Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Right atrial free wall conduction velocity and degree of anisotropy in patients with stable sinus rhythm studied during open heart surgery.

AIMS Although the perpetuation of several supraventricular arrhythmias is critically dependent upon intra-atrial conduction, the literature lacks detailed information on normal values of conduction velocity and degree of anisotropy. In order to explore these factors further, we have measured conduction velocities at the right atrial free wall during sinus rhythm and during atrial pacing in four directions parallel and perpendicular to the atrioventricular groove in patients with normal atria and stable sinus rhythm. METHODS AND RESULTS Using a Bard Cardiac Mapping System, atrial ECGs were recorded using a 3 x 4 cm electrode array with 56 equally spaced bipolar electrodes in 12 patients undergoing open heart surgery due to ischaemic heart disease or Wolf-Parkinson-White syndrome. A bipolar pen probe connected to a Medtronic 5328 stimulator was used for pacing at a 10% higher rate than sinus rhythm. The local activation times were manually set and isochronal activation maps were created for each recording. The conduction velocities were calculated from the activation maps over a distance ranging from 2.2 to 4.2 cm. The majority of the activation maps showed no signs of anisotropy; the others had less than 15% spatial inhomogeneity of conduction. Mean conduction velocity, calculated from five consecutive beats, was 88 +/- 9 cm.s-1 (mean +/- SD), ranging between 68 +/- 4 and 103 +/- 3 cm.s-1 during sinus rhythm. Mean conduction velocity during atrial pacing was 81 +/- 16 cm.s-1 at a propagation direction of 0 degree, 74 +/- 14 cm.s-1 at a 90 degrees direction, 79 +/- 12 cm.s-1 at 180 degrees and 78 +/- 20 cm.s-1 at 270 degrees, where 0 degree was parallel to the atrioventricular groove in the cranial direction and the angle increased counter-clockwise. Mean conduction velocity during sinus rhythm was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than during atrial pacing at the 90 degrees and 180 degrees directions but not compared to atrial pacing at 0 degree or 270 degrees. There was no significant difference in mean conduction velocity in different directions during atrial pacing. CONCLUSION Although anisotropy was documented during conduction velocity in individual cases, conduction velocity was not dependent on propagation direction at the epicardial right atrial free wall in patients with stable sinus rhythm. These findings do not exclude the presence of internodal preferential pathways as these are located sub-epicardially and a marked transmural discordance in activation has previously been documented in the vicinity of such pathways.
Regularized Primal–Dual Subgradient Method for Distributed Constrained Optimization

In this paper, we study the distributed constrained optimization problem where the objective function is the sum of local convex cost functions of distributed nodes in a network, subject to a global inequality constraint. To solve this problem, we propose a consensus-based distributed regularized primal-dual subgradient method. In contrast to the existing methods, most of which require projecting the estimates onto the constraint set at every iteration, only one projection at the last iteration is needed for our proposed method. We establish the convergence of the method by showing that it achieves an O(K-1/4) convergence rate for general distributed constrained optimization, where K is the iteration counter. Finally, a numerical example is provided to validate the convergence of the propose method.
Evaluation of a structured expert elicitation estimating the proportion of illness acquired by foodborne transmission for nine enteric pathogens in Australia

SUMMARY Estimates of the proportion of illness transmitted by food for different enteric pathogens are essential for foodborne burden-of-disease studies. Owing to insufficient scientific data, a formal synthesis of expert opinion, an expert elicitation, is commonly used to produce such estimates. Eleven experts participated in an elicitation to estimate the proportion of illnesses due to food in Australia for nine pathogens over three rounds: first, based on their own knowledge alone; second, after being provided with systematic reviews of the literature and Australian data; and finally, at a workshop where experts reflected on the evidence. Estimates changed significantly across the three rounds (P = 0·002) as measured by analysis of variance. Following the workshop in round 3, estimates showed smoother distributions with significantly less variation for several pathogens. When estimates were combined to provide combined distributions for each pathogen, the width of these combined distributions reflected experts’ perceptions of the availability of evidence, with narrower intervals for pathogens for which evidence was judged to be strongest. Our findings show that the choice of expert elicitation process can significantly influence final estimates. Our structured process – and the workshop in particular – produced robust estimates and distributions appropriate for inclusion in burden-of-disease studies.
Caching Transient Data in Internet Content Routers

The Internet-of-Things (IoT) paradigm envisions billions of devices all connected to the Internet, generating low-rate monitoring and measurement data to be delivered to application servers or end-users. Recently, the possibility of applying in-network data caching techniques to IoT traffic flows has been discussed in research forums. The main challenge as opposed to the typically cached content at routers, e.g., multimedia files, is that IoT data are transient and therefore require different caching policies. In fact, the emerging location-based services can also benefit from new caching techniques that are specifically designed for small transient data. This paper studies in-network caching of transient data at content routers, considering a key temporal data property: data item lifetime. An analytical model that captures the trade-off between multihop communication costs and data item freshness is proposed. Simulation results demonstrate that caching transient data are a promising information-centric networking technique that can reduce the distance between content requesters and the location in the network where the content is fetched from. To the best of our knowledge, this is a pioneering research work aiming to systematically analyze the feasibility and benefit of using Internet routers to cache transient data generated by IoT applications.
Variability of accretion flow in the core of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 4151

This paper reports the analysis of variability data for the Seyfert 1 type active galaxy NGC 4151. It covers the optical flux history for the last 90 years and X-ray flux for last 27 years. It presents the power spectrum density and structure function, and, based on the features in these functions, discusses the properties of the accretion flow onto a supermassive black hole, presumably powering the active nucleus of the galaxy.
Associations between male anogenital human papillomavirus infection and circumcision by anatomic site sampled and lifetime number of female sex partners.

BACKGROUND Male circumcision may lower men's risk of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and reduce transmission to sex partners. Reported associations between circumcision and HPV infection in men have been inconsistent. METHODS Four hundred sixty-three men in 2 US cities were tested at 6 anogenital sites and in semen for 37 types of HPV. Men were eligible if they reported sex with a woman within the past year, no history of genital warts or penile or anal cancer, and no current diagnosis of a sexually transmitted infection. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire. Circumcision status was assessed by the study clinician. Logistic regression was used to examine associations between circumcision and HPV detection at each site and in semen, with adjustment for potential confounders. RESULTS Seventy-four men (16.0%) were uncircumcised. Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) for any HPV genotype and circumcision were 0.53 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.28-0.99) for any anatomic site/specimen, 0.17 (95% CI, 0.05-0.56) for the urethra, 0.44 (95% CI, 0.23-0.82) for the glans/corona, and 0.53 (95% CI, 0.28-0.99) for the penile shaft. AORs were <1.0 but not statistically significant for the scrotum, semen, anal canal, and perianal area. CONCLUSIONS Circumcision may be protective against HPV infection of the urethra, glans/corona, and penile shaft.
The potential for Laplacian maps to solve the inverse problem of electrocardiography

Presents a method to solve the inverse problem of electrocardiography using the Laplacian of the body surface potentials. The method presented is studied first using trade-off curves from a concentric spheres model representing a heart-torso system. Then a more conventional study is undertaken where a limited number of current dipoles are placed within the inner sphere and noise is added to the resulting potentials and Laplacians on the surface of the outer sphere. The results indicate that measurements of the outer surface Laplacian can more accurately reconstruct epicardial potentials than measurements of the outer surface potentials. The reconstructions are more accurate in that extrema are placed very close to their correct positions and multiple extrema and high potential gradients are recovered. Identical conclusions are observed in the presence of noise and even when the Laplacians are subject to greater noise than the potentials.
Use of extreme weight control behaviors with and without binge eating in a community sample: implications for the classification of bulimic-type eating disorders.

OBJECTIVE AND METHOD To inform the classification of bulimic-type eating disorders not meeting formal diagnostic criteria for bulimia nervosa (BN), levels of eating disorder psychopathology and functional impairment associated with subjective and objective bulimic episodes (SBEs and OBEs) and purging and nonpurging methods of weight control were examined in a large community-based sample of women (n = 5,232). RESULTS Participants who reported recurrent bulimic episodes had significantly higher levels of eating disorder psychopathology and functional impairment than those who did not and this was the case whether the episodes were objective or subjective. Similarly, participants who reported the use of extreme weight control behaviors had higher levels of eating disorder psychopathology and functional impairment than those who did not, and this was the case whether purging or nonpurging behaviors were employed. The combination of bulimic episodes and extreme weight control behaviors was associated with particularly high levels of eating disorder psychopathology and functional impairment. CONCLUSION The combination of bulimic episodes, objective or subjective, and extreme weight control behaviors, purging or nonpurging, is significant in terms of impairment in psychosocial functioning among individuals affected by eating disorders not meeting formal diagnostic criteria for BN. The combination of SBEs and extreme weight control behaviors, in particular, warrants further investigation.
Association of low vitamin D with high disease activity in an Australian systemic lupus erythematosus cohort

Background Vitamin D status varies with geographic location and no studies of vitamin D in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have been reported in the Southern Hemisphere. Objectives To assess the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in an Australian SLE cohort, and its relationship with disease activity. Methods Data were collected prospectively on 119 consecutive patients with SLE in the Monash Lupus Clinic in Melbourne, Australia, between January 2007 and January 2013. Patients had simultaneous serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration and disease activity (SLEDAI-2K) recorded. Statistical methods were used to determine the correlation of serum vitamin D level and disease activity both at baseline and at a subsequent time point. Adjustments were made for the use of glucocorticoids, immunosuppressants and vitamin D supplementation. Results Vitamin D deficiency (<40 nmol/L) was detected in 27.7% of patients at baseline. Multiple regression analysis showed a significant inverse correlation of SLEDAI-2K with baseline vitamin D level and with vitamin D supplementation. Over a 12-month period of observation, among the 119 patients, there were 464 serial vitamin D measurements with corresponding SLEDAI-2K, representing 266 time intervals. The median change in vitamin D level was an increase of 25 nmol/L and this corresponded with a decline in SLEDAI-2K of 2 units. In regression analysis, there was a significant association between low vitamin D at a prior time point and a rise in SLEDAI-2K at the subsequent time point (univariable OR 3.3, 95% CI 1.5 to 7.7, p=0.005) or having a high disease activity (SLEDAI-2k>10) at the subsequent time point (univariable OR 3.1, 95% CI 1.4 to 6.8, p=0.004). Conclusions In Australian patients with SLE, low vitamin D was associated with a higher disease activity and an increase in serum vitamin D was associated with reduced disease activity over time. The therapeutic effect of vitamin D in SLE should be further assessed in interventional studies.
Surgical strategy for cavernous angioma in hypothalamus

A very rare case of cavernous angioma in the hypothalamus is presented. The patient was successfully treated by total excision of the haematoma and angioma, and there was no regrowth of the lesion on follow-up MRI. Complete excision of the angioma is the recommended surgical strategy even for patients with deep-seated lesions.
Reply: To PMID 24999723.

To the Editor: We thank Mitra et al for their interest in our recent article “A Comparison of Same Setting Versus Delayed Vitrectomy in the Management of Retained Lens Fragments After Cataract Surgery” (Retina). 1 Their questions include several points that have been thoroughly discussed in ourarticle. The retained lens was described as “cortex only,” nuclear fragments less than or greater than 50%. When the surgeon did not use the fragmatome, the retained lens fragments were removed with the vitrector alone. One eye had a chronic macular hole and after discussing with the surgeon, the patient deferred intervention. We would find it difficult to obtain specular counts in a real-world situation as it is not in the standard of care to do so before cataract surgery. Therefore, we do not have this patient data from the referring cataract surgeons. This coincides with other studies that do not address endothelial count. Our study has several limitations, which are intrinsic to a retrospective one. For example, some of our patients had underlying eye disease such as diabetic retinopathy. This cohort is representative of our true clinical patient population that we see at Weill Cornell Medical College. We did, however, attempt to identify any baseline differences between the same setting and delayed vitrectomy groups, and analyze their impact on surgical outcomes. We did not find any differences between the 2 groups regarding these baseline factors, P . 0.99. The limitations of the study are discussed in our article. In addition, we believe that our patient cohort is representative of other similar studies, which included eyes with baseline ocular disease. A major concern with delaying vitrectomy in the treatment of retained lens fragments is the risk of complications such as retinal detachment, inflammation, choroidal detachment, and elevated intraocular pressure. Although Mitra et al raise good points, our conclusion regarding major complication rates or visual changes remains the same, and no significant differences were detected between same setting and delayed vitrectomy groups at the most recent followup date.
Effect of end-stage renal disease on oral health in patients undergoing renal dialysis: A cross-sectional study

Aims and Objectives: To evaluate the effect of chronic renal failure on oral health in renal dialysis patients. To assess and improvise awareness of staff regarding oral health care of the patients in hemodialysis unit. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey and oral health examination study were conducted on 206 end-stage chronic renal failure patients (stage V) who were undergoing renal dialysis in Guntur city. The study included the questionnaire form and modified WHO proforma to record their oral health status. Oral examination was done in American Dental Association (ADA) type III method by using mouth mirror and community periodontal index (CPI) probe. Questionnaire survey was conducted among the nursing staff in the hemodialysis unit. Results: Mean age of the study subjects was 46.79 ± 12.78 years; 81.1% were males and 18.9% were females. Candidiasis (8.3%) was the most frequently seen oral mucosal condition in these subjects. Majority of the subjects (44.2%) showed periodontal diseases (CPI score 3: Pocket depth of 4-5 mm). Caries prevalence of 56.3% was seen in this study group. Higher incidence of hepatitis C was significantly associated with higher duration of dialysis. There was very little awareness among the nursing staff regarding dental care. Conclusion: There is greater deterioration of periodontal health among dialysis patients with chronic renal disease. Awareness regarding dental care is very less among patients undergoing renal dialysis. These patients should be monitored carefully to maintain their oral health. Awareness must be increased among dialysis patients and nursing staff about the need for primary prevention of dental diseases.
Theoretical investigation of bonding in diaspore

The bulk modulus of diaspore, alpha -AlOOH, has been obtained from density functional theory based calculations. The value obtained, B = 148 GPa, is consistent with that previously obtained from elastic constant measurements, but in strong disagreement with values derived from high pressure x-ray diffraction experiments. A Mulliken bond population analysis of the electronic structure implies that the Al-O bonds are significantly covalent, in contrast to findings based on an earlier x-ray diffraction study. On compression, the main change is the increase in the hydrogen-bond strength.
A mixed‐methods systematic review of the effects of mindfulness on nurses

AIM To review the effects of mindfulness-based interventions on Registered Nurses and nursing students. BACKGROUND Work-related stress among nurses is estimated to be the biggest occupational health problem after musculoskeletal disorders. DESIGN A mixed-method systematic review incorporating quantitative and qualitative data was conducted. DATA SOURCES Studies on the effects of mindfulness-based interventions for nurses and nursing students published between 1980 and 2014 were identified through a systematic search in electronic databases: Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library and Cinahl. REVIEW METHODS Data analysis was conducted based on the framework of Thomas and Harden (2004). RESULTS A total of 32 studies, including 17 controlled designs, 11 pre-post designs and four qualitative designs were reviewed. Meta-analysis suggests that mindfulness-based interventions may be effective in significantly reducing state anxiety and depression at posttreatment and state anxiety and trait anxiety at follow-up. Qualitative studies and uncontrolled studies shed light on benefits overlooked in RCTs, including improvements in the well-being of individuals (e.g. inner state of calmness, awareness and enthusiasm) and improved performance at work (better communication with colleagues and patients, higher sensitivity to patients' experiences, clearer analysis of complex situations and emotional regulation in stressful contexts). CONCLUSIONS Mindfulness appeared to improve nurses' mental health significantly. It could be used in worksite health promotion programmes. Only a few studies have explored the impact of mindfulness on nurses' professional behaviours and their relationships with patients and colleagues. Future research should further explore the long-term impacts of mindfulness on performance and well-being at work using sound methodological designs.
1-V power supply high-speed digital circuit technology with multithreshold-voltage CMOS

1-V power supply high-speed low-power digital circuit technology with 0.5-/spl mu/m multithreshold-voltage CMOS (MTCMOS) is proposed. This technology features both low-threshold voltage and high-threshold voltage MOSFET's in a single LSI. The low-threshold voltage MOSFET's enhance speed performance at a low supply voltage of 1 V or less, while the high-threshold voltage MOSFET's suppress the stand-by leakage current during the sleep period. This technology has brought about logic gate characteristics of a 1.7-ns propagation delay time and 0.3-/spl mu/W/MHz/gate power dissipation with a standard load. In addition, an MTCMOS standard cell library has been developed so that conventional CAD tools can be used to lay out low-voltage LSI's. To demonstrate MTCMOS's effectiveness, a PLL LSI based on standard cells was designed as a carrying vehicle. 18-MHz operation at 1 V was achieved using a 0.5-/spl mu/m CMOS process. >
Glass Transition Behavior of Aqueous Solution of Sugar-Based Surfactants

Since the end of previous century, the role of petroleum as a raw material of synthetic surfactant gradually deflated due to the reasons such as decreasing of the relative abundance of petroleum, leading to soared prices of petroleum and increasing of carbon dioxide emission by heavy utilization of petroleum. Instead, the industries concerning in the surfactants and detergents are focusing on the utilization of biobased feedstocks, intermediates and products. Under these circumstances, the biobased surfactants derived from carbohydrate or sugar are highlighted.
Factors influencing students’ acceptance of m-learning: An investigation in higher education

M-learning will play an increasingly significant role in the development of teaching and learning methods for higher education. However, the successful implementation of m-learning in higher education will be based on users’ acceptance of this technology. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to study the factors that affect university students’ intentions to accept m-learning. Based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) (Venkatesh et al., 2003), this study proposes a model to identify the factors that influence the acceptance of m-learning in higher education and to investigate if prior experience of mobile devices affects the acceptance of m-learning. A structural equation model was used to analyse the data collected from 174 participants. The results indicate that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, influence of lecturers, quality of service, and personal innovativeness were all significant factors that affect behavioural intention to use m-learning. Prior experience of mobile devices was also found to moderate the effect of these constructs on behavioural intention. The results of this research extend the UTAUT in the context of m-learning acceptance by adding quality of service and personal innovativeness to the structure of UTAUT and provide practitioners and educators with useful guidelines for designing a successful m-learning system.