Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cardiac Myocyte–Specific Expression of Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase Protects Against Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury by Preventing Mitochondrial Permeability Transition

Background— Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) is an obligatory mediator of the late phase of ischemic preconditioning, but the mechanisms of its cardioprotective actions are unknown. In addition, it remains unclear whether sustained elevation of iNOS in myocytes provides chronic protection against ischemia/reperfusion injury. Methods and Results— Constitutive overexpression of iNOS in transgenic mice (α-myosin heavy chain promoter) did not induce contractile dysfunction and did not affect mitochondrial respiration or biogenesis, but it profoundly decreased infarct size in mice subjected to 30 minutes of coronary occlusion and 24 hours of reperfusion. In comparison with wild-type hearts, isolated iNOS-transgenic hearts subjected to ischemia for 30 minutes followed by 40 minutes of reperfusion displayed better contractile recovery, smaller infarct size, and less mitochondrial entrapment of 2-deoxy-[3H]-glucose. Reperfusion-induced loss of NAD+ and mitochondrial release of cytochrome c were attenuated in iNOS-transgenic hearts, indicating reduced mitochondrial permeability transition. The NO donor NOC-22 prevented permeability transition in isolated mitochondria, and mitochondrial permeability transition–induced NAD+ loss was decreased in wild-type but not iNOS-null mice treated with the NO donor diethylene triamine/NO 24 hours before ischemia and reperfusion ex vivo. iNOS-mediated cardioprotection was not abolished by atractyloside. Reperfusion-induced production of oxygen-derived free radicals (measured by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy) was attenuated in iNOS-transgenic hearts and was increased in wild-type hearts treated with the mitochondrial permeability transition inhibitor cyclosporin A. Conclusions— Cardiomyocyte-restricted expression of iNOS provides sustained cardioprotection. This cardioprotection is associated with a decrease in reperfusion-induced oxygen radicals and inhibition of mitochondrial swelling and permeability transition.
Managing Non-Work Related Computing within an Organization: The Effects of Two Disciplinary Approaches on Employees' Commitment to Change

This study compares the effectiveness of two approaches, punitive consequence and logical consequence, to change employees’ non-work related computing (NWRC) behaviors in the workplace. Employees’ affective commitment to change (change by desire), normative commitment to change (change by obligation), and continuance commitment to change (change by cost-benefit comparison) were compared. A between-subject scenario-based experiment was conducted to test the model. The results revealed that employees’ affective and normative commitment to change were significantly different between punitive consequence approach and logical consequence approach. Logical consequence approach was more effective than punitive consequence approach in inducing affective and normative commitment to change. However, there was no significant difference between the two disciplinary approaches in terms of inducing continuance commitment to change. Since previous literature had shown that affective and normative commitment to change may lead to stronger level of behavioral support, our results suggests that logical consequence approach may be a more effective disciplinary approach to change employees’ NWRC behaviors.
A Physically-Based Anisotropic Discrete Fiber Model for Fibrous Soft Tissues

Physically-based fibrous soft tissue models often consider the tissue to be a collection of fibers with a continuous distribution function to represent their orientations. This study proposes a simple model for the response of fibrous connective tissues in terms of a discrete number of fiber bundles. The proposed model consists of six weighted fiber bundles orientated such that they pass through opposing vertices of an icosahedron. A novel aspect of the proposed model is the use of a simple analytical function to represent the undulation distribution of the collagen fibers. The mechanical response of the elastin fiber is represented by a neo-Hookean hyperelastic equation. A parameter study was performed to analyze the effect of each parameter on the overall response of the model. The proposed model accurately simulated the uniaxial stretching of pig skin with an 8% error-of-fit for stretch ratios up to 1.8. The model also accurately simulated the biaxial stretching of rabbit skin with a 10% error-of-fit for stretch ratios up to 1.9. The stiffness of the collagen fibers determined by the model was about 100 MPa for the rabbit skin and 900 MPa for the pig skin, which are comparable with values reported in the literature. The stiffness of the elastin fibers in the model was about 2 kPa.Copyright © 2010 by ASME
Sublingual Immunotherapy: Clinical Indications in the WAO-SLIT Position Paper

Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) is a matter of only 20 years. Nonetheless, in this short period of time more than 60 randomized double blind placebo-controlled trials have been published, in addition to postmarketing surveillance studies and meta-analyses. The wide diffusion of SLIT in clinical practice and the large availability of experimental data prompted the WAO to publish a position paper on SLIT, to identify the indications, contraindications, and practical aspects of the treatment. On the basis of the available literature, SLIT is certainly indicated in allergic rhinitis in both adults and children. In this latter population, SLIT may exert a preventative effect on the development of asthma. The age seems not to represent a special problem. SLIT can be used also when asthma is associated to rhinitis, whereas it is not the first choice for the treatment of isolated asthma. The IgE-mediated mechanism and the clear identification of the causal role of the allergen are mandatory prerequisites for prescribing SLIT. The safety profile is excellent, but it is recommended that the first dose be given under medical supervision. Atopic dermatitis, latex allergy, and hymenoptera hypersensitivity are promising fields of use of SLIT, but they are still considered only experimental uses.
Predictors of ostial side branch damage during provisional stenting of coronary bifurcation lesions not involving the side branch origin: an ultrasonographic study.

AIMS To analyse the ultrasound anatomy of bifurcation lesions {1,1,0},{0,1,0} and {1,0,0} of the Medina classification in order to identify predictors of angiographic side branch (SB) damage after main branch (MB) stenting. METHODS AND RESULTS One hundred and ten patients with Medina classification bifurcation lesions of {1,1,0},{0,1,0} and {1,0,0} were recruited. An intravascular ultrasound study (IVUS) was performed on the MB before treatment, after stent implantation and after SB intervention. A quantitative analysis was conducted in combination with a qualitative study of the carina morphology and plaque distribution. Ostial SB damage (an increase of the percentage of ostial stenosis by QCA ≥30%) was observed in 51 lesions (48%) after MB stenting. The baseline IVUS identified a carina with a spiky morphology ("eyebrow" sign) in 51 bifurcations. In 41 out of 51 bifurcations with this sign, ostial SB damage was induced after stenting the MB due to carina shift (p<0.01). Narrower angiographic angles were associated with the presence of the "eyebrow" sign (62º±23º vs. 76º±24º, p<0.05). Plaque located at the carina was associated with a lower rate of ostial SB damage (29%) when compared with those lesions with no plaque exhibiting at the carina (51%), p<0.05. CONCLUSIONS The "eyebrow" sign is a powerful predictor of ostial SB damage after stent implantation in the MB in bifurcation coronary lesions without plaque involving the SB.
Short random walks on graphs

The short-term behavior of random walks on graphs is studied, in particular, the rate at which a random walk discovers new vertices and edges. A conjecture by Linial that the expected time to find $\cal N$ distinct vertices is $O({\cal N}^{3})$ is proved. In addition, upper bounds of $O({\cal M}^{2})$ on the expected time to traverse $\cal M$ edges and of $O(\cal M \cal N)$ on the expected time to either visit $\cal N$ vertices or traverse $\cal M$ edges (whichever comes first) are proved.
Molecular diagnosis of bloodstream infections: planning to (physically) reach the bedside

Purpose of review Faster identification of infecting microorganisms and treatment options is a first-ranking priority in the infectious disease area, in order to prevent inappropriate treatment and overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics. Standard bacterial identification is intrinsically time-consuming, and very recently there has been a burst in the number of commercially available nonphenotype-based techniques and in the documentation of a possible clinical impact of these techniques. Recent findings Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is now a standard diagnostic procedure on cultures and hold promises on spiked blood. Meanwhile, commercial PCR-based techniques have improved with the use of bacterial DNA enrichment methods, the diversity of amplicon analysis techniques (melting curve analysis, microarrays, gel electrophoresis, sequencing and analysis by mass spectrometry) leading to the ability to challenge bacterial culture as the gold standard for providing earlier diagnosis with a better ‘clinical’ sensitivity and additional prognostic information. Summary Laboratory practice has already changed with MALDI-TOF MS, but a change in clinical practice, driven by emergent nucleic acid-based techniques, will need the demonstration of real-life applicability as well as robust clinical-impact-oriented studies.
WHO declares polio a public health emergency

The World Health Organization has declared the spread of polio a global public health emergency, which, if left unchecked, could derail efforts to eradicate the disease.1 The 14 members of WHO’s international health regulations emergency committee met at the end of April alongside representatives from the nine states where wild poliovirus has been found in the past 12 months: Afghanistan, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Israel, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, and Syria. The committee presented its findings to Margaret Chan, WHO’s director general, informing her that the cross border spread of wild poliovirus in 2014 was an “extraordinary event. ” On 5 May Chan declared the situation a global public health emergency under international health regulations. The last such declaration was made in 2009 over the H1N1 influenza pandemic. Bruce Aylward, WHO’s assistant director general for polio eradication and emergencies, …
Real-Time Trajectory Generation for a Planar Crane using Discrete Mechanics

We present a receding horizon control scheme that utilizes a discrete time version of a nonlinear, iterative, projection-based optimization routine. The routine utilizes a projection operator to ensure feasible system trajectories at each iteration of the optimization resulting in valid control signals even when constraints on computation time prevent full convergence. An additional feature of this work is that the underlying discrete time system representation is provided by a discrete mechanics derived variational integrator as opposed to, e.g., a Runge-Kutta based integrator. Recent work has described a midpoint variational integrator that provides a causal, onestep map that admits both first and second order linearizations facilitating use in standard discrete time control and estimation techniques such as linear quadratic regulators and extended Kalman filters. In this work, this variational integrator is combined with the aforementioned receding horizon optimization routine to generate feasible system trajectories for real-time control of an experimental planar crane system.
Tumor angiogenesis change estimated by using diffuse optical spectroscopic tomography: demonstrated correlation in women undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy for invasive breast cancer?

PURPOSE To investigate if changes in tumor angiogenesis associated with complete pathologic response (pCR) or partial pathologic response (pPR) to treatment can be demonstrated by using diffuse optical spectroscopic (DOS) tomography. MATERIALS AND METHODS All participants in this prospective, HIPAA-compliant, institutional review board-approved study provided written informed consent. Eleven women with invasive breast carcinoma were imaged with DOS tomography prior to, during, and at completion of neoadjuvant chemotherapeutic regimens. By using region of interest (ROI) analysis, the DOS measure of total tissue hemoglobin (Hb(T)) was temporally correlated with quantitative measures of existing (CD31-expressing) and tumor-induced (CD105-expressing) vessels, in pretreatment and posttreatment tissue specimens, to assess change. RESULTS Quantified angiogenesis alone in pretreatment core biopsy specimens did not predict treatment response, but mean vessel density (MVD) and mean vessel area (MVA) of CD105-expressing vessels were significantly decreased in women with pCR (n = 7) (P < .001 and P = .003, respectively). MVA of CD105-expressing vessels was also significantly reduced at comparison of pre- and posttreatment residual tumor for women with pPR (n = 4) (P = .033). A longitudinal analysis showed significant decreases (P = .001) in mean Hb(T) levels during neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast abnormality ROIs for women with pCR but not women with pPR. For women with pCR, but not women with pPR, pretreatment MVD of CD105-expressing vessels correlated with pretreatment Hb(T) (P ≤ .001). CONCLUSION DOS tomographic examinations in women with breast cancer who are receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy show a mean decrease in Hb(T) with time in patients with pCR only. Observed pretreatment and posttreatment correlates with quantified angiogenesis markers confirm the likely biologic origin for this DOS signature and support its potential to predict angiogenic tissue response early in the treatment cycle. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL http://radiology.rsna. org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1148/radiol.11100699/-/DC1.
Increased production of vascular endothelial growth factor by peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

BACKGROUND Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent angiogenic, vascular permeability-enhancing cytokine with overexpression in various pathological disorders, including tumour growth, chronic inflammation and tissue repair. Recent studies have shown significantly increased serum levels of VEGF in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. The origin of the circulating VEGF is still unknown. The present investigation examines the VEGF production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. METHODS VEGF levels were measured in culture supernatants of unstimulated PBMCs of 27 patients with inflammatory bowel disease and 10 healthy volunteers using a solid phase ELISA. In addition, VEGF serum levels were determined. RESULTS PBMCs of both active Crohn's disease patients (1142.6+/-483.9 pg/ml, P < 0.001, n = 12) and active ulcerative colitis patients (748.0+/-637.6 pg/ml, P = 0.006, n = 4) produced significantly higher amounts of VEGF compared with PBMCs of healthy volunteers (113.4+/-101.8 pg/ml, n = 10). In addition, there was a significantly increased VEGF production by PBMCs of patients with active disease compared with PBMCs of patients with quiescent Crohn's disease (261.6+/-254.8 pg/ml, P < 0.001, n = 7) and inactive ulcerative colitis (147.7+/-100.3 pg/ml, P = 0.02, n = 4). There was no significant difference in VEGF release between patients with inactive inflammatory bowel disease and healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS Significantly increased VEGF production by PBMCs was found in patients with active Crohn's disease and active ulcerative colitis. The study helps to clarify one of the origins of the significantly enhanced VEGF serum levels in patients with active inflammatory bowel disease observed in recent studies.
A Bayesian Approach to 3D Surface Fitting and Refinement

This paper presents a novel methodology for extracting differential structure from noisy and discontinuous surfaces. We formulate the problem as a global MAP estimate which we develop under Bayesian principles. Development leads to two distinct MAP estimates for initial surface patch fitting and for subsequent surface refinement. Each estimate is realised through an iterative scheme which gauges the effects on consistency of updating single local surfaces. In turn, each update is itself realised by iterating between two modes, for surface smoothing and outlier identification, respectively. Smoothing reduces to a simple weighted least-squares technique which delivers robust surface estimates and covariances. Outlier estimation is achieved by a powerful non-linear method which incorporates feedback. As a consequence, the two processing levels become strongly coupled since curvature information from the refinement level can influence patch estimation. The net effect is a robust, evidence-combining scheme in which early fit and segmentation errors can be rectified. We demonstrate the utility of the scheme on range data.
The Influence of Smoking on Dental and Periodontal Status

Tobacco is one of the major toxic agents in our civilization. It’s use is considered as one of the most common cause of mortality and morbidity in both developed and developing countries in present times. Of 260 million deaths which occurred in the developing world between 1950 and 2000, it is estimated that 50 million were due to smoking. Globally, smoking related mortality is set to rise from 3 million annually (1995 estimate) to 10 million annually by 2030, with 70 % of these deaths occurring in developing countries (Fagerstrom, 2002). Since 1970, smoking prevalence among men has slightly decreased, but among women, teenagers and children, smoking has increased dramatically. Sixty percent of children are exposed to Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) at their homes (Mackay & Amos, 2003). Tobacco is one of the most important risk factor for oral diseases including oral cancer, oral mucosal lesions, periodontal diseases, wound healing failure, dental implants failure, gingival inflammation, acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis and apthous ulcers (Vellappally et al., 2007; Jacob et al., 2007). There is substantial evidence suggesting that the risk of oral diseases increase with frequent use of tobacco and that quitting smoking results in reduced risk (Winn, 2001).
On focal length calibration from two views

We consider the problem of self-calibration of a camera whose intrinsic parameters are known, besides the focal length. In the past, algorithms were mainly proposed for estimating two values of the focal length, for two images taken with different zoom. While there exist closed form solutions based on the fundamental matrix, their applicability is limited due to a generic singularity that occurs whenever the optical axes intersect, leading to numerical instabilities in most practical situations. Here, we consider the case of two views with identical focal length. We derive closed form solutions (one quadratic and two linear equations). Their respective singularity conditions are studied analytically and experimental results on their stability are given.
Identification and Optimization of Combinatorial Glucose Metabolism Inhibitors in Hepatocellular Carcinomas

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide. The expression of glucose transporter isoform 1, a key factor in transporting glucose into cancer cells, is overexpressed in several human cancers, including HCC. In addition, this has been shown to correlate with a higher proliferation index and more advanced stages in HCC, suggesting that inhibition of glucose metabolism is a promising therapeutic strategy. Our study used high-content screening (HCS) for compounds that target glucose metabolism and effect cell death in HCC cells. Specifically, we showed that a fluorescent 2-deoxyglucose analog, 2-[N-(7-nitrobenz-2- oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl)amino]-2-deoxyglucose, and CellTrace Calcein Red-Orange AM can be used reliably as readouts for glucose uptake and proliferative index, respectively, to identify drug candidates that simultaneously reduce glucose uptake and induce cell death in HCC cells. Thus, fluorescent glucose uptake bioprobes can be implemented in HCS assays to identify previously unknown regulators of glucose metabolism in HCC. In addition, our study also employs the use of feedback system control (FSC.II), a platform that optimizes the combinations of drugs identified through HCS. The coordinated use of HCS and FSC.II can improve the development of drug combinations and uncover previously unidentified signaling pathways that govern HCC as well as other cancers.
Sustainability of Improvements in Perinatal Teamwork and Safety Climate

The purposes of this study were to describe changes in perinatal nurse (n = 70) and physician (n = 88) perceptions of teamwork and safety climate after implementing a 6-month Crew Resource Management training program and compare responses between nurses and physicians. The Teamwork and Safety Climate Survey was administered prior to and 1 year after the intervention. There were significant improvements in nurse and physician perceptions of teamwork and safety climate; however, physicians perceived teamwork more positive than nurses.
Music Structure Analysis Using a Probabilistic Fitness Measure and a Greedy Search Algorithm

This paper proposes a method for recovering the sectional form of a musical piece from an acoustic signal. The description of form consists of a segmentation of the piece into musical parts, grouping of the segments representing the same part, and assigning musically meaningful labels, such as ldquochorusrdquo or ldquoverse,rdquo to the groups. The method uses a fitness function for the descriptions to select the one with the highest match with the acoustic properties of the input piece. Different aspects of the input signal are described with three acoustic features: mel-frequency cepstral coefficients, chroma, and rhythmogram. The features are used to estimate the probability that two segments in the description are repeats of each other, and the probabilities are used to determine the total fitness of the description. Creating the candidate descriptions is a combinatorial problem and a novel greedy algorithm constructing descriptions gradually is proposed to solve it. The group labeling utilizes a musicological model consisting of N-grams. The proposed method is evaluated on three data sets of musical pieces with manually annotated ground truth. The evaluations show that the proposed method is able to recover the structural description more accurately than the state-of-the-art reference method.