Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Interpretation of Thallium‐201 Cardiac Scintigrams: Studies in Experimental Ischemic Heart Disease in Dogs

Twenty-one anesthetized and thoracotamized dogs were studied. Scintigrams of the heart were recorded using a continuous infusion of krypton-81m into the aortic sinuses as well as intravenous injections of thallium-201. A gamma camera linked to a digital computer was used to record the myocardial distribution of these tracers. The distribution of 2O1T1 was similar to that of 81mKr when myocardial blood flow was normal (seven dogs). In 14 dogs, the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) was narrowed to produce a regional decrease in myocardial blood flow. Blood flow changes were measured with an electromagnetic flowprobe. When the epicardial ECG was normal in seven dogs, the 201Tl scintigram showed no regional decreases in activity when the tracer was delivered after LAD narrowing. In contrast, a decrease in the activity of 81mKr was observed in the region supplied by the LAD. When the decrease in blood flow was associated with ECG signs of ischemia in seven dogs, both 8lmKr and 2O1T1 scintigrams showed decreased activity in the ischemic area. The cardiac distribution of 201Tl was determined in five dogs while myocardial blood flow and metabolism were normal. LAD narrowing then produced 24 hours of severe myocardial ischemia. The distribution of creatine kinase activity in the left ventricle (U/mg DNA) was similar to the distribution of 2O1T1 (counts/mg DNA), r = 0.83; P = < 0.001. These studies suggest that 2O1T1 scintigraphy of the heart can demonstrate decreases in regional myocardial perfusion only when metabolism is disturbed.
MicroRNAs cooperatively inhibit a network of tumor suppressor genes to promote pancreatic tumor growth and progression.

BACKGROUND & AIMS There has not been a broad analysis of the combined effects of altered activities of microRNAs (miRNAs) in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells, and it is unclear how these might affect tumor progression or patient outcomes. METHODS We combined data from miRNA and messenger RNA (mRNA) expression profiles and bioinformatic analyses to identify an miRNA-mRNA regulatory network in PDAC cell lines (PANC-1 and MIA PaCa-2) and in PDAC samples from patients. We used this information to identify miRNAs that contribute most to tumorigenesis. RESULTS We identified 3 miRNAs (MIR21, MIR23A, and MIR27A) that acted as cooperative repressors of a network of tumor suppressor genes that included PDCD4, BTG2, and NEDD4L. Inhibition of MIR21, MIR23A, and MIR27A had synergistic effects in reducing proliferation of PDAC cells in culture and growth of xenograft tumors in mice. The level of inhibition was greater than that of inhibition of MIR21 alone. In 91 PDAC samples from patients, high levels of a combination of MIR21, MIR23A, and MIR27A were associated with shorter survival times after surgical resection. CONCLUSIONS In an integrated data analysis, we identified functional miRNA-mRNA interactions that contribute to growth of PDACs. These findings indicate that miRNAs act together to promote tumor progression; therapeutic strategies might require inhibition of several miRNAs.
Stem and Progenitor Cells in Human Cardiopulmonary Development and Regeneration

Already during embryonic development, the heart and the lung are thoroughly connected organs. Their interdependence allows our survival in the terrestrial environment by coupling cardiac output and gas exchange. The knowledge on developmental processes involving stem and progenitor cells is crucial to understand the onset of human cardiopulmonary diseases. The precise identification of various adult endogenous progenitors is still incomplete. Thus, caution should be exercised on newly available stem cell-based treatments until specific mechanisms of action are disclosed. The objective is to provide in the nearest future feasible and safer cell therapeutics for the complex pathological condition of human cardiopulmonary diseases. In this paper, we highlight the significant knowledge advancement concerning stem and progenitor cells in the cardiopulmonary field: from embryonic development to adult progenitors until early preclinical models for cardiopulmonary regeneration.
Molecular mechanisms that distinguish TFIID housekeeping from regulatable SAGA promoters

An important distinction is frequently made between constitutively expressed housekeeping genes versus regulated genes. Although generally characterized by different DNA elements, chromatin architecture and cofactors, it is not known to what degree promoter classes strictly follow regulatability rules and which molecular mechanisms dictate such differences. We show that SAGA‐dominated/TATA‐box promoters are more responsive to changes in the amount of activator, even compared to TFIID/TATA‐like promoters that depend on the same activator Hsf1. Regulatability is therefore an inherent property of promoter class. Further analyses show that SAGA/TATA‐box promoters are more dynamic because TATA‐binding protein recruitment through SAGA is susceptible to removal by Mot1. In addition, the nucleosome configuration upon activator depletion shifts on SAGA/TATA‐box promoters and seems less amenable to preinitiation complex formation. The results explain the fundamental difference between housekeeping and regulatable genes, revealing an additional facet of combinatorial control: an activator can elicit a different response dependent on core promoter class.
Occupational Exposure to Aerosolized Brevetoxins during Florida Red Tide Events: Effects on a Healthy Worker Population

Karenia brevis (formerly Gymnodinium breve) is a marine dinoflagellate responsible for red tides that form in the Gulf of Mexico. K. brevis produces brevetoxins, the potent toxins that cause neurotoxic shellfish poisoning. There is also limited information describing human health effects from environmental exposures to brevetoxins. Our objective was to examine the impact of inhaling aerosolized brevetoxins during red tide events on self-reported symptoms and pulmonary function. We recruited a group of 28 healthy lifeguards who are occupationally exposed to red tide toxins during their daily work-related activities. They performed spirometry tests and reported symptoms before and after their 8-hr shifts during a time when there was no red tide (unexposed period) and again when there was a red tide (exposed period). We also examined how mild exercise affected the reported symptoms and spirometry tests during unexposed and exposed periods with a subgroup of the same lifeguards. Environmental sampling (K. brevis cell concentrations in seawater and brevetoxin concentrations in seawater and air) was used to confirm unexposed/exposed status. Compared with unexposed periods, the group of lifeguards reported more upper respiratory symptoms during the exposed periods. We did not observe any impact of exposure to aerosolized brevetoxins, with or without mild exercise, on pulmonary function.
Low-OSR Over-Ranging Hybrid ADC Incorporating Noise-Shaped Two-Step Quantizer

A noise-shaped two-step ADC is presented in this paper. This ADC exploits residue feedback and a new capacitor/opamp sharing scheme to achieve high order noise shaping with minimal design complexity. The application of the proposed architecture in low power Delta-Sigma modulators is studied in this paper. A prototype ADC is fabricated in a 0.18 μm CMOS process. With a 1.56 MHz bandwidth (8x OSR), 2.6 mW analog power consumption, and 1.2 V analog supply voltage, the measured dynamic range and SNDR of this prototype IC are 78 dB and 75 dB.
Learning to grasp using visual information

A scheme for learning to grasp objects using visual information is presented. The learning problem is divided into two separate subproblems: choosing grasping points and predicting the quality of a given grasp. For each grasp we store location parameters that code the locations of the grasping points, quality parameters that are relevant features for the assessment of grasp quality, and the associated grade. The location parameters, using a special coding which is not object specific, are used to locate grasping points on new target objects. A function from the quality parameters to the grade is learned from examples. Grasp quality for novel situations can be generalized and estimated using the learned function. An experimental setup using an AdeptOne manipulator was developed to test this scheme. The system had demonstrated an ability to grasp a relatively wide variety of objects, and its performance had significantly improved with practice following a small number of trials. The knowledge learned for a set of objects was successfully generalized to new objects.
Evolving Practice: X‐Linked Agammaglobulinemia and Lung Transplantation

X‐linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) is a rare primary humoral immunodeficiency syndrome characterized by agammaglobulinemia, recurrent infections and bronchiectasis. Despite the association with end‐stage bronchiectasis, the literature on XLA and lung transplantation is extremely limited. We report a series of 6 XLA patients with bronchiectasis who underwent lung transplantation. Short‐term outcomes were excellent however long‐term outcomes were disappointing with a high incidence of pulmonary sepsis and chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD).
Acoustic and Visual Cues of Turn-Taking Dynamics in Dyadic Interactions

In this paper we introduce an empirical study of multimodal cues of turn-taking dynamics in a social interaction context. We first identify pauses, gaps and overlapped speech segments in the dyadic conversation dataset. Second, we define two types of measurements, Mean Equalized Energy (MEE) and Animation Level (AL) on the audio and video channels, respectively. Then, we verify the hypothesis that the speaker with higher MEE or AL is more likely to take the floor after silence or overlapped speech. The results suggest that both the vocal and visual movement energy offer useful cues towards inferring the intention of the interlocutor to grab the floor. Index Terms: turn-taking, cues, equalized energy, motion vector
Holographic aspects of Fermi liquids in a background magnetic field

We study the effects of an external magnetic field on the properties of the quasiparticle spectrum of the class of (2 + 1)-dimensional strongly coupled theories holographically dual to charged AdS4 black holes at zero temperature. We uncover several interesting features. At certain values of the magnetic field, there are multiple quasiparticle peaks representing a novel level structure of the associated Fermi surfaces. Furthermore, increasing magnetic field deforms the dispersion characteristics of the quasiparticle peaks from non-Landau towards Landau behaviour. At a certain value of the magnetic field, just at the onset of Landau-like behaviour of the Fermi liquid, the quasiparticles and Fermi surface disappear.
First generation of ultrathin Polarized NanoMaterials for millimeter-wave (26–40 GHz) textile antenna applications

A novel PNM textile with extremely small thickness on the order of a few micron was characterized at millimeter wave frequencies (26.5 – 40 GHz), and the impedance analysis of the material was presented. The results show that the PNM is an excellent absorber for wideband applications; the highly polarized materials can be utilized for polarization detection and sensing applications. The impedance results of the PNM textile show that CNTs can function as resonators at microwave frequencies due to the long nanotubes, hence, paving ways for further theoretical and experimental studies on these behaviors. In future research efforts, the PNM will be characterized in gas to establish a foundation for wireless gas sensor designs in the microwave frequency range.
The Effect of a Freely Available Flipped Classroom Course on Health Care Worker Patient Safety Culture: A Prospective Controlled Study

Background Patient safety culture is an integral aspect of good standard of care. A good patient safety culture is believed to be a prerequisite for safe medical care. However, there is little evidence on whether general education can enhance patient safety culture. Objective Our aim was to assess the impact of a standardized patient safety course on health care worker patient safety culture. Methods Health care workers from Intensive Care Units (ICU) at two hospitals (A and B) in Hong Kong were recruited to compare the changes in safety culture before and after a patient safety course. The BASIC Patient Safety course was administered only to staff from Hospital A ICU. Safety culture was assessed in both units at two time points, one before and one after the course, by using the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture questionnaire. Responses were coded according to the Survey User’s Guide, and positive response percentages for each patient safety domain were compared to the 2012 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality ICU sample of 36,120 respondents. Results We distributed 127 questionnaires across the two hospitals with an overall response rate of 74.8% (95 respondents). After the safety course, ICU A significantly improved on teamwork within hospital units (P=.008) and hospital management support for patient safety (P<.001), but decreased in the frequency of reporting mistakes compared to the initial survey (P=.006). Overall, ICU A staff showed significantly greater enhancement in positive responses in five domains than staff from ICU B. Pooled data indicated that patient safety culture was poorer in the two ICUs than the average ICU in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality database, both overall and in every individual domain except hospital management support for patient safety and hospital handoffs and transitions. Conclusions Our study demonstrates that a structured, reproducible short course on patient safety may be associated with an enhancement in several domains in ICU patient safety culture.
Bilateral Symmetry Detection via Symmetry-Growing

We present a novel and robust method for localizing and segmenting bilaterally symmetric patterns from real-world images. On the basis of symmetrically matched pairs of local features, our method expands and merges condent local symmetric region matches by exploiting both photometric similarity and geometric consistency via our new symmetry-growing framework. It overcomes the limitations of the previous local-feature based approaches by efciently exploring the image space to grow symmetry beyond the detected symmetric features. The experimental evaluation demonstrates that our method successfully detects and segments multiple symmetric patterns from real-world images, and clearly outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in accuracy and robustness.
An empirical analysis of factors influencing users' adoption and use of mobile services in China

This study examines factors that influence users' adoption of mobile services. Using data collected from mobile phone users in China, we compare adopters' and non-adopters' perceptions on mobile services using a general model. Structural equations modelling testing results show that perceived usefulness and perceived service cost affect mobile service adopters' and non-adopters' perceptions, while perceived trust and perceived trialability affect adopters' attitude towards continued usage and non-adopters' attitude towards usage differently. Our results have implications for mobile service providers in future product development and service improvements.
Global microRNA expression profiling: Curcumin (diferuloylmethane) alters oxidative stress-responsive microRNAs in human ARPE-19 cells

Purpose In recent years, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to play important roles in a broad range of biologic processes, including oxidative stress-mediated ocular diseases. In addition, the polyphenolic compound curcumin has been shown to possess anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer, antiproliferative, and proapoptotic activities. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of curcumin on the expression profiles of miRNAs in ARPE-19 cells exposed to oxidative stress. Methods MiRNA expression profiles were measured in ARPE-19 cells treated with 20 μΜ curcumin and 200 μΜ H2O2. PCR array analysis was performed using web-based software from SABiosciences. The cytotoxicity of ARPE-19 cells was determined with the CellTiter-Blue cell viability assay. The effects of curcumin on potential miRNA targets were analyzed with quantitative real-time PCR and western blotting. Results Curcumin treatment alone for 6 h had no effect on ARPE-19 cell viability. Incubation with H2O2 (200 µM) alone for 18 h decreased cell viability by 12.5%. Curcumin alone downregulated 20 miRNAs and upregulated nine miRNAs compared with controls. H2O2 downregulated 18 miRNAs and upregulated 29 miRNAs. Furthermore, curcumin pretreatment in cells exposed to H2O2 significantly reduced the H2O2-induced expression of 17 miRNAs. As determined with quantitative real-time PCR and western blotting, curcumin increased the expression of antioxidant genes and reduced angiotensin II type 1 receptor, nuclear factor-kappa B, and vascular endothelial growth factor expression at the messenger RNA and protein levels. Conclusions The results demonstrated that curcumin alters the expression of H2O2-modulated miRNAs that are putative regulators of antioxidant defense and renin-angiotensin systems, which have been reported to be linked to ocular diseases.
Understanding plagiarism : developing a model of plagiarising behaviour Dr

Plagiarism is a multifaceted, contextually specific and highly complex issue that is further complicated by divergent and emotive views that surround our understanding of what it is, why it occurs and how to prevent it. The literature provides evidence of the many differences that currently exist between researchers, educators and students about what constitutes ‘plagiarism’ and how it is viewed by Western cultures (Devlin & Gray, 2007; Larkham & Manns, 2002). The purpose of this paper is to expose these differences and to make specific recommendations for the prevention of plagiarism in Higher Education. This paper is a theoretical piece that initially establishes a clear definition of plagiarism and makes an important distinction between the action or practice of plagiarising and the value-laden associations with why it occurs. The paper then develops a theoretical model using the ‘Expectancy-value model’ (Fishbein, 1963) and Ajzen (1991)’s theory of planned behaviour to explain why plagiarism occurs. Important features that are recognised in the model are the many variables that influence the process of plagiarising and the significant link that exists between intention and behaviour. In particular, the model explains how a student’s awareness of plagiarism, their attitude to plagiarism and the existence of peer influences are crucial to establishing a student’s intention to plagiarise. Furthermore, the model identifies how a student’s personal and situational factors may contribute to the development of their attitude to plagiarism. In addition, the model acknowledges that a student’s perceptions of the control they have over plagiaristic behaviour is a key attribute in determining whether or not plagiarism occurs, not withstanding that student’s intentions to plagiarise. The paper uses the framework established in the model as a lens to review the findings of prior researchers and to reveal a picture of how and why plagiarism occurs that is more meaningful than has been previously described in the literature. Finally, recommendations are made for the development of specifically tailored programs by Universities to effectively address the issue of student plagiarism.
A study of the flammability reduction mechanism of polystyrene‐layered silicate nanocomposite: layered silicate reinforced carbonaceous char

Polymer-layered silicate nanocomposites (PLSNs) have been shown to have significantly reduced flammability. Based upon numerous studies to date, the proposed mechanism by which flammability reduction occurs is through formation of a silicate-reinforced char layer that protects the underlying polymer. To further understand this condensed phase phenomena, polystyrene (PS) PLSN was studied during various states of decomposition. The materials were exposed to non-oxidizing pyrolysis conditions using the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) gasification apparatus. Samples were exposed for a range of pyrolysis times. The resulting partially decomposed PS PLSNs were analyzed by wide angle X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Sampling was done at different depths in each sample. The results show that as the PLSN was heated, the PS in the layered silicate galleries decomposed and volatilized, resulting in a collapse of the layer spacing, which yielded a stable silicate-carbon char layer. This layered silicate or clay appears to catalyze formation of carbonaceous char which yields a clay reinforced carbon char layer with a d-spacing of 1.3 nm; this unique structure forms quickly under pyrolysis conditions, and is stable even after extended pyrolysis times. TGA data suggest that there are two types of carbonaceous materials formed in the carbon phase of the clay-carbon char; a carbon that can be decomposed and volatilized by heating in nitrogen, and a second fraction of material which requires more aggressive conditions, that is, heating (>700°C) in the presence of air. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.