phase Change Materials - Part I: Physical and Mechanical Characterization

In a society with a high growth rate and increased standards of comfort arises the need to minimize the currently high energy consumption by taking advantage of renewable energy sources. The mortars with incorporation of phase change materials (PCM) have the ability to regulate the temperature inside buildings, contributing to the thermal comfort and reduction of the use of heating and cooling equipment, using only the energy supplied by the sun. However, the incorporation of phase change materials in mortars modifies its characteristics. The main purpose of this study was the production and characterization in the fresh and hardened state of mortars with incorporation of different contents of PCM in mortars based in different binders. The binders studied were aerial lime, hydraulic lime, gypsum and cement. For each type of binder, different mortars were developed with different content of PCM. The proportion of PCM studied was 0%, 20%, 40% and 60% of the mass of the sand. It was possible to observe that the incorporation of PCM in mortars caused differences in properties such as workability, microstructure, compressive strength, flexural strength and adhesion.