Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Classic Konno-Rastan Procedure: Indications and Results in the Current Era

Diffuse or unresectable subaortic stenosis is difficult to treat and needs aggressive resection to effectively relieve the obstruction. Anterior aortoventriculoplasty, known as the Konno-Rastan procedure, has been shown to effectively tackle the problems encountered in diffuse subaortic stenosis. A retrospective study was carried out on patients who had undergone a Konno-Rastan procedure at our institution from March 1997 to November 2003. There were 26 patients (16 males and 10 females). The mean age at operation was 12.8 ± 7 years. The mean follow-up period was 30.4 ± 14.5 months. Only mechanical valves were used in this group of patients. The overall 30-day mortality was 11.5% (3 patients). The mean preoperative peak systolic gradient decreased significantly from 91.3 ± 39.3 to 28.1 ± 17.7 mm Hg. Four patients developed permanent complete heart block and 2 had a residual ventricular septal defect in late follow-up. The classic Konno-Rastan procedure using a mechanical valve can be performed with acceptable morbidity and mortality in this difficult group of patients.
Frictional and adhesive wear performance of natural fibre reinforced polypropylene composites

The potential of natural fibre reinforcement in the thermoplastic polymer matrix is being explored for enhancing the wear performance of neat polymer. In this study, sliding wear and frictional characteristics of natural fibre reinforced polypropylene thermoplastic composites are being investigated. Three types of natural fibres namely nettle, grewia optiva and sisal fibres have been used in mat form. The composites have been developed using compression moulding method through film stacking. The dry sliding wear test of developed composites is being performed against a steel counterface using pin-on-disc test apparatus under dry sliding condition. The tests have been conducted at different sliding speeds (1–3 m/s), applied loads (10–30 N) and sliding distances (1000–3000 m). Results show that incorporation of different natural fibre mats to polypropylene has improved the wear resistance of neat polymer. Scanning electron microscopic observations show different wear mechanisms such as debonding, cracks, fibre fracture and debris formation.
Regulating the barrier function of airway epithelia. A novel role for CFTR – does it make a difference this time?

In patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), it is extraordinary that defects in a chloride channel scarcely expressed in airway epithelia, produce severe bronchial infections and eventually respiratory failure. In order to develop effective treatment of CF lung disease, it will be crucial to understand in more detail how the basic molecular defect induces the severe phenotype.
Target-controlled infusion vs. manually controlled infusion of propofol with alfentanil for bidirectional endoscopy: a randomized controlled trial

Background and study aims: The best anesthesia methods for analgesia and sedation during gastrointestinal endoscopy are still debated. The aim of this study was to compare the recovery time, clinical presentations, and satisfaction between target-controlled infusion (TCI) and manually controlled infusion (MCI) in same-day bidirectional endoscopy (esophagogastroduodenoscopy followed by colonoscopy). Patients and methods: A total of 220 patients with American Society of Anesthesiology physical status 1 or 2 were enrolled and randomized into the TCI or MCI groups. The clinical presentations, vasoactive drug demand, propofol consumption, and adverse events were recorded for both groups peri-procedurally. The concentrations of propofol in the plasma (Cp) and at the site of drug effect (Ce) by computerized simulation were also monitored in both groups. Finally, the satisfaction of patients, endoscopists, and nurse anesthetists was assessed by questionnaire after the examinations. Results: Compared with the MCI group, the TCI group had a faster recovery time (17.91 ± 7.72 minutes vs. 14.58 ± 8.55 minutes; P = 0.002), less moderate hypotension (7.37 ± 15.46 % vs. 1.82 ± 5.15 %; P < 0.001), and shorter period of bradypnea (13.81 ± 15.92 % vs. 9.18 ± 12.00 %; P = 0.013). In addition, the TCI group reduced the relative risk of moderate desaturation by 50 % compared with the MCI group (30.9 % vs. 15.5 %; 95 % confidence interval 1.191 – 3.360; P = 0.007). Conclusions: The study demonstrated that TCI of propofol combined with alfentanil was associated with a faster recovery time, and better hemodynamic and respiratory stability than MCI in same-day bidirectional endoscopy. Clinical trial registration: CGMH IRB Identifier 97-0969B
Noninvasive radioelectric asymmetric conveyor brain stimulation treatment improves balance in individuals over 65 suffering from neurological diseases: pilot study

Purpose In the elderly population, problems with walking and balance are very common. These problems seriously affect the quality of life of the elderly. When gait and balance problems are caused by neurological disease, these problems can be more serious and difficult to handle. The aim of this pilot study was to verify the effect of a noninvasive radioelectric conveyor asymmetric brain stimulation protocol, named neuropostural optimization (NPO), to improve balance in neurological elderly. Patients and methods Twelve patients suffering from various neurological diseases participated in this study. They were assessed with the Romberg test, which was performed on a computerized stabilometric platform before, immediately following, and 72 hours after NPO was used to improve balance. Results The results showed that a stabilization of balance was recorded in all subjects a few minutes after administration of NPO. This stabilization increased 72 hours after treatment. Conclusion The results show that NPO could be a valuable therapeutic approach to improve sensory-motor strategies and neurological control of balance in elderly patients suffering from various neurological diseases.
Fast and robust optimization approaches for pedestrian detection

O grande numero de câmeras de vigilância disponiveis hoje em dia em pontos estrategicos das principais cidades fornece um ambiente seguro. No entanto, a enorme quantidade de dados geradas por estas câmeras impede o processamento manual, exigindo a aplicacao de metodos automatizados. Entre estes metodos, a deteccao de pedestres desempenha um papel importante na reducao da quantidade de dados por localizar apenas as regioes de interesse para o tratamento posterior sobre as atividades a serem realizadas pelos agentes na cena. No entanto, os metodos de deteccao de pedestres disponiveis atualmente sao incapazes de processar tal quantidade de dados em tempo real. Portanto, e necessario utilizar tecnicas de otimizacao para permitir a deteccao em tempo real, mesmo quando grandes volumes de dados tem de ser processados. Para cumprir a meta de reducao de custos para a deteccao de pedestres, este trabalho propoe duas abordagens de otimizacao. A primeira abordagem consiste em uma cascata de rejeicao baseada no metodo Partial Least Squares (PLS) e no metodo de Variable Importance in Projection (VIP), combinada com a propagacao de variaveis latentes atraves dos estagios. Os resultados mostram que o metodo reduz o custo computacional, aumentando o numero de amostras pertencentes ao fundo rejeitadas nos estagios iniciais da cascata. A segunda abordagem consiste em uma otimizacao baseada em uma filtragem aleatoria na imagem para descartar um grande numero de janelas de deteccao rapidamente, permitindo uma reducao do custo computacional. A avaliacao experimental demonstra que pode ser obtido uma grande acuracia, mesmo quando um grande numero de janelas de deteccao e descartado.
Treatment of refractory polymyalgia rheumatica with etanercept: an open pilot study.

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether etanercept has a steroid-sparing effect in the treatment of patients with relapsing polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). METHODS The study group comprised patients with relapsing PMR who were not able to reduce their prednisone dosage below 7.5-10 mg/day and who had experienced corticosteroid-related side effects. Patients received injections of etanercept 25 mg twice weekly for 24 weeks, and were followed up for 3 additional months after treatment withdrawal. Patients regularly underwent clinical assessment, measurement of erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein level, and ultrasound (US) examination of the shoulders during the 9 months of the followup period. RESULTS All 6 enrolled patients responded to etanercept with sustained remission (improvement of at least 70% according to European League Against Rheumatism response criteria for PMR in 4 patients and at least 50% in 2 patients) and were able to significantly reduce their median prednisone daily dosage without experiencing a disease relapse (8.75 mg versus 2.5 mg; P = 0.026) at the end of the 9-month study period. US shoulder examination performed at the end of followup demonstrated a parallel reduction of glenohumeral and periarticular inflammation. A significant reduction in the cumulative prednisone dose 9 months before versus the 9-month study period was observed (mean +/- SD 1,767 +/- 524 mg versus 730 +/- 182 mg; P = 0.028). Three patients developed nonsevere side effects: bacterial cystitis in 2 and influenza in 1. CONCLUSION These results, which should be confirmed in a controlled study, suggest that etanercept may be a safe and useful corticosteroid-sparing agent in relapsing PMR.
Okadaic Acid-Sensitive Protein Phosphatases Constrain Phrenic Long-Term Facilitation after Sustained Hypoxia

Phrenic long-term facilitation (pLTF) is a serotonin-dependent form of pattern-sensitive respiratory plasticity induced by intermittent hypoxia (IH), but not sustained hypoxia (SH). The mechanism(s) underlying pLTF pattern sensitivity are unknown. SH and IH may differentially regulate serine/threonine protein phosphatase activity, thereby inhibiting relevant protein phosphatases uniquely during IH and conferring pattern sensitivity to pLTF. We hypothesized that spinal protein phosphatase inhibition would relieve this braking action of protein phosphatases, thereby revealing pLTF after SH. Anesthetized rats received intrathecal (C4) okadaic acid (25 nm) before SH (25 min, 11% O2). Unlike (vehicle) control rats, SH induced a significant pLTF in okadaic acid-treated rats that was indistinguishable from rats exposed to IH (three 5 min episodes, 11% O2). IH and SH with okadaic acid may elicit pLTF by similar, serotonin-dependent mechanisms, because intravenous methysergide blocks pLTF in rats receiving IH or okadaic acid plus SH. Okadaic acid did not alter IH-induced pLTF. In summary, pattern sensitivity in pLTF may reflect differential regulation of okadaic acid-sensitive serine/threonine phosphatases; presumably, these phosphatases are less active during/after IH versus SH. The specific okadaic acid-sensitive phosphatase(s) constraining pLTF and their spatiotemporal dynamics during and/or after IH and SH remain to be determined.
PM10-induced Hospital Admissions for Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: The Modifying Effect of Individual Characteristics

Background: Evidence suggests that oxidative stress is a unifying feature underlying the toxic actions of particulate matter (PM). We have investigated whether individual plasma antioxidant concentrations (uric acid and vitamins C, A, and E) and 10 antioxidant genes modify the response to PM with respect to hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or asthma. Methods: Using a bidirectional, hospital-based, case-crossover study, 209 patients admitted for asthma or COPD to the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital (London), with 234 admissions, were recruited between May 2008 and July 2010. PM10 levels in the area of Kensington and Chelsea at the time of admission were compared with the levels 14 days before and 14 days after the event. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate the effect of PM10 at several temporal lags, while controlling for confounders. Results: An increase in asthma/COPD admission rate was related to a 10 &mgr;g/m3 increase in PM10, with the highest effect noted 0–3 days before the exacerbation (for lag 0–3, odds ratio = 1.35 [95% confidence interval = 1.04–1.76]). Serum vitamin C modified the effect of PM10 on asthma/COPD exacerbations. A similar (although weaker) influence was observed for low levels of uric acid and vitamin E, whereas vitamin A showed no effect modification. GSTP1 (rs1695), SOD2 (rs4880), and Nrf2 (rs1806649) were associated with a trend toward an increased risk of hospital admissions during periods of high PM10 levels. Conclusions: Our study suggests that the concentration of antioxidants in patients' serum modifies the short-term effects of PM10 on asthma and COPD exacerbations.
Australian Attitudes to Crime

In 1986 the first national poll of public opinion of crime was conducted in Australia. Respondents were asked to assess thirteen different crimes for their seriousness (using the Sellin-WoIfgang index) and were asked to ascribe a suitable sentence for each offence. Some of the findings from this survey are in line with results established overseas, while others are quite different.
Gender Preferences in Web Design: Usability Testing through Eye Tracking

A successful website not only contains useful information but also displays this information in a way that is easily recognized by its users. One way to accomplish this is by investigating users’ visual preferences when using a web page. While each user may have unique tastes, they all can be organized into demographic groups with associated visual penchants. For example, literature provides evidence that there is a difference in layout preference between men and women. Using this literature, in this study, we examine whether such gender preferences can influence the recognition of specific information provided by specific items on a web page. To test our hypothesis we conduct a laboratory experiment. In addition to collecting subjective data, as in most prior studies, we also use an eye tracker that collects information regarding users' fixation. The results of this study as well as their implications are discussed.
Heat shock‐induced arrests in different cell cycle phases of rat C6‐glioma cells are attenuated in heat shock‐primed thermotolerant cells

The response kinetics of rat C6 glioma cells to heat shock was investigated by means of flow cytometric DNA measurements and western blot analysis of HSP levels. The results showed that the effects on cell cycle progression are dependent on the cell cycle phase at which heat shock is applied, leading to either G1 or G2/M arrest in randomly proliferating cells. When synchronous cultures were stressed during G0 they were arrested with G1 DNA content and showed prolongation of S and G2 phases after release from the block. In proliferating cells, HSC70 and HSP68 were induced during the recovery and reached maximum levels just before cells were released from the cell cycle blocks. Hyperthermic pretreatment induced thermotolerance both in asynchronous and synchronous cultures as evidenced by the reduced arrest of cell cycle progression after the second heat shock. Thermotolerance development was independent of the cell cycle phase. Pre‐treated cells already had high HSP levels and did not further increase the amount of HSP after the second treatment. However, as in unprimed cells, HSP reduction coincided with the release from the cell cycle blocks. These results imply that the cell cycle machinery can be rendered thermotolerant by heat shock pretreatment and supports the assumption that HSP70 family members might be involved in thermotolerance development.
Streaming Similarity Search over one Billion Tweets using Parallel Locality-Sensitive Hashing

Finding nearest neighbors has become an important operation on databases, with applications to text search, multimedia indexing, and many other areas. One popular algorithm for similarity search, especially for high dimensional data (where spatial indexes like kd-trees do not perform well) is Locality Sensitive Hashing (LSH), an approximation algorithm for finding similar objects. In this paper, we describe a new variant of LSH, called Parallel LSH (PLSH) designed to be extremely efficient, capable of scaling out on multiple nodes and multiple cores, and which supports high-throughput streaming of new data. Our approach employs several novel ideas, including: cache-conscious hash table layout, using a 2-level merge algorithm for hash table construction; an efficient algorithm for duplicate elimination during hash-table querying; an insert-optimized hash table structure and efficient data expiration algorithm for streaming data; and a performance model that accurately estimates performance of the algorithm and can be used to optimize parameter settings. We show that on a workload where we perform similarity search on a dataset of > 1 Billion tweets, with hundreds of millions of new tweets per day, we can achieve query times of 1-2.5 ms. We show that this is an order of magnitude faster than existing indexing schemes, such as inverted indexes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the fastest implementation of LSH, with table construction times up to 3.7× faster and query times that are 8.3× faster than a basic implementation.
Computer-assisted image analysis of neovascularization in thyroid neoplasms from dogs.

OBJECTIVE To develop a computer-assisted image analysis procedure for quantitation of neovascularization in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded specimens of thyroid gland tissue from dogs with and without thyroid gland neoplasia. SAMPLE POPULATION 47 thyroid gland carcinomas, 8 thyroid gland adenomas, and 8 specimens of thyroid tissue from dogs without thyroid gland abnormalities (normal). PROCEDURE Serial tissue sections were prepared and stained with antibodies against human CD31 or factor VIII-related antigen (factor VIII-rag). The areas of highest vascularity were identified in CD31-stained sections, and corresponding areas were then identified in factor VIII-rag-stained sections. Image analysis was used to calculate the total vascular density in each section, and neovascularization, expressed as a percentage, was determined as the absolute value of the total vascular density derived from factor VIII-rag-stained sections minus the vascular density derived from CD31-stained sections. RESULTS Mean vascular density of thyroid gland carcinomas derived from CD31-stained sections was significantly greater than density derived from factor VII I-rag-stained sections. This incremental difference was presumed to represent degree of neovascularization. However, significant differences were not detected between vascular densities derived from CD31 and factor VIII-rag-stained sections for either normal thyroid gland tissue or thyroid gland adenomas. No significant correlations were found between vascular density in thyroid gland carcinomas and survival time following surgery. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE A computer-assisted image analysis method was developed for quantifying neovascularization in thyroid gland tumors of dogs. This method may allow identification of dogs with tumors that are most likely to respond to treatment with novel antiangiogenesis agents.
Use of ratings of perceived exertion for predicting maximal work rate and prescribing exercise intensity in patients taking atenolol.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of Borg's rating of perceived exertion (RPE) scale to predict maximal exercise levels to control exercise intensity in patients taking atenolol for the treatment of essential hypertension. Normally, a standard formula (220-age) is used for calculating a percentage of exercise intensity, but beta blockade can cause reductions in maximal heart rate of between 20 and 30%. METHODS: Patients were split into a control group-10 men and 10 women, aged 50 (SD 12) and 46 (9) respectively, who had risk factors for cardiovascular disease but were not taking any drugs, and a treatment group-11 men and 11 women, aged 53 (13) and 55 (13) respectively, who were established on 25-100 mg of atenolol. All patients performed two submaximal tests on a cycle ergometer. Test 1 was an estimation test, during which the RPE was reported for each increment in work rate. Test 2 was an RPE production test, during which the patient regulated the work rate according to his/her perception of effort at four predetermined points on the RPE scale (RPE 9, 13, 15, 17). RESULTS: In both tests the individual correlations (r) between RPE, heart rate, and work rate ranged from 0.96 to 0.99. Analysis of variance showed no significant difference in maximal heart rate and maximal power output for the control group when predicted from the regression lines of RPE versus heart rate and RPE versus power output in the estimation test. However, the prediction of maximal power output was lower in the women in the control group and patients in the treatment group when this was predicted from the effort production protocol (P < 0.01). When exercise intensity at each RPE was expressed relative to maximal power output there were no differences between treatment and control groups. CONCLUSION: The findings from this study confirmed the strong positive relation between RPE, heart rate, and work rate in these patients in both passive effort estimation and active effort production protocols. However, caution in applying these procedures is required because the prediction of maximal exercise levels may be lower when effort production procedures are used.
Cell Segmentation with Random Ferns and Graph-cuts

The progress in imaging techniques have allowed the study of various aspect of cellular mechanisms. To isolate individual cells in live imaging data, we introduce an elegant image segmentation framework that effectively extracts cell boundaries, even in the presence of poor edge details. Our approach works in two stages. First, we estimate pixel interior/border/exterior class probabilities using random ferns. Then, we use an energy minimization framework to compute boundaries whose localization is compliant with the pixel class probabilities. We validate our approach on a manually annotated dataset.
ChIP-chip analysis of neurexins and other candidate genes for addiction and neuropsychiatric disorders

Abstract: Several addiction susceptibility genes have been mapped by linkage and genomewide association. However, functional alleles associated with disease risk have not been identified, with a few possible exceptions. In addition, little is known about the cis- and trans-acting factors involved in regulating their expression. To address these issues, we used a ChIP-chip approach to identify regulatory elements in fetal-brain– targeting genes implicated in addiction and other neuropsychiatric conditions. Our data point to a number of putative regulatory elements, several of which, we show, are functionally significant. Many established or putative regulatory elements map near-disease–associated SNPs. These regions would be of interest to survey for patient-specific functional variants involved in disease susceptibility.