Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Follow up of people aged 65 and over with a history of emergency admissions: analysis of routine admission data

Abstract Objective To determine the subsequent pattern of emergency admissions in older people with a history of frequent emergency admissions. Design Analysis of routine admissions data from NHS hospitals using hospital episode statistics (HES) in England. Subjects Individual patients aged  65,  75, and  85 who had at least two emergency admissions in 1997-8. Main outcome measures Emergency admissions and bed use in this “high risk” cohort of patients were counted for the next five years and compared with the general population of the same age. No account was taken of mortality as the analysis was designed to estimate the future use of beds in this high risk cohort. Results Over four to five years, admission rates and bed use in the high risk cohorts fell to the mean rate for older people. Although patients  65 with two or more such admissions were responsible for 38% of admissions in the index year, they were responsible for fewer than 10% of admissions in the following year and just over 3% five years later. Conclusion Patients with multiple emergency admissions are often identified as a high risk group for subsequent admission and substantial claims are made for interventions designed to avoid emergency admission in such patients. Simply monitoring admission rates cannot assess interventions designed to reduce admission among frail older people as rates fall without any intervention. Comparison with a matched control group is necessary. Wider benefits than reduced admissions should be considered when introducing intensive case management of older people.
P-ary Subdivision Generalizing B-splines

Based on the p-ary subdivision rules for B-splines, we show how to design more general subdivision schemes that preserve the B-spline smoothness exactly or almost. We illustrate the technique with new 4-point C5 binary, 4-point C3 ternary and C4 ternary subdivision schemes.
Chernobyl, 10 years after: health consequences.

On April 26, 1986, reactor no. 4 at the Chernobyl (Ukraine) nuclear power plant exploded. Over the next 10 days, considerable quantities of radionuclides were discharged into the atmosphere (table 1). The passage of the radioactive cloud over Europe led to varying degrees of contamination according to region (figures 1 and 2); the most contaminated regions were in southern Belarus, northern Ukraine, and the Bryansk and Kaluga regions of Russia. The heavier particles (e.g., fuel elements) were deposited less than 100 km from the plant, but the more volatile fission products (such as cesium and iodine) were able to travel great distances (1). The biologic effects of ionizing radiation are fairly well known, especially the carcinogenic potential. These effects are a function of the amount of energy absorbed by tissues per unit time (dose and dose rate). At high doses and high dose rates, above dose thresholds that vary for different organs and tissues, ionizing radiation can cause tissue destruction (table 2). Below these thresholds, or at low dose rates, the biologic damage is compatible with cell or tissue survival (causing, for example, DNA mutations or chromosomal alterations) and can be repaired. The effects of doses below 200 mSv at low dose rates are still little understood (8). The existence of a threshold dose below which there is no effect remains controversial. Humanity, it must be remembered, is continuously exposed to natural radiation at a mean rate, worldwide, of 2.4 mSv/year, or approximately 170 mSv for a mean lifetime of 70 years (7).
Routing overhead analysis for reactive routing protocols in wireless ad hoc networks

Although several routing protocols have been proposed that can be used in mobile ad hoc networks, there is very little formal analysis that considers the communication overhead or in other word routing overhead for these procedures. This paper provides a new mathematical framework for quantifying the overhead of reactive routing protocols such as dynamic source routing (DSR) and ad hoc on-demand distance vector routing (AODV) in wireless ad hoc networks with random location of the nodes. The analysis is compared with the simulations and found to match with the simulation results . The result of this study can be used to predict scalability properties of routing protocols.
Fault Detection and Isolation of LTV systems using Set-Valued Observers

This paper introduces the novel concept of using Set-Valued Observers (SVOs) in Fault Detection and Isolation (FDI), for discrete-time linear time-varying systems. The proposed method relies on SVO-based model invalidation to discard models that are not compatible with the input/output data. We argue that there are mainly three significant advantages of using SVOs for FDI, when compared to the most common strategies available in the literature: i) under suitable conditions, we can guarantee that there will be no false alarms; ii) unlike residual-based architectures, the proposed technique does not require the computation of a threshold to declare faults; iii) the SVOs can be used with a wide class of time-varying linear uncertain discrete-time systems. We further show, in simulation, that the proposed FDI algorithm in general requires a very small number of iterations to detect and identify a faulty behavior.
Defining Global Neuroendocrine Gene Expression Patterns Associated with Reproductive Seasonality in Fish

Background Many vertebrates, including the goldfish, exhibit seasonal reproductive rhythms, which are a result of interactions between external environmental stimuli and internal endocrine systems in the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis. While it is long believed that differential expression of neuroendocrine genes contributes to establishing seasonal reproductive rhythms, no systems-level investigation has yet been conducted. Methodology/Principal Findings In the present study, by analyzing multiple female goldfish brain microarray datasets, we have characterized global gene expression patterns for a seasonal cycle. A core set of genes (873 genes) in the hypothalamus were identified to be differentially expressed between May, August and December, which correspond to physiologically distinct stages that are sexually mature (prespawning), sexual regression, and early gonadal redevelopment, respectively. Expression changes of these genes are also shared by another brain region, the telencephalon, as revealed by multivariate analysis. More importantly, by examining one dataset obtained from fish in October who were kept under long-daylength photoperiod (16 h) typical of the springtime breeding season (May), we observed that the expression of identified genes appears regulated by photoperiod, a major factor controlling vertebrate reproductive cyclicity. Gene ontology analysis revealed that hormone genes and genes functionally involved in G-protein coupled receptor signaling pathway and transmission of nerve impulses are significantly enriched in an expression pattern, whose transition is located between prespawning and sexually regressed stages. The existence of seasonal expression patterns was verified for several genes including isotocin, ependymin II, GABAA gamma2 receptor, calmodulin, and aromatase b by independent samplings of goldfish brains from six seasonal time points and real-time PCR assays. Conclusions/Significance Using both theoretical and experimental strategies, we report for the first time global gene expression patterns throughout a breeding season which may account for dynamic neuroendocrine regulation of seasonal reproductive development.
Falsification Attacks against WPA-TKIP in a Realistic Environment

SUMMARY In this paper, we propose two new falsification attacks against Wi-Fi Protected Access Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (WPATKIP). A previous realistic attack succeeds only for a network that supports IEEE 802.11e QoS features by both an access point (AP) and a client, and it has an execution time of 12–15min, in which it recovers a message integrity code (MIC) key from an ARP packet. Our first attack reduces the execution time for recovering a MIC key. It can recover the MIC key within 7–8min. Our second attack expands its targets that can be attacked. This attack focuses on a new vulnerability of QoS packet processing, and this vulnerability can remove the condition that the AP supports IEEE 802.11e. In addition, we discovered another vulnerability by which our attack succeeds under the condition that the chipset of the client supports IEEE 802.11e even if the client disables this standard through the OS. We demonstrate that chipsets developed by several kinds of vendors have the same vulnerability.
The Human T Cell Response to Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein: A Multiple Sclerosis Family-Based Study1

Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) is an encephalitogenic myelin protein and a likely autoantigen in human multiple sclerosis (MS). In this work, we describe the fine specificity and cytokine profile of T cell clones (TCC) directed against MOG in three nuclear families, comprised of four individuals affected with MS and their HLA-identical siblings. TCC were generated from PBMC by limiting dilution against a mixture of eleven 20-mer overlapping peptides corresponding to the encephalitogenic extracellular domain of human MOG (aa 1–120). The frequency of MOG peptide-reactive T cells was surprisingly high (range, 1:400 to 1:3,000) and, unexpectedly, cloning efficiencies were highest at low seeding densities of 102 or 103 PBMC per well. A total of 235 MOG peptide-reactive TCC were produced, all of which were CD4+CD8−TCRαβ+TCRγδ−. All 11 MOG peptides were recognized by the TCC, and different epitopes of MOG appeared to be immunodominant in the HLA-identical siblings. The patterns of cytokine secretion by TCC from single individuals were generally similar. The healthy individuals exhibited Th2-, Th0-, and T regulatory cell 1-like cytokine profiles, whereas TCC from one sibling with MS had a striking Th1-like phenotype, producing high levels of IFN-γ and TNF-α, and low IL-4 levels. Thus, MOG-reactive T cells appear to constitute an important part of the natural T cell repertoire, a finding that could contribute to the development of autoimmunity to this protein.
The origin of the mammalian middle ear.

A functional explanation is presented for the shift of the reptilian articular and quadrate into the mammalian middle ear to become the malleus and incus. Modification of the masticatory apparatus of therapsids results in reduction of stresses on the jaw joint and consequently in reduction of posterior elements of the jaw. In the late therapsid, Bienotherium , the quadrate and post-dentary jaw bones resemble the mammalian malleus and incus which together form a lever. The therapsid articular possesses a downturned retroarticular process (for insertion of M. depressor mandibulae) homologous with the manubrium (force lever arm) of the malleus. About the time of origin of the mammalian (dentarysquamosal) jaw joint and following the origin of the mammalian depressor, the reptilian depressor is lost. This allows the enlarging reptilian tympanum to become attached to the retroarticular process. The new lever system thus formed by articular and quadrate increases the sensitivity of the ear and the reptilian one-bone system is replaced. In early mammals the reflected lamina of the angular migrates posteriorly with the angle of the dentary so that it contacts and assumes support of the tympanum. Non-homology of the monotreme and therian depressors indicates a multiple origin of the mammalian middle ear.
Transient down-regulation of beta1 integrin subtypes on kidney carcinoma cells is induced by mechanical contact with endothelial cell membranes

Adhesion molecules of the integrin beta1 family are thought to be involved in the malignant progression renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Still, it is not clear how they contribute to this process. Since the hematogenous phase of tumour dissemination is the rate‐limiting step in the metastatic process, we explored beta1 integrin alterations on several RCC cell lines (A498, Caki1, KTC26) before and after contacting vascular endothelium in a tumour‐endothelium (HUVEC) co‐culture assay. Notably, alpha2, alpha3 and alpha5 integrins became down‐regulated immediately after the tumour cells attached to HUVEC, followed by re‐expression shortly thereafter. Integrin down‐regulation on RCC cells was caused by direct contact with endothelial cells, since the isolated endothelial membrane fragments but not the cell culture supernatant contributed to the observed effects. Integrin loss was accompanied by a reduced focal adhesion kinase (FAK) expression, FAK activity and diminished binding of tumour cells to matrix proteins. Furthermore, intracellular signalling proteins RCC cells were altered in the presence of HUVEC membrane fragments, in particular 14‐3‐3 epsilon, ERK2, PKCdelta, PKCepsilon and RACK1, which are involved in regulating tumour cell motility. We, therefore, speculate that contact of RCC cells with the vascular endothelium converts integrin‐dependent adhesion to integrin‐independent cell movement. The process of dynamic integrin regulation may be an important part in tumour cell migration strategy, switching the cells from being adhesive to becoming motile and invasive.
E1A directly binds and regulates the P/CAF acetyltransferase

The P/CAF protein has intrinsic histone acetyltransferase (HAT) activity and is capable of binding the transcriptional co‐activator CBP. Here we show that P/CAF can regulate transcription and that this function is independent of its binding to CBP. The HAT domain of P/CAF has transcriptional activation potential in yeast. In mammalian cells P/CAF can stimulate transcription of the RSV promoter, using the activity of its HAT domain. We show that the adenovirus protein E1A targets P/CAF and sequesters its transcriptional activity. Binding of E1A to P/CAF is direct, independent of CBP and requires residues within E1A conserved region 1. We find that the P/CAF binding residues in E1A are within a motif shown to be essential for efficient disruption of myogenesis by E1A. The fact that E1A can directly bind and regulate the activity of P/CAF, independently of its regulation of CBP, highlights an important role for P/CAF in the process of cell differentiation.
Plasma Chemokines in Patients with Alcohol Use Disorders: Association of CCL11 (Eotaxin-1) with Psychiatric Comorbidity

Recent studies have linked changes in peripheral chemokine concentrations to the presence of both addictive behaviors and psychiatric disorders. The present study further explore this link by analyzing the potential association of psychiatry comorbidity with alterations in the concentrations of circulating plasma chemokine in patients of both sexes diagnosed with alcohol use disorders (AUD). To this end, 85 abstinent subjects with AUD from an outpatient setting and 55 healthy subjects were evaluated for substance and mental disorders. Plasma samples were obtained to quantify chemokine concentrations [C–C motif (CC), C–X–C motif (CXC), and C–X3–C motif (CX3C) chemokines]. Abstinent AUD patients displayed a high prevalence of comorbid mental disorders (72%) and other substance use disorders (45%). Plasma concentrations of chemokines CXCL12/stromal cell-derived factor-1 (p < 0.001) and CX3CL1/fractalkine (p < 0.05) were lower in AUD patients compared to controls, whereas CCL11/eotaxin-1 concentrations were strongly decreased in female AUD patients (p < 0.001). In the alcohol group, CXCL8 concentrations were increased in patients with liver and pancreas diseases and there was a significant correlation to aspartate transaminase (r = +0.456, p < 0.001) and gamma-glutamyltransferase (r = +0.647, p < 0.001). Focusing on comorbid psychiatric disorders, we distinguish between patients with additional mental disorders (N = 61) and other substance use disorders (N = 38). Only CCL11 concentrations were found to be altered in AUD patients diagnosed with mental disorders (p < 0.01) with a strong main effect of sex. Thus, patients with mood disorders (N = 42) and/or anxiety (N = 16) had lower CCL11 concentrations than non-comorbid patients being more evident in women. The alcohol-induced alterations in circulating chemokines were also explored in preclinical models of alcohol use with male Wistar rats. Rats exposed to repeated ethanol (3 g/kg, gavage) had lower CXCL12 (p < 0.01) concentrations and higher CCL11 concentrations (p < 0.001) relative to vehicle-treated rats. Additionally, the increased CCL11 concentrations in rats exposed to ethanol were enhanced by the prior exposure to restraint stress (p < 0.01). Concordantly, acute ethanol exposure induced changes in CXCL12, CX3CL1, and CCL11 in the same direction to repeated exposure. These results clearly indicate a contribution of specific chemokines to the phenotype of AUD and a strong effect of sex, revealing a link of CCL11 to alcohol and anxiety/stress.
Estimation of the Fractal Dimension using Tiled Triangular Prism Method for Biological Non-Rectangular Objects

The aim of the study is application of Triangular Prism Method (TPM) algorithm in computer assisted Papanicolaou smears analysis that is useful in cervical cancer screening. The TPM algorithm allows estimation of the FD (fractal dimension) for optical density of cell nuclei. Selection of the local FD for green color channel gives efficient separation between both cell nuclei classes. Proposed algorithm (Tiled TPM) improves separation by the fractal based estimation using larger area of the cell nuclei. Streszczenie. W artykule zaproponowano nowy algorytm estymacji wymiaru fraktalnego dla obiektow nieregularnych, takich jak jądra komorek bazujący na metodzie pryzm trojkątnych (TPM). Kafelkowy algorytm pryzm trojkątnych pozwala na estymacje wymiaru fraktalnego dla wiekszego pola powierzchni obiektu oraz pozwala na estymacje lokalnych wymiarow fraktalnych dla malych skal. (Estymacja wymiaru fraktalnego z wykorzystaniem kafelkowej metody pryzm trojkątnych dla nieprostokątnych obiektow biologicznych)
Standard Errors and Sample Sizes for Two-Level Research

The hierarchical linear model approach to a two-level design is considered, some variables at the lower level having fixed and others having random regression coefficients. An approximation is derived to the covariance matrix of the estimators of the fixed regression coefficients (for variables at the lower and the higher level) under the assumption that the sample sizes at either level are large enough. This covariance matrix is expressed as a function of parameters occurring in the model. If a research planner can make a reasonable guess as to these parameters, this approximation can be used as a guide to the choice of sample sizes at either level.
Leaf metabolite profile of the Brazilian resurrection plant Barbacenia purpurea Hook. (Velloziaceae) shows two time-dependent responses during desiccation and recovering

Barbacenia purpurea is a resurrection species endemic to rock outcrops, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It tolerates great temperature variations, which are associated to periods of up to 30 days without precipitation. Using a metabolomic approach, we analyzed, under winter and summer conditions, changes in the leaf metabolite profile (MP) of potted plants of B. purpurea submitted to daily watered and water deficit for at least 20 days and subsequent slow rehydration for 5 days. Leaves were collected at different time points and had their MP analyzed by GC/MS, HPAEC, and UHPLC techniques, allowing the identification of more than 60 different compounds, including organic and amino acids, sugars, and polyols, among others. In the winter experiment, results suggest the presence of two time-dependent responses in B. purpurea under water stress. The first one starts with the increase in the content of caffeoyl-quinic acids, substances with strong antioxidant activity, until the 16th day of water suppression. When RWC reached less than 80 and 70%, in winter and summer respectively, it was observed an increase in polyols and monosaccharides, followed by an increment in the content of RFO, suggesting osmotic adjustment. Amino acids, such as GABA and asparagine, also increased due to 16 days of water suppression. During rehydration, the levels of the mentioned compounds became similar to those found at the beginning of the experiment and when compared to daily watered plants. We conclude that the tolerance of B. purpurea to dehydration involves the perception of water deficit intensity, which seems to result in different strategies to overcome the gradient of water availability imposed along a certain period of stress mainly during winter. Data from summer experiment indicate that the metabolism of B. pupurea was already primed for drought stress. The accumulation of phenolics in summer seemed to be more temperature and irradiance-dependent than on the RWC.
Food and Agricultural Data Base : Local Modifications

Some local modifications were made to the agricultural and food products (AFP) dataset described in chapter 8.A. For reasons relating to the overall data base construction system, we generate inputoutput (I-O) tables not just for the countries that need them immediately but for all countries. For convenience in the subsequent I-O table disaggregation (chapter 8.D), we fill in the I-O structure to match more closely the structure of the contributed tables. And to avoid strange I-O structures for some industries in some countries, we adopt a new procedure for balancing the I-O tables (cf. section 8.A.2.4). Of these modifications, the last is the most substantial.
Cooperative transport by multiple mobile robots in unknown static environments associated with real-time task assignment

This paper deals with a task-assignment architecture for cooperative transport by multiple mobile robots in an unknown static environment. The architecture should satisfy three features: deal with a variety of tasks in time and space, deal with a large number of tasks compared with the number of robots, and decide the behavior in real time. The authors propose the following approach: we consider the unit of task (task instance) as the job that should be done in a short time by one robot. Based on the environmental information, task instances are dynamically generated using task templates. The priority of task instances is evaluated dynamically based on the number of robots and the configuration in the workspace. In addition, we avoid generating too many task instances by suppressing object motion. The main part of the architecture consists of two real-time planners: a priority-based task-assignment planner solved by using the linear programming method, and motion planners based on short-time estimation. The effectiveness of the proposed architecture is verified by a cooperative transport simulation in an unknown environment.