Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Echocardiography in the Risk Assessment of Acute Pulmonary Embolism

Abstract Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality and is classified as massive (high risk), submassive (intermediate risk), or nonmassive (low risk) based on the hemodynamic status and clinical characteristics of the patient. At this time, the management of patients with submassive PE remains controversial and approaches for improving risk assessment are critical. In this review, we discuss several echocardiographic methods to assess right heart function that may aid in the risk assessment of patients with acute PE. They range from qualitative assessments of right ventricular (RV) function, such as subjective RV function and McConnell sign, to more recently developed quantitative parameters of RV function, such as tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion, RV/left ventricular ratio, and RV global and free wall longitudinal strain. Because of their reproducibility and objective nature, quantitative RV echocardiographic assessments have been gaining importance in the assessment of acute PE. Current limitations to the use of echocardiography for risk assessment in acute PE are the lack of normative values for RV parameters, the absence of standardization of measurements across different ultrasound platforms, and the heterogeneity of the performance of echocardiographic examinations and reports across centers.
A Vibrometer Based on Magnetorheological Optical Resonators

This paper addresses the feasibility of an optical vibrometer that is based on the shift of the optical modes, also known as whispering gallery modes (WGMs), of a magnetorheological optical resonator. The optical resonator that is used in this study is fabricated by mixing polyvinyl chloride plastisol with magnetically polarizable particles. When a permanent magnet that is located nearby the optical resonator is moved, it induces a perturbation of the morphology of the resonator, due to the magnetostrictive effect. This change in the morphology induces a shift in the optical modes of the resonator. The shift of the optical modes can be related to the displacement of the permanent magnet. The proposed sensor concept is based on monitoring the displacement of a tiny magnet that is attached to a moving surface. The optical quality factor of the resonator used in these studies was of the order of 106. The experimental results show a sensitivity of 0.32 pm/μm and a resolution that is less than 300 nm.
Regression models on Riemannian symmetric spaces

The paper develops a general regression framework for the analysis of manifold‐valued response in a Riemannian symmetric space (RSS) and its association with multiple covariates of interest, such as age or gender, in Euclidean space. Such RSS‐valued data arise frequently in medical imaging, surface modelling and computer vision, among many other fields. We develop an intrinsic regression model solely based on an intrinsic conditional moment assumption, avoiding specifying any parametric distribution in RSS. We propose various link functions to map from the Euclidean space of multiple covariates to the RSS of responses. We develop a two‐stage procedure to calculate the parameter estimates and determine their asymptotic distributions. We construct the Wald and geodesic test statistics to test hypotheses of unknown parameters. We systematically investigate the geometric invariant property of these estimates and test statistics. Simulation studies and a real data analysis are used to evaluate the finite sample properties of our methods.
Stress and Exploitative Decision-Making

Every day, we encounter situations in which we must decide whether to continue what we are doing or move on to a potentially better option (e.g., going to the same place as last year for vacation or traveling somewhere new; staying in a secure but unsatisfying job or embarking on a new career path). These types of decisions are examples of the explore/exploit problem. Exploration is defined as choosing an option about which we have less information, whereas exploitation is sticking with an option about which we know more. The decisions people ultimately make in these situations depend upon their past experiences, which create expectations about the type and likelihood of rewards and punishments that a given environment will yield. For example, if an individual perceives that the world has been harsh and unfair, she might expect that any choice she makes will lead to an undesirable outcome. This individual may therefore be more likely to exploit a familiar, but nonoptimal, option than to explore an alternative path. Lenow et al. (2017) argue that stress is one factor that leads to perceptions of an environment being harsh, and therefore hypothesized that stress would facilitate tendencies to exploit rather than explore.
Diet quality on meatless days: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2007–2012

Abstract Objective To compare diet quality scores between adult non-meat eaters and meat eaters, and to compare the consumption of diet components across quintiles of diet quality. Design Cross-sectional analysis. The Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI-2010) and Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI-2010) were used to assess mean diet quality. Differences in consumption of diet components between quintiles of diet quality were tested using post hoc Wald tests and z tests. Setting The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2007–2012. Subjects The sample consisted of 16810 respondents aged≥18 years, including 280 individuals who reported not consuming meat, poultry, game birds or seafood on two non-consecutive days of dietary recall. Dietary data were obtained from one dietary recall per individual. Results Non-meat eaters had substantially greater HEI-2010 and AHEI-2010 scores than meat eaters (P<0·05). Among non-meat eaters, mean consumption across HEI-2010 quintiles demonstrated different (P<0·05) amounts of empty calories and unsaturated:saturated fatty acids. Mean consumption across AHEI-2010 quintiles demonstrated different (P<0·05) amounts of nuts and legumes, vegetables and PUFA. Conclusions Public health messages targeted at vegetarians and others who may choose to eat meat-free on certain days should emphasize decreased consumption of empty calories, and increased consumption of nuts and legumes, PUFA and vegetables, as a way to improve overall dietary quality.
Nasal high‐frequency oscillatory ventilation impairs heated humidification: A neonatal bench study

Nasal high‐frequency oscillatory ventilation (nHFOV) is a novel mode of non‐invasive ventilation used in neonates. However, upper airway obstructions due to viscous secretions have been described as specific adverse effects. We hypothesized that high‐frequency oscillations reduce air humidity in the oropharynx, resulting in upper airway desiccation. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the effects of nHFOV ventilatory settings on oropharyngeal gas conditions.
Early changes in tissue amino acid metabolism and nutrient routing in rats fed a high-fat diet: evidence from natural isotope abundances of nitrogen and carbon in tissue proteins

Abstract Little is known about how diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance affect protein and amino acid (AA) metabolism in tissues. The natural relative abundances of the heavy stable isotopes of C (δ 13C) and N (δ 15N) in tissue proteins offer novel and promising biomarkers of AA metabolism. They, respectively, reflect the use of dietary macronutrients for tissue AA synthesis and the relative metabolic use of tissue AA for oxidation v. protein synthesis. In this study, δ 13C and δ 15N were measured in the proteins of various tissues in young adult rats exposed perinatally and/or fed after weaning with a normal- or a high-fat (HF) diet, the aim being to characterise HF-induced tissue-specific changes in AA metabolism. HF feeding was shown to increase the routing of dietary fat to all tissue proteins via non-indispensable AA synthesis, but did not affect AA allocation between catabolic and anabolic processes in most tissues. However, the proportion of AA directed towards oxidation rather than protein synthesis was increased in the small intestine and decreased in the tibialis anterior muscle and adipose tissue. In adipose tissue, the AA reallocation was observed in the case of perinatal or post-weaning exposure to HF, whereas in the small intestine and tibialis anterior muscle the AA reallocation was only observed after HF exposure that covered both the perinatal and post-weaning periods. In conclusion, HF exposure induced an early reorganisation of AA metabolism involving tissue-specific effects, and in particular a decrease in the relative allocation of AA to oxidation in several peripheral tissues.
Pingyangmycin Pretreatment Influences the Biological Behavior of Ocular Venous Malformation and Relates with Galectin-3 Expression

Background: Galectin-3 (Gal-3) plays a role in the mechanisms underlying ocular venous malformation. We conducted this study to investigate the effect of pingyangmycin pretreatment on the Gal-3 expressions and biological behavior of ocular venous malformation. Methods: Tissue samples were collected from 136 patients with ocular venous malformation. Patients were randomly divided into pingyangmycin (n = 69) and nonpingyangmycin group (n = 67). Patients in the pingyangmycin group received a local injection of 0.02% pingyangmycin once every 2 days for 2 weeks (7 doses) before removal surgery, whereas patients in the nonpingyangmycin group underwent removal surgery without local injection. The protein and messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of Gal-3 were detected by using immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. Results: Gal-3 protein was expressed in 35 (52%) of 67 samples in the nonpingyangmycin group and in 19 (28%) of 69 samples in the pingyangmycin group (P < 0.05). Gal-3 mRNA expression was detected in 39 (58%) of 67 samples in the nonpingyangmycin group and 22 (32%) of 69 samples in the pingyangmycin group (P < 0.05). The higher Gal-3 expressions were detected in samples with deeper invasiveness than those with superficial invasiveness before (&khgr;2 = 12.720 and 13.369, respectively, both P < 0.05) and after pingyangmycin treatment (&khgr;2 = 8.429 and 4.590, respectively, both P < 0.05). It was more frequently detected in mesh-like lesions with unclear boundary than round lesions with clear boundary before (&khgr;2 = 30.291 and 41.466, respectively, both P < 0.05) and after pingyangmycin treatment (&khgr;2 = 14.619 and 15.130, respectively, both P < 0.05). Pingyangmycin treatment led to a significant difference in Gal-3 expressions at both protein and mRNA levels (&khgr;2 = 8.664 and 9.524, respectively, both P < 0.05). Conclusions: Gal-3 expression may be involved in the development and invasiveness of ocular venous malformation, and pingyangmycin can inhibit Gal-3 expression, indicating a role of pingyangmycin treatment before the removal of ocular venous malformation.
Deletion of Aquaporin-4 Curtails Extracellular Glutamate Elevation in Cortical Spreading Depression in Awake Mice

Abstract Cortical spreading depression (CSD) is a phenomenon that challenges the homeostatic mechanisms on which normal brain function so critically depends. Analyzing the sequence of events in CSD holds the potential of providing new insight in the physiological processes underlying normal brain function as well as the pathophysiology of neurological conditions characterized by ionic dyshomeostasis. Here, we have studied the sequential progression of CSD in awake wild‐type mice and in mice lacking aquaporin‐4 (AQP4) or inositol 1,4,5‐triphosphate type 2 receptor (IP3R2). By the use of a novel combination of genetically encoded sensors that a novel combination ‐ an unprecedented temporal and spatial resolution, we show that CSD leads to brisk Ca2+ signals in astrocytes and that the duration of these Ca2+ signals is shortened in the absence of AQP4 but not in the absence of IP3R2. The decrease of the astrocytic, AQP4‐dependent Ca2+ signals, coincides in time and space with a decrease in the duration of extracellular glutamate overflow but not with the initial peak of the glutamate release suggesting that in CSD, extracellular glutamate accumulation is extended through AQP4‐dependent glutamate release from astrocytes. The present data point to a salient glial contribution to CSD and identify AQP4 as a new target for therapy.
Frightfully funny: combining threat and humour in health messages for men and women

Objective: It is imperative for public health to investigate what factors may reduce defensive responses and increase the effectiveness of health information. The present research investigated gender differences in responses to threatening health-promoting information communicated with humour. Design: Male and female participants were exposed to a health message stressing the negative consequences of binge drinking (Experiment 1; N = 209) or caffeine consumption (Experiment 2; N = 242), that did or did not contain a funny visual metaphor (Experiment 1) or a slapstick cartoon (Experiment 2). Main Outcome Measures: Message evaluation, message attention, and attitudes and intentions towards the behaviour were measured. Results: Results showed that health messages were more persuasive when communicated with humour, although humour played a different role for men and women. Whereas men responded more in line with message goals when the message combined high threat with humour, women preferred the low threat humour messages. Conclusion: By uncovering the moderating role of gender as a key audience characteristic, this research contributes to designing effective future health campaigns and provides important insights for future studies investigating the underlying mechanisms responsible for the different effects of threat and humour appeals for men and women.
Ensuring Cloud Data Reliability with Minimum Replication by Proactive Replica Checking

Data reliability and storage costs are two primary concerns for current Cloud storage systems. To ensure data reliability, the widely used multi-replica (typically three) replication strategy in current Clouds incurs a huge extra storage consumption, resulting in a huge storage cost for data-intensive applications in the Cloud in particular. In order to reduce the Cloud storage consumption while meeting the data reliability requirement, in this paper we present a cost-effective data reliability management mechanism named PRCR based on a generalized data reliability model. By using a proactive replica checking approach, while the running overhead for PRCR is negligible, PRCR ensures reliability of the massive Cloud data with the minimum replication, which can also serve as a cost effectiveness benchmark for replication based approaches. Our simulation indicates that, compared with the conventional three-replica strategy, PRCR can reduce from one-third to two-thirds of the Cloud storage space consumption, hence significantly lowering the storage cost in a Cloud.
DRS: Auto-Scaling for Real-Time Stream Analytics

In a stream data analytics system, input data arrive continuously and trigger the processing and updating of analytics results. We focus on applications with real-time constraints, in which, any data unit must be completely processed within a given time duration. To handle fast data, it is common to place the stream data analytics system on top of a cloud infrastructure. Because stream properties, such as arrival rates can fluctuate unpredictably, cloud resources must be dynamically provisioned and scheduled accordingly to ensure real-time responses. It is essential, for existing systems or future developments, to possess the ability of scaling resources dynamically according to the instantaneous workload, in order to avoid wasting resources or failing in delivering the correct analytics results on time. Motivated by this, we propose DRS, a dynamic resource scaling framework for cloud-based stream data analytics systems. DRS overcomes three fundamental challenges: 1) how to model the relationship between the provisioned resources and the application performance, 2) where to best place resources, and 3) how to measure the system load with minimal overhead. In particular, DRS includes an accurate performance model based on the theory of Jackson open queueing networks and is capable of handling arbitrary operator topologies, possibly with loops, splits, and joins. Extensive experiments with real data show that DRS is capable of detecting sub-optimal resource allocation and making quick and effective resource adjustment.
Authentic Patient-Derived Hepatitis C Virus Infects and Productively Replicates in Primary CD4+ and CD8+ T Lymphocytes In Vitro

ABSTRACT Accumulated evidence indicates that immune cells can support the replication of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in infected patients and in culture. However, there is a scarcity of data on the degree to which individual immune cell types support HCV propagation and on characteristics of virus assembly. We investigated the ability of authentic, patient-derived HCV to infect in vitro two closely related but functionally distinct immune cell types, CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes, and assessed the properties of the virus produced by these cells. The HCV replication system in intermittently mitogen-stimulated T cells was adapted to infect primary human CD4+ or CD8+ T lymphocytes. HCV replicated in both cell types although at significantly higher levels in CD4+ than in CD8+ T cells. Thus, the HCV RNA replicative (negative) strand was detected in CD4+ and CD8+ cells at estimated mean levels ± standard errors of the means of 6.7 × 102 ± 3.8 × 102 and 1.2 × 102 ± 0.8 × 102 copies/μg RNA, respectively (P < 0.0001). Intracellular HCV NS5a and/or core proteins were identified in 0.9% of CD4+ and in 1.2% of CD8+ T cells. Double staining for NS5a and T cell type-specific markers confirmed that transcriptionally competent virus replicated in both cell types. Furthermore, an HCV-specific protease inhibitor, telaprevir, inhibited infection in both CD4+ and CD8+ cells. The emergence of unique HCV variants and the release of HCV RNA-reactive particles with biophysical properties different from those of virions in plasma inocula suggested that distinct viral particles were assembled, and therefore, they may contribute to the pool of circulating virus in infected patients. IMPORTANCE Although the liver is the main site of HCV replication, infection of the immune system is an intrinsic characteristic of this virus independent of whether infection is symptomatic or clinically silent. Many fundamental aspects of HCV lymphotropism remain uncertain, including the degree to which different immune cells support infection and contribute to virus diversity. We show that authentic, patient-derived HCV productively replicates in vitro in two closely related but functionally distinct types of T lymphocytes, CD4+ and CD8+ cells. The display of viral proteins and unique variants, the production of virions with biophysical properties distinct from those in plasma serving as inocula, and inhibition of replication by an antiviral agent led us to ascertain that both T cell subtypes supported virus propagation. Infection of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, which are central to adaptive antiviral immune responses, can directly affect HCV clearance, favor virus persistence, and decisively influence the development and progression of hepatitis C.
Extrinsic Local Regression on Manifold-Valued Data

ABSTRACT We propose an extrinsic regression framework for modeling data with manifold valued responses and Euclidean predictors. Regression with manifold responses has wide applications in shape analysis, neuroscience, medical imaging, and many other areas. Our approach embeds the manifold where the responses lie onto a higher dimensional Euclidean space, obtains a local regression estimate in that space, and then projects this estimate back onto the image of the manifold. Outside the regression setting both intrinsic and extrinsic approaches have been proposed for modeling iid manifold-valued data. However, to our knowledge our work is the first to take an extrinsic approach to the regression problem. The proposed extrinsic regression framework is general, computationally efficient, and theoretically appealing. Asymptotic distributions and convergence rates of the extrinsic regression estimates are derived and a large class of examples is considered indicating the wide applicability of our approach. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.
Toward nanostructuring with femtosecond laser pulses

The development of a simple laser-based technology for the fabrication of two-dimensional nanostructures with a structure size down to one hundred nanometers is reported. The ability to micro- and nano-structure is very important for the fabrication of new materials and multifunctional microdevices. Photolithographic technologies can be applied only for plane surfaces. Using femtosecond laser pulses one can fabricate 100 nm structures on arbitrary 3D-surfaces of metals and dielectrics. In principle, the minimum achievable structure size is determined by the diffraction limit of the optical system and is of the order of the radiation wavelength. However, this is different for material processing with ultrashort laser pulses. Due to a well-defined threshold character of material processing with femtosecond lasers one can beat the diffraction limit by using tightly focused femtosecond laser pulses and by adjusting laser parameters slightly above the processing threshold. In this case only the central part of the beam can modify the material and it becomes possible to produce sub-wavelength structures. In this presentation, sub-wavelength microstructuring of metals and fabrication of periodic nanostructures in transparent materials are demonstrated as promising femtosecond laser-based nanofabrication technologies.
Stability of Ar(H2)2 to 358 GPa

Significance Pressure-induced metallization of solid hydrogen is a problem of certain prominence in high-pressure physics. However, it is extremely challenging to be achieved experimentally. It was proposed that “chemical precompression” (introducing impurity atoms or molecules into hydrogen) may facilitate metallization under pressure. In this paper, we selected Ar(H2)2 as a model system and explored the intermolecular interactions of H2 molecules and the metallization of hydrogen in the presence of a weakly bound impurity (Ar). Combining our experimental data and theoretical calculations, we found that Ar does not facilitate the molecular dissociation and bandgap closure of H2, moreover it works in the opposite direction. Our work provides a solid basis for future searches of hydrogen-rich materials which facilitate metallization of hydrogen. “Chemical precompression” through introducing impurity atoms into hydrogen has been proposed as a method to facilitate metallization of hydrogen under external pressure. Here we selected Ar(H2)2, a hydrogen-rich compound with molecular hydrogen, to explore the effect of “doping” on the intermolecular interaction of H2 molecules and metallization at ultrahigh pressure. Ar(H2)2 was studied experimentally by synchrotron X-ray diffraction to 265 GPa, by Raman and optical absorption spectroscopy to 358 GPa, and theoretically using the density-functional theory. Our measurements of the optical bandgap and the vibron frequency show that Ar(H2)2 retains 2-eV bandgap and H2 molecular units up to 358 GPa. This is attributed to reduced intermolecular interactions between H2 molecules in Ar(H2)2 compared with that in solid H2. A splitting of the molecular vibron mode above 216 GPa suggests an orientational ordering transition, which is not accompanied by a change in lattice symmetry. The experimental and theoretical equations of state of Ar(H2)2 provide direct insight into the structure and bonding of this hydrogen-rich system, suggesting a negative chemical pressure on H2 molecules brought about by doping of Ar.