Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quality Assurance and Quality Control of Thrombelastography and Rotational Thromboelastometry: The UK NEQAS for Blood Coagulation Experience

Global hemostasis devices are currently being employed in operating rooms to assess the bleeding risk and outcomes for patients undergoing surgery. Two devices currently available are the TEG (Thromboelastograph; Haemoscope Corp., Niles, IL) and the ROTEM (Rotation Thromboelastometer; Pentapharm GmbH, Munich, Germany). Both measure the speed of clot formation, the strength of the clot when formed, and clot fibrinolysis kinetics. The two devices use different parameters so no cross comparisons of results can be made. The devices are usually operated by a member of the operating team and not a laboratory scientist; thus their testing and performance is generally not laboratory controlled, despite quality control being required to ensure reliable results. The UK National External Quality Assessment Scheme (NEQAS) for Blood Coagulation has undertaken a series of exercises evaluating the provision of External Quality Assessment (EQA) material for these devices. A series of four studies have taken place using lyophilized plasmas as the test material. Up to 18 TEG users and 10 ROTEM users have been involved in testing two samples per study, for a total of eight samples tested. The samples were normal plasmas, factor VIII or XI deficient samples, or normal plasmas spiked with heparin. The precision of the tests varied greatly for both devices, with coefficients of variances ranging from 7.1 to 39.9% for TEG and 7.0 to 83.6% for ROTEM. Some centers returned results that were sufficiently different from those obtained by other participants to predict alterations in patient management decisions. Our data indicate that regular EQA/proficiency testing is needed for these devices.
Unsupervised hydrologic classification of rivers: Watershed controls on natural and anthropogenic flow regimes, Alabama, USA

Watershed hydrology has often focused on modelling studies of individual watersheds, which consider each river system as unique. Classification is an alternative approach that instead focuses on the similarities among different watersheds. Although both supervised and unsupervised hydrologic classifications have been developed, few previous studies have used classification to assess the degree of anthropogenic modification of hydrologic regime. Here, we conducted an unsupervised hydrologic classification of 189 U.S. Geological Survey gages, including 41 minimally impacted gages from the Hydro‐Climatic Data Network (HCDN), in the five major interstate river basins in the U.S. state of Alabama. For the natural classification, the most significant predictor variables for cluster membership were related to compressive strength of bedrock, bedrock depth, hydraulic conductivity, elevation, temperature, and soil texture, and several land‐cover variables were also significant in the anthropogenic classification. We then developed two random‐forest models: one based on all 189 gages using both natural and anthropogenic variables from the Stream‐Catchment (StreamCat) dataset and one based on the 41 HCDN gages using natural StreamCat variables only. We used the random‐forest models to predict natural and anthropogenic normative hydrologic class for over 158,000 National Hydrography Dataset Plus catchments in the study area. Catchments that changed their class between the natural and anthropogenic classifications can be identified as those that have a large amount of anthropogenic influences on their hydrologic regime, including many catchments on the coast, in the north‐western Coastal Plain, in the Interior Low Plateaus, and in the Piedmont. Using unsupervised hydrologic classifications is a promising approach for uncovering the physical processes that affect hydrologic regime. There are also potential applications in river management, including predicting the hydrologic behaviour of ungaged watersheds, identifying relatively unimpaired rivers to serve as conservation and restoration targets, and regionalization of environmental instream flow standards and climate‐change impacts.
Years in Surgical Management of Pulmonary Hydatidosis

Hydatid disease is seen quite frequently in the sheep-raising areas of the world, such as South America, Australia, Greece and Middle Eastern countries. Kuwait is one of the Middle Eastern countries in which hydatid disease is endemic. Hydatidosis is quite common in this country so this disease should always be considered in the differential diagnosis of mass lesions and other respiratory symptoms. Over the past 15 years, from 1983 till 1998, 60 cases were studied in retrospective analysis. The clinical presentation of these cases and their management were analysed.
DIABETES AND OTHER DISEASES-EMERGING ASSOCIATIONS ( JJ NOLAN

Diabetes and depression occur together approximately twice as frequently as would be predicted by chance alone. Comorbid diabetes and depression are a major clinical challenge as the outcomes of both conditions are worsened by the other. Although the psychological burden of diabetes may contribute to depression, this explanation does not fully explain the relationship between these 2 conditions. Both conditions may be driven by shared underlying biological and behavioral mechanisms, such as hypothalamic-pituitaryadrenal axis activation, inflammation, sleep disturbance, inactive lifestyle, poor dietary habits, and environmental and cultural risk factors. Depression is frequently missed in people with diabetes despite effective screening tools being available. Both psychological interventions and antidepressants are effective in treating depressive symptoms in people with diabetes but have mixed effects on glycemic control. Clear care pathways involving a multidisciplinary team are needed to obtain optimal medical and psychiatric outcomes for people with comorbid diabetes and depression.
First-Trimester Findings Associated with Twin Reversed Arterial Perfusion Sequence

Introduction: Regarding its pathogenesis, discordant development in early gestation, as well as vascular anastomoses between twins are postulated to be required for the establishment of the twin-reversed arterial perfusion (TRAP) sequence. However, first trimester findings associated with this complication have not yet been reported. Case: A discordant monochorionic twin was revealed upon examination of a 24-year-old primigravida at 11 weeks’ gestation. Cystic masses were identified on the back of the smaller twin, later followed by the appearance of skin edema and pericardial effusion, indicating cardiac failure. Subsequently, despite diagnosis of fetal demise at 15 weeks the lower body was shown to have further developed and the heartbeats appeared again, resulting in an acardia anceps or hemicardia. No remarkable change was observed in the larger normal twin. Conclusion: This occurrence was considered consistent with the current hypothesis regarding the pathogenesis of the acardiac anomaly. First trimester discordancy in a monochorionic twin gestation is considered to represent an early manifestation of TRAP sequence.
Reliable features matching for humanoid robots

This paper describes a visual feature detector and descriptor scheme designed to address the specific problems of humanoid robots in the tasks of visual odometry, localization, and SLAM (Simultaneous Localization And Mapping). During walking, turning, and squatting movements, the camera of a humanoid robot moves in jerky and sometimes unpredictable way. This causes an undesired motion blur in the images grabbed by the robot camera, that negatively affects the performance of the image processing algorithms. Indeed, the classical features detector and descriptor filtering techniques, that proved to work so well for wheeled robots, do not perform so reliably in humanoid robots. This paper presents a method to detect image interest points (invariant to scale transformation and rotations) robust to motion-blur introduced by the camera motion. Our approach is based on a preprocessing step to estimate the point spread function (PSF) of the motion blur. The PSF is used to deconvolve the image reducing the blur. Then, we apply a feature detector inspired by SURF approach and the feature descriptor from SIFT. Experiments performed on standard datasets corrupted with motion blur and on images taken by a camera mounted on a small humanoid robot show the effectiveness of the proposed technique. Our approach presents higher performances and higher reliability in matching features in the different images of a sequence affected by motion-blur.
Needle thoracentesis decompression: observations from postmortem computed tomography and autopsy.

BACKGROUND Needle thoracentesis decompression (NTD) is a recommended emergency treatment for tension pneumothorax. Current doctrine recognizes two suitable sites: the second intercostal space in the midclavicular line and the fourth or fifth intercostal space in the anterior axillary line. METHODS A review was conducted of postmortem computed tomography and autopsy results in 16 cases where NTD was performed as an emergency procedure. RESULTS In 16 cases with 23 attempted procedures, the outcome was confirmed in 17 attempts. In 7 placements, the catheter was in the pleural cavity; in 7 placements, the catheter never entered the pleural cavity; and in 3 placements, cavity penetration was verified at autopsy even though the catheter was no longer in the cavity. Success was noted in 6 of 13 anterior attempts and 4 of 4 lateral attempts, for an overall success rate of 59% (10 of 17). In the remaining 6 attempted procedures, a catheter was noted in the soft tissue on imaging; however, presence or absence of pleural cavity penetration was equivocal. All placements were attempted in the combat environment; no information is available about specifically where or by whom. CONCLUSION NTD via a lateral approach was more successful than that via an anterior approach, although it was used in fewer cases. This supports the revision of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care Guidelines specifying the lateral approach as an alternative to an anterior approach.
Adverse Experiences and Suicidal Ideation in Adolescence: Exploring the Link Using the LONGSCAN Samples.

OBJECTIVE Although widely studied in adults, the link between lifetime adversities and suicidal ideation in youth is poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to explore this link in adolescents. METHODS The analyses used a sample of 740 16-year-old youth in the LONGSCAN sample, and distinguished between childhood (before the age of 12) and adolescent (between age 12 and age 16) adversities. RESULTS There was a significant link between cumulative lifetime adversities and suicidal ideation. There was no evidence that this link was moderated by gender. Childhood adversities moderated the effects of adolescent adversities on suicidal ideation; effects of adolescent adversities were strongest at low levels of childhood adversities. There was also some evidence supporting a specific cumulative model of the effects of adversities on suicidal ideation; the most predictive model included the sum of the following adversities: childhood physical abuse, childhood neglect, childhood family violence, childhood residential instability, adolescent physical abuse, adolescent sexual abuse, adolescent psychological maltreatment, and adolescent community violence. CONCLUSION The timing and nature of adversities are important in understanding youth suicidal ideation risk; in particular, adolescent maltreatment and community violence appear to be strong predictors. Preventing and appropriately responding to the abuse of adolescents has the potential to reduce the risk of suicidal ideation.
Suprabasal expression of Ki-67 as a marker for the severity of oral epithelial dysplasia and oral squamous cell carcinoma

Background: Transition of the normal oral epithelium to dysplasia and to malignancy is featured by increased cell proliferation. To evaluate the hypothesis of distributional disturbances in proliferating and stem cells in oral epithelial dysplasia and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Aim: To evaluate layer wise expression of Ki-67 in oral epithelial dysplasia and in OSCC. Materials and Methods: Thirty histologically confirmed cases of oral epithelial dysplasia, fifteen cases of OSCC and five cases of normal buccal mucosa were immunohistochemically examined and nuclear expression of Ki-67 was counted according to basal, parabasal, and suprabasal layers in epithelial dysplasia and number of positive cells per 100 cells in OSCC as labeling index (LI). Results: Suprabasal expression of Ki-67 increased according to the severity of epithelial dysplasia and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001). The mean Ki-67LI was 12.78 for low risk lesions, 28.68 for high risk lesions, 39.45 for OSCC and 13.6 for normal buccal mucosa. Conclusion: The results of the present study demonstrate the use of proliferative marker Ki-67 in assessing the severity of epithelial dysplasia. Suprabasal expression of Ki-67 provides an objective criteria for determining the severity of epithelial dysplasia and histological grading of OSCC.
Brain cytokine synthesis induced by an intraparenchymal injection of LPS is reduced in MCP‐1‐deficient mice prior to leucocyte recruitment

We have previously shown that ischaemic lesions are smaller in monocyte chemoattractant protein‐1‐deficient (MCP‐1–/–) mice than in wild‐type (wt) controls. In addition to its role as a monocyte chemoattractant, monocyte chemoattractant protein‐1 (MCP‐1) has been proposed to contribute to lesion progression after focal ischaemia by driving local cytokine synthesis by resident glia. To investigate this hypothesis we injected lipopolysaccharide (LPS) into the brain parenchyma of MCP‐1–/– mice and compared the resulting inflammatory response and production of proinflammatory cytokines to those in wt mice. Microglial and astrocyte morphological activation was the same in the two strains, but MCP‐1–/– mice showed significantly lower levels of proinflammatory cytokine synthesis; interleukin‐1β (IL‐1β) and tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) levels were up to 50% lower than in wt controls after 6 h. This reduced synthesis of proinflammatory cytokines occurred well before leucocyte recruitment to the central nervous system (CNS) is observed in this model of acute inflammation and thus cannot be attributed to lower numbers of recruited monocytes at the site of injury. We propose that MCP‐1 contributes to acute CNS inflammation by pleiotropic mechanisms. In addition to being a potent chemoattractant for monocytes, we provide evidence here that MCP‐1 can modify the responsiveness of CNS glia to acute inflammatory stimuli prior to leucocyte recruitment, thereby acting as a priming stimulus for cytokine synthesis in cells such as microglia.
A roadside unit‐based localization scheme for vehicular ad hoc networks

Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs), designed to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers via the exchange of information amongst nearby vehicles or between the vehicles and Roadside Units (RSUs), have attracted particular attention. However, the success of many VANET applications depends on their ability to estimate the vehicle position with a high degree of precision, and thus, many vehicle localization schemes have been proposed. Many of these schemes are based on vehicle‐mounted Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers. However, the GPS signals are easily disturbed or obstructed. Although this problem can be resolved by vehicle‐to‐vehicle communication schemes, such schemes are effective only in VANETs with a high traffic density. Accordingly, this paper presents a VANET localization scheme in which each vehicle estimates its location on the basis of beacon messages broadcast periodically by pairs of RSUs deployed on either side of the road. In addition, three enhancements to the proposed scheme are presented for the RSU deployment, RSU beacon collisions, and RSU failures. Overall, the ns‐2 simulation results show that the localization scheme achieves a lower localization error than existing solutions on the basis of vehicle‐to‐vehicle communications and is robust toward changes in the traffic density and the vehicle speed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Staging of cutaneous melanoma

The American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging of cutaneous melanoma is a continuously evolving system. The identification of increasingly more accurate prognostic factors has led to major changes in melanoma staging over the years, and the current system described in this review will likely be modified in the near future. Likewise, application of new imaging techniques has also changed the staging work-up of patients with cutaneous melanoma. Chest and abdominal computed tomography (CT) scanning is most commonly used for evaluation of potential metastatic sites in the lungs, lymph nodes and liver, and is indicated in patients with new symptoms, anaemia, elevated lactate dehydrogenase or a chest X-ray abnormality. CT scans should be restricted to patients with high-risk melanoma (stage IIC, IIIB, IIIC and stage IIIA with a macroscopic sentinel lymph node). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain is a mandatory test in patients with stage IV, optional in stage III and not used in patients with stage I and II disease. Positron emission tomography (PET)/CT is more accurate than CT or MRI alone in the diagnosis of metastases and should complement conventional CT/MRI imaging in the staging work-up of patients who have solitary or oligometastatic disease where surgical resection is most relevant.
Internal set theory: A new approach to nonstandard analysis

1. Internal set theory. We present here a new approach to Abraham Robinson's nonstandard analysis [10] with the aim of making these powerful methods readily available to the working mathematician. This approach to nonstandard analysis is based on a theory which we call internal set theory (1ST). We start with axiomatic set theory, say ZFC (Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory with the axiom of choice [1]). In addition to the usual undefined binary predicate E of set theory we adjoin a new undefined unary predicate standard. The axioms of 1ST are the usual axioms of ZFC plus three others, which we will state below. All theorems of conventional mathematics remain valid. No change in terminology is required. What is new in internal set theory is only an addition, not a change. We choose to call certain sets standard (and we recall that in ZFC every mathematical object-a real number, a function, etc.-is a set), but the theorems of conventional mathematics apply to all sets, nonstandard as well as standard. In writing formulas we use A for and, V for or, ~ for not, =* for implies, and for is equivalent to. We call a formula of 1ST internal in case it does not involve the new predicate "standard" (that is, in case it is a formula of ZFC); otherwise we call it external. Thus "x standard" is the simplest example of an external formula. To assert that x is a standard set has no meaning within conventional mathematics-it is a new undefined notion. The fact that we have adjoined "standard" as an undefined predicate (rather than defining it in terms of E as is the case with all of the predicates of conventional mathematics) requires a readjustment of an engrained habit. We are used to defining subsets by means of predicates. In fact, it follows from the axioms of ZFC that if A(z) is an internal formula then for all sets x there is a set y = {z E x: A(z)} such that for all sets z we have z&y n E N A n standard. We may not use external predicates to define subsets. We call the violation of this rule illegal set formation. We adopt the following abbreviations:
Overexpression of Human and Fly Frataxins in Drosophila Provokes Deleterious Effects at Biochemical, Physiological and Developmental Levels

Background Friedreich's ataxia (FA), the most frequent form of inherited ataxias in the Caucasian population, is caused by a reduced expression of frataxin, a highly conserved protein. Model organisms have contributed greatly in the efforts to decipher the function of frataxin; however, the precise function of this protein remains elusive. Overexpression studies are a useful approach to investigate the mechanistic actions of frataxin; however, the existing literature reports contradictory results. To further investigate the effect of frataxin overexpression, we analyzed the consequences of overexpressing human (FXN) and fly (FH) frataxins in Drosophila. Methodology/Principal Findings We obtained transgenic flies that overexpressed human or fly frataxins in a general pattern and in different tissues using the UAS-GAL4 system. For both frataxins, we observed deleterious effects at the biochemical, histological and behavioral levels. Oxidative stress is a relevant factor in the frataxin overexpression phenotypes. Systemic frataxin overexpression reduces Drosophila viability and impairs the normal embryonic development of muscle and the peripheral nervous system. A reduction in the level of aconitase activity and a decrease in the level of NDUF3 were also observed in the transgenic flies that overexpressed frataxin. Frataxin overexpression in the nervous system reduces life span, impairs locomotor ability and causes brain degeneration. Frataxin aggregation and a misfolding of this protein have been shown not to be the mechanism that is responsible for the phenotypes that have been observed. Nevertheless, the expression of human frataxin rescues the aconitase activity in the fh knockdown mutant. Conclusion/Significance Our results provide in vivo evidence of a functional equivalence for human and fly frataxins and indicate that the control of frataxin expression is important for treatments that aim to increase frataxin levels.
Proteomics Analysis of Three Different Strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis under In vitro Hypoxia and Evaluation of Hypoxia Associated Antigen’s Specific Memory T Cells in Healthy Household Contacts

In vitro mimicking conditions are thought to reflect the environment experienced by Mycobacterium tuberculosis inside the host granuloma. The majority of in vitro dormancy experimental models use laboratory-adapted strains H37Rv or Erdman instead of prevalent clinical strains involved during disease outbreaks. Thus, we included the most prevalent clinical strains (S7 and S10) of M. tuberculosis from south India in addition to H37Rv for our in vitro oxygen depletion (hypoxia) experimental model. Cytosolic proteins were prepared from hypoxic cultures, resolved by two-dimensional electrophoresis and protein spots were characterized by mass spectrometry. In total, 49 spots were characterized as over-expressed or newly emergent between the three strains. Two antigens (ESAT-6, Lpd) out of the 49 characterized spots were readily available in recombinant form in our lab. Hence, these two genes were overexpressed, purified and used for in vitro stimulation of whole blood collected from healthy household contacts (HHC) and active pulmonary tuberculosis patients (PTB). Multicolor flow cytometry analysis showed high levels of antigen specific CD4+ central memory T cells in the circulation of HHC compared to PTB (p < 0.005 for ESAT-6 and p < 0.0005 for Lpd). This shows proteins that are predicted to be up regulated during in vitro hypoxia in most prevalent clinical strains would indicate possible potential immunogens. In vitro hypoxia experiments with most prevalent clinical strains would also elucidate the probable true representative antigens involved in adaptive mechanisms.