Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bidimensional Measurements of Right Ventricular Function for Prediction of Survival in Patients with Pulmonary Hypertension: Comparison of Reproducibility and Time of Analysis with Volumetric Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging Analysis

We tested the hypothesis that bidimensional measurements of right ventricular (RV) function obtained by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) are faster than volumetric measures and highly reproducible, with comparable ability to predict patient survival. CMR-derived tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE), RV fractional shortening (RVFS), RV fractional area change (RVFAC), standard functional and volumetric measures, and ventricular mass index (VMI) were compared with right heart catheterization data. CMR analysis time was recorded. Receiver operating characteristic curves, Kaplan-Meier, Cox proportional hazard (CPH), and Bland-Altman test were used for analysis. Forty-nine subjects with PAH and 18 control subjects were included. TAPSE, RVFS, RVFAC, RV ejection fraction, and VMI correlated significantly with pulmonary vascular resistance and mean pulmonary artery pressure (all P < 0.05). Patients were followed up for a mean (± standard deviation) of 2.5 ± 1.6 years. Kaplan-Meier curves showed that death was strongly associated with TAPSE <18 mm, RVFS <16.7%, and RVFAC <18.8%. In CPH models with TAPSE as dichotomized at 18 mm, TAPSE was significantly associated with risk of death in both unadjusted and adjusted models (hazard ratio, 4.8; 95% confidence interval, 2.0–11.3; P = 0.005 for TAPSE <18 mm). There was high intra- and interobserver agreement. Bidimensional measurements were faster (1.5 ± 0.3 min) than volumetric measures (25 ± 6 min). In conclusion, TAPSE, RVFS, and RVFAC measures are efficient measures of RV function by CMR that demonstrate significant correlation with invasive measures of PAH severity. In patients with PAH, TAPSE, RVFS, and RVFAC have high intra- and interobserver reproducibility and are more rapidly obtained than volumetric measures. TAPSE <18 mm by CMR was strongly and independently associated with survival in PAH.
Positron emission tomography in the management of lung cancer

18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) is a useful technique to characterize the solitary pulmonary nodule, diagnose primary lung cancer, carry out mediastinal and extrathoracic staging, plan radiotherapy, therapeutic response assessment and detect recurrence. PET may help to determine the ideal site for tissue diagnosis as well as predict prognosis. Combined PET and computed tomography (PET / CT) has the best of both worlds of metabolic and anatomic imaging and may provide optimal disease assessment.
Fractures of the Shaft of the Femur

The shaft of the femur is often fractured in children and in young adults (Fig. 1). Fractures usually result from simple trauma such as a fall, but with the increasing number of road accidents many fractures of the shaft of the femur are now sustained by a high velocity impact and are often associated with other injuries. These injuries make the eventual result less predictable than those fractures sustained by simple trauma.
DNA BARCODING: Barcoding corals: limited by interspecific divergence, not intraspecific variation

The expanding use of DNA barcoding as a tool to identify species and assess biodiversity has recently attracted much attention. An attractive aspect of a barcoding method to identify scleractinian species is that it can be utilized on any life stage (larva, juvenile or adult) and is not influenced by phenotypic plasticity unlike morphological methods of species identification. It has been unclear whether the standard DNA barcoding system, based on cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI), is suitable for species identification of scleractinian corals. Levels of intra‐ and interspecific genetic variation of the scleractinian COI gene were investigated to determine whether threshold values could be implemented to discriminate conspecifics from other taxa. Overlap between intraspecific variation and interspecific divergence due to low genetic divergence among species (0% in many cases), rather than high levels of intraspecific variation, resulted in the inability to establish appropriate threshold values specific for scleractinians; thus, it was impossible to discern most scleractinian species using this gene.
Efficient pipelined CABAC encoding architecture

Context-based adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC) is one of the key techniques adopted in H.264/AVC to achieve much higher compression efficiency than any other existing video compression standards. For its serial and inter-process dependent processing characteristics, the high performance design of CABAC codec is a challenge for hardware implementation. For example, the renormalization and bit-generation steps in encoding architecture are successive processes with variable iteration number which prevents the high throughput of pipelining operation. In this paper, we proposed a fully pipelined design scheme of CABAC encoder based on SoC architecture. With speeding up techniques for pipelining and special but not costly design of renormalization and bit-generation, the proposed design can achieve steady throughput of one symbol/cycle except the slice initialization process.
Isolated Talonavicular Arthrodesis

Isolated talonavicular arthrodesis was originally described by Ogston in 1884 for children with severely pronated feet. In this small series, short-term satisfactory results were reported in 16 of 17 patients. In the 1970s, this procedure was used to treat adult patients with rheumatoid arthritis with good results. Thereafter, subsequent studies also reported the successful use of isolated talonavicular fusions for the treatment of posterior tibial tendon dysfunction (PTTD) and deformity correction. Biomechanical studies have further examined the effect of the procedure on hindfoot motion as well as its ability to correct deformity.
Helmet Use and Risk-Taking Behavior Among Skiers and Snowboarders.

OBJECTIVE To characterize factors associated with helmet use and risk-taking behavior among recreational skiers and snowboarders. DESIGN Observational study. SETTING Large, western United States mountain resort. PARTICIPANTS 1285 male and female recreational skiers and snowboarders were interviewed during a single winter ski season. INDEPENDENT VARIABLES Helmet use, demographic, and sport-related characteristics. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Brief sensation seeking scale (BSSS) as a measure of risk-taking behavior and self-reported risk compensation. RESULTS Of the respondents (N = 1285), 17.5%, 12.5%, and 70.0% reported that they never, sometimes, and always wore a helmet, respectively. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that individuals reporting sometimes wearing a helmet had significantly higher BSSS scores than those reporting never wearing a helmet (P = 0.031) or always wearing it (P = 0.018). Male gender, younger age, snowboarding, higher perceived sport ability, more days per year skiing or snowboarding, and more time spent in the terrain park were significantly associated with higher BSSS scores (P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis focusing on subgroups of respondents who reported either sometimes or always wearing a helmet indicated that the odds of taking more risks when wearing a helmet for inconsistent helmet users was 75% higher than the odds for those who reported always wearing a helmet (P = 0.06). CONCLUSIONS Inconsistent helmet users have characteristics of risk-taking behavior and risk compensation. Male gender, younger age, snowboarding, higher perceived sport ability, and more time spent on the mountain and in the terrain park are also important determinants of risk-taking behavior.
Prevalence, severity, and related factors of anemia in HIV/AIDS patients

Objective: The prevalence of anemia in HIV infected patients has not been well characterized in Iran. This study aimed to describe the prevalence of anemia and related factors in HIV positive patients. Materials and Methods: In a cross-sectional study, anemia prevalence and risk factors of 212 HIV positive patients were assessed, at the behavioral disease consulting center in Isfahan. The relationship between anemia, demographic variables, and clinical histories were analyzed. Mild to moderate anemia was defined as hemoglobin 8–13 g/dL for men and 8–12 g/dL for women. Severe anemia was defined as hemoglobin, 8 g/dL. Results: A total of 212 HIV positive patients with a mean±SD age of 36.1 ± 9.1 years were assessed. We found that hemoglobin levels were between 4.7 and 16.5 gr/dL. In this study, the overall prevalence of anemia was 71%, with the majority of patients having mild to moderate anemia. Mild to moderate anemia and severe anemia occurred in 67% and 4% of patients, respectively. The mean absolute CD4 count was 348 ± 267.8 cells/cubic mm. Sixty one of 212 patients were at late stage of HIV infection (males=51 and female=10). Of the 212 HIV positive patients enrolled, 17 (8%) had a positive history of tuberculosis. We found a strong association between anemia and death. Conclusion: Normocytic anemia with decreased reticulocyte count was the most common type of anemia in overall. Prevalence of anemia in this study is relatively higher than other similar studies. Such a high prevalence of anemia needs close monitoring of patients on a zidovudine-based regimen. Better screening for anemia and infectious diseases, and modified harm reduction strategy (HRS) for injection drug users are primary needs in HIV seropositive patients.
Clinical and laboratory evaluation of idiopathic male infertility in a secondary referral center in India

The genetic basis of infertility has received increasing recognition in recent years, particularly with the advent of assisted reproductive technology. It is now becoming obvious that genetic etiology for infertility is an important cause of disrupted spermatogenesis. Y‐chromosome microdeletions and abnormal karyotype are the two major causes of altered spermatogenesis. To achieve biological fatherhood, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is performed in cases of severe infertility with or without genetic abnormalities. There is a concern that these genetic abnormalities can be transmitted to the male progeny, who may subsequently have a more severe phenotype of infertility. A total of 200 men were recruited for clinical examinations, spermiograms, hormonal profiles, and cytogenetic and Yq microdeletion profiles. Testicular biopsy was also performed whenever possible and histologically evaluated. Genetic abnormalities were seen in 7.1% of cases, of which 4.1% had chromosomal aberrations, namely Klinefelter's mosaic (47XXY) and Robertsonian translocation, and 3.0% had Yq microdeletions, which is very low as compared to other populations. Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) were significantly increased in men with nonobstructive azoospermia (NOA) as compared to severe oligoasthenozoospermia (P<0.0001), whereas testosterone levels were significantly decreased in men with microdeletions as compared to men with no microdeletions (P<0.0083). Low levels of androgen in men with microdeletions indicate a need to follow‐up for early andropause. Patients with microdeletions had more severe testicular histology as compared to subjects without deletions. Our studies showed a significant decrease (P<0.002) in the serum inhibin B values in men with NOA, whereas FSH was seen to be significantly higher as compared to men with severe oligoasthenozoospermia (SOAS), indicating that both the Sertoli cells as well the germ cells were significantly compromised in cases of NOA and partially affected in SOAS. Overall inhibin B in combination with serum FSH would thus be a better marker than serum FSH alone for impaired spermatogenesis. In view of the genetic and hormonal abnormalities in the group of infertile men with idiopathic severe oligozoospermia and NOA cases, who are potential candidates for ICSI, genetic testing for Y‐chromosome microdeletions, karyotype, and biochemical parameters is advocated. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 22:29–38, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Performance of Concrete Blended with Inhibitors and Slag Exposed to Chloride Environment

In this paper, the performance of concrete with organic inhibitor and slag on compressive strength, chloride penetration resistance and half-cell potential were studied for different water/binder (w/b) ratios and different curing ages. Organic inhibitor (Amines) was admixed with cement during the manufacturing process itself of the cement named as corrosion resistance cement (CRC). The influence of this cement on compressive strength was studied over different curing ages such as 7, 28, 56, 90, 180 and 360 days. Rapid chloride penetration test (RCPT) was conducted to explore the resistance to chloride penetration. Half-cell potential was observed for the period of one year as a measure of corrosion tendency of reinforced concrete (RC) exposed to 3%, 5% and 7.5% of sodium chloride (NaCl) solutions. The results of the concrete with inhibitor (CRC) were compared with the concrete with Portland slag cement (PSC). Significant improvement was observed in compressive strength with increase in curing ages. The performance of CRC concrete shows remarkable improvement in corrosion potential (delayed corrosion initiation) as compared to PSC concrete.
Aging and epigenetics: Longitudinal changes in gene-specific DNA methylation

DNA methylation has been associated with age-related disease. Intra-individual changes in gene-specific DNA methylation over time in a community-based cohort has not been well described. We estimated the change in DNA methylation due to aging for nine genes in an elderly, community-dwelling cohort of men. Seven hundred and eighty four men from the Veterans Administration Normative Aging Study who were living in metropolitan Boston from 1999–2009 donated a blood sample for DNA methylation analysis at clinical examinations repeated at approximately 3-5 year intervals. We used mixed effects regression models. Aging was significantly associated with decreased methylation of GCR, iNOS and TLR2 and with increased methylation of IFNγ, F3, CRAT and OGG. Obstructive pulmonary disease at baseline modified the effect of aging on methylation of IFNγ (interaction p = 0.04). For participants who had obstructive pulmonary disease at their baseline visit, the rate of change of methylation of IFNγ was -0.05% 5-methyl-cytosine (5-mC) per year (95% CI: -0.22, 0.13), but was 0.14% 5-mC per year (95% CI: 0.05, 0.24) for those without this condition. Models with random slopes indicated significant heterogeneity in the effect of aging on methylation of GCR, iNOS and OGG. These findings suggest that DNA methylation may reflect differential biological aging.
Respiration: A New Mechanism for CSF Circulation?

The presence of fluid in the brain ventricles has been known since the ancient Egyptians. However, the first mention of CSF circulation did not occur until 1532, when the Italian anatomist Niccolo Massa first described the movement of a “watery excess” through brain foramina ([Herbowski, 2013][
Minimising Simple XPath Expressions

We consider a subset of XPath expressions, called simple XPath expressions, which correspond to a class of conjunctive queries. We show that, in the absence of a DTD, each simple XPath expression has a unique minimal equivalent expression which can be found in polynomial time. We then consider D-equivalence, the equivalence of expressions with respect to the set of documents valid for a given DTD D. We show that a simple XPath expression P does not necessarily have a unique minimal D-equivalent expression. However, if P is reduced (there are no wildcards in it), then there is a unique minimal equivalent expression, but we show that deciding whether two reduced expressions are D-equivalent is coNP-hard.
marcos, a numerical tool for the simulation of multiple time-dependent non-linear diffusive shock acceleration

We present a new code aimed at the simulation of diffusive shock acceleration (DSA), and discuss various test cases which demonstrate its ability to study DSA in its full time-dependent and non-linear developments. We present the numerical methods implemented, coupling the hydrodynamical evolution of a parallel shock (in one space dimension) and the kinetic transport of the cosmic-ray (CR) distribution function (in one momentum dimension), as first done by Falle & Giddings. Following Kang & Jones and collaborators, we show how the adaptive mesh refinement technique greatly helps accommodating the extremely demanding numerical resolution requirements of realistic (Bohm-like) CR diffusion coefficients. We also present the parallelization of the code, which allows us to run many successive shocks at the cost of a single shock, and thus to present the first direct numerical simulations of linear and non-linear multiple DSA, a mechanism of interest in various astrophysical environments such as superbubbles, galaxy clusters and early cosmological flows.
Type -2 diabetes mellitus and auditory brainstem responses-a hospital based study

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus comprises a group of common metabolic disorders that share the phenotype of hyperglycemia. The metabolic dysregulation associated with DM causes secondary patho-physiological changes in multiple organ systems. The brainstem auditory electric responses represent a useful, non invasive and simple procedure to detect both acoustic nerve and CNS damage. Material & Methods: The study was carried out in the department of ENT, JNMC from 2008 -2010. The study included two groups, (i) diabetic group (n=25) (ii) Control group (n = 25). Diabetic group included patients attending Endocrinology OPD and ward. The equipment used for recording evoked response audiometry is IHS-BERA. Model number TH72312HT. Year of manufacture 2006. Results: Mean age of control group was 45.7 years. In the study group 13 (52%) were males where as 12 (48%) were females. Mean age of study group was 46.8 years. There is no significant difference between age groups of controls and cases. Significant difference was found in latencies of wave III and interpeak III-V while highly significant difference was found in latencies of wave V and interpeak I-III, I-V between control and study group at 70 dB. Highly significant difference was found in latencies of wave III, V and interpeak I-III and I-V while significant difference was found in interwave III-V between control and study group at 80 dB. Significant difference was found in latencies of wave V and interpeak III-V while highly significant difference was found in wave III and interpeak I-III, I-V between control and study group at 90 dB. Conclusion: BERA is a simple, non-invasive procedure to detect early impairment of acoustic nerve, and CNS pathways, even in the absence of specific symptoms. This study suggests that if BERA is carried out in diabetic patients; involvement of central neuronal axis can be detected earlier.
Multi-carrier cell structures with vertical and horizontal sector Offset using static beamforming

Macrocellular networks with frequency reuse across cells suffer from high interference at the cell boundaries, resulting in a very uneven distribution of user throughput. Recently it has been shown that for multi-carrier networks a horizontal angular offset configuration for the second carrier can significantly improve the performance and call drop rate of the network. In this paper this concept is extended to the vertical dimension by providing additional cells with higher downtilt while retaining the naturally resulting interference avoidance properties. Simulations for UMTS HSDPA show that with the additional cell layer with vertical downtilt can increase the average user throughput by 126% and the throughput of the worst 5th percentile by 205%, compared to a traditional 3 sector macrocell configuration. It is shown that the proposed cell configuration also outperforms conventional 6 sector configurations with the same number of antennas and cells per site. Furthermore, it is shown that the addition of the second cell layer does not significantly increase the handover failure rates over conventional cell configurations. The concept scales well to higher sectorizations.
The effect of industry clockspeed on supply chain co-ordination: Classical theory to sharpen an emerging concept

Purpose – The relevance of “industry clockspeed” to supply chain co-ordination (SCC) has recently been stressed but hardly been researched. Taking an information-processing perspective, the purpose of this paper is to examine the development of SCC theory under varying clockspeed circumstances. Design/methodology/approach – This exploratory research project investigated four Dutch multinational firms operating in industries with different “clockspeeds”. Findings – The main findings of this exploratory research suggest that, with increasing clockspeed, the use of inventory as a means of providing slack against uncertainty decreases, whereas the use of lateral relations increases. Remarkably, the role of outsourcing is substantial in both low- and high-clockspeed settings, but limited in the intermediate group. Opposite to this, the role of vertical information systems is limited in low- and in high-clockspeed industries, but substantial in medium-clockspeed firms. These findings are consistent with the basic theory of organisational life-cycle patterns. Research limitations/implications – More data should be collected and analysed in subsequent research, e.g. data relating to more companies, investigated over longer periods of time, paying attention to multiple dimensions such as company age and size. Organisational solutions that may deal with accelerating industry clockspeeds are platform-based product development, time and form postponement, and modular production networks. Practical implications – Supply chain managers should be wary of one-size-fits-all solutions irrespective of current industry settings or company maturity stage. Originality/value – Previous research argues that the shorter the life cycles of the products that firms sell, the more rapidly they have to invent not just new products, but new ways of organising as well. This study is a follow-up to this work with a focus on the co-ordination within a supply chain in response to varying levels of industry clockspeed, an issue hardly considered in earlier work
Concrete Dualities and Essential Arities

Many dualities arise in the same way: they are induced by dualizing objects. We show that these dualities are connected to a question occurring in universal algebra. Indeed, they cause a strong interplay between the essential arity of finitary operations in one category and the concrete form of the copowers in the other. We elaborate on this connection and its usefulness for universal algebra and clone theory in particular. As the paper's main result we show that, under some mild assumptions, the essential arity of finitary operations from an object A to a finite object B in one category is bounded if and only if the concrete form of the copowers of the dual of A has a certain (easily verifiable) set-theoretic property.