Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Open surgical repair of post-dissection thoraco-abdominal aortic aneurysms: early and late outcomes of a single-centre study involving over 200 patients†

OBJECTIVES Chronic, post-dissection thoraco-abdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAAs) are increasingly being treated by (hybrid) endovascular means. Although it is less invasive, thoracic endovascular aortic repair is technically complex with the risk of incomplete aneurysm exclusion, necessitating frequent reinterventions with potentially reduced long-term outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate contemporary early and late outcomes after open surgical repair of post-dissection TAAA. METHODS At our centre, 633 patients underwent open repair for TAAA over a 20-year period (1994-2015), including 217 (34%) patients for post-dissection TAAA, who were included in this analysis. Circulatory support was obtained by either left heart bypass (173 patients, 79.7%), deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (41 patients, 18.9%) or simple aortic cross-clamping in 3 patients. We analysed all relevant perioperative and intraoperative variables with respect to adverse outcomes. Additionally, long-term survival and the need for aortic reinterventions were studied. RESULTS The mean age was 60.2 ± 11.9 years (men 68.2%). We identified 66 Type I (30.4%), 113 Type II (52.1%), 25 Type III (11.5%), 10 Type IV (4.6%) and 3 Type V (1.4%) TAAAs. Early mortality and spinal cord deficit were 5.9% and 5.5%, respectively. Follow-up was 100% complete (mean 6.0 ± 5.8 years), with long-term survival of 71.4% at 10 years, and freedom from death and reoperation was 68.2% at 10 years. CONCLUSIONS Although it is more invasive than current endovascular approaches for post-dissection TAAA, open surgical repair can be performed safely with acceptable rates of morbidity and mortality when it is done in a specialized aortic centre. Long-term survival and freedom from aortic reintervention are excellent and should also be taken into account when evaluating less invasive alternatives.
Effect of Therapeutic Touch in Patients with Cancer: a Literature Review

Background: The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) techniques has been growing. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine places therapeutic touch (TT) into the category of bio field energy. This literature review is aimed at critically evaluating the data from clinical trials examining the clinical efficacy of therapeutic touch as a supportive care modality in adult patients with cancer. Methods: Electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, Scholar Google, and Science Direct) were searched from the year 1990 to 2015 to locate potentially relevant peer-reviewed articles using the key words therapeutic touch, touch therapy, neoplasm, cancer, and CAM. Additionally, relevant journals and references of all the located articles were manually searched for other potentially relevant studies. Results: The number of 334 articles was found on the basis of the key words, of which 17 articles related to the clinical trial were examined in accordance with the objectives of the study. A total of 6 articles were in the final dataset in which several examples of the positive effects of healing touch on pain, nausea, anxiety and fatigue, and life quality and also on biochemical parameters were observed. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, an affirmation can be made regarding the use of TT, as a non-invasive intervention for improving the health status in patients with cancer. Moreover, therapeutic touch was proved to be a useful strategy for adult patients with cancer.
Managing Communication Delays and Model Error in Demand Response for Frequency Regulation

This study develops and compares several networked control and estimation algorithms to manipulate the power consumption of a population of residential thermostatically controlled loads (TCLs) to fulfill PJM frequency regulation requests given an imperfect communication network and modeling error. The algorithms rely on a model of the plant to reduce the effects of communication delays, and include a stochastic, predictive controller and two Kalman filter-based state estimation techniques. The first estimator uses a set of independent Kalman filters that run in parallel, and the second incorporates individual TCL models that rely on identified thermal parameters. We use simulations to examine 1) the algorithms’ ability to adequately provide frequency regulation under a range of delay severities, and 2) the effect of increased modeling error. We find that both estimator–controller combinations provide acceptable frequency regulation with average delays of 20 s and minor modeling error. When we increase the modeling error by using a higher order model to represent the TCLs within the plant, the first estimator provides acceptable frequency regulation, whereas the second estimator provides poor frequency regulation.
Solver Composition Across the PDE/Linear Algebra Barrier

The efficient solution of discretizations of coupled systems of partial differential equations (PDEs) is at the core of much of numerical simulation. Significant effort has been expended on scalable algorithms to precondition Krylov iterations for the linear systems that arise. With few exceptions, the reported numerical implementation of such solution strategies is specific to a particular model setup, and intimately ties the solver strategy to the discretization and PDE, especially when the preconditioner requires auxiliary operators. In this paper, we present recent improvements in the Firedrake finite element library that allow for straightforward development of the building blocks of extensible, composable preconditioners that decouple the solver from the model formulation. Our implementation extends the algebraic composability of linear solvers offered by the PETSc library by augmenting operators, and hence preconditioners, with the ability to provide any necessary auxiliary operators. Rather than s.
ECLS: An Efficient Cooperative Localization Scheme For Wireless Sensor and Actor Networks

In wireless sensor and actor networks, many applications depend on position information of those sensors sensing the physical world. Many localization schemes have been proposed In WSNs or ad hoc, however, due to the difference between them and WSANs, these schemes may not be well suited for WSANs. In this paper, we analyze why the existing localization schemes are not adaptive to WSANs and then we present ECLS, a novel localization schemes we design for the unique features and application requirements of WSANs. ECLS is an event-driven localization method which is characterized by such new ideas as limited beacons and actors cooperation. In additional, via simulation experiments, we prove that the positioning error of the ECLS doesn't exceed 0.5m and the energy consumption of the system can be limited to a lower level compared with other existing localization schemes
1-((2,4-Dichlorophenethyl)Amino)-3-Phenoxypropan-2-ol Kills Pseudomonas aeruginosa through Extensive Membrane Damage

The ever increasing multidrug-resistance of clinically important pathogens and the lack of novel antibiotics have resulted in a true antibiotic crisis where many antibiotics are no longer effective. Further complicating the treatment of bacterial infections are antibiotic-tolerant persister cells. Besides being responsible for the recalcitrant nature of chronic infections, persister cells greatly contribute to the observed antibiotic tolerance in biofilms and even facilitate the emergence of antibiotic resistance. Evidently, eradication of these persister cells could greatly improve patient outcomes and targeting persistence may provide an alternative approach in combatting chronic infections. We recently characterized 1-((2,4-dichlorophenethyl)amino)-3-phenoxypropan-2-ol (SPI009), a novel anti-persister molecule capable of directly killing persisters from both Gram-negative and Gram-positive pathogens. SPI009 potentiates antibiotic activity in several in vitro and in vivo infection models and possesses promising anti-biofilm activity. Strikingly, SPI009 restores antibiotic sensitivity even in resistant strains. In this study, we investigated the mode of action of this novel compound using several parallel approaches. Genetic analyses and a macromolecular synthesis assays suggest that SPI009 acts by causing extensive membrane damage. This hypothesis was confirmed by liposome leakage assay and membrane permeability studies, demonstrating that SPI009 rapidly impairs the bacterial outer and inner membranes. Evaluation of SPI009-resistant mutants, which only could be generated under severe selection pressure, suggested a possible role for the MexCD-OprJ efflux pump. Overall, our results demonstrate the extensive membrane-damaging activity of SPI009 and confirm its clinical potential in the development of novel anti-persister therapies.
Abyss or Shelter? On the Relevance of Web Search Engines’ Search Results When People Google for Suicide

ABSTRACT Despite evidence that suicide rates can increase after suicides are widely reported in the media, appropriate depictions of suicide in the media can help people to overcome suicidal crises and can thus elicit preventive effects. We argue on the level of individual media users that a similar ambivalence can be postulated for search results on online suicide-related search queries. Importantly, the filter bubble hypothesis (Pariser, 2011) states that search results are biased by algorithms based on a person’s previous search behavior. In this study, we investigated whether suicide-related search queries, including either potentially suicide-preventive or -facilitative terms, influence subsequent search results. This might thus protect or harm suicidal Internet users. We utilized a 3 (search history: suicide-related harmful, suicide-related helpful, and suicide-unrelated) × 2 (reactive: clicking the top-most result link and no clicking) experimental design applying agent-based testing. While findings show no influences either of search histories or of reactivity on search results in a subsequent situation, the presentation of a helpline offer raises concerns about possible detrimental algorithmic decision-making: Algorithms “decided” whether or not to present a helpline, and this automated decision, then, followed the agent throughout the rest of the observation period. Implications for policy-making and search providers are discussed.
Test Pattern Compression for Probabilistic Circuits

Probabilistic circuits are very attractive for the next generation ultra-low power designs. It is important to test probabilistic circuits because a defect in probabilistic circuit may increase the erroneous probability. However, there is no suitable fault model and test generation/compression technique for probabilistic circuits yet. In this paper, a probabilistic fault model is proposed for probabilistic circuits. The number of faults is linear to the gate count. A statistical method is proposed to calculate the repetition needed for each test pattern. An integer linear programming (ILP) method is presented to minimize total test length, while keeping the same fault coverage. Experiments on ISCAS'89 benchmark circuits show the total test length of our proposed ILP method is 64% shorter than a greedy method.
Patient Satisfaction following Nipple-Sparing Mastectomy and Immediate Breast Reconstruction: An 8-Year Outcome Study [Outcomes Article]

Background: Nipple-sparing mastectomy has become an accepted treatment for appropriately selected breast cancers. No reports have correlated patient satisfaction following nipple-sparing mastectomy with objective observer assessments. Methods: From 2001 to 2008, nipple-sparing mastectomy and immediate reconstruction were performed on 141 patients. After institutional review board approval, patients completed questionnaires rating their satisfaction with various aspects of their nipple-areola complex using a Likert-type scale. Three independent observers then reviewed the nipple-areola complex in 34 patients and rated the outcome using the same scale. Results: The survey completion rate was 53 percent and the mean follow-up was 50.4 months (range, 9 to 100 months). A majority of patients rated appearance, symmetry, color, position, and texture as good or excellent. A majority of patients rated sensation and arousal as fair or poor. Fifty-seven patients (73.1 percent) stated they would definitely undergo nipple-sparing mastectomy again. Patients with larger volumes of breast tissue removed (p = 0.010), larger preoperative body mass index (p = 0.034), or larger tissue expander volumes (p = 0.007) reported lower satisfaction. Patient assessments for appearance, color, symmetry, and position correlated with those of objective observers. Conclusions: The authors' study is the largest series to address patient satisfaction with the nipple-areola complex following nipple-sparing mastectomy and the only one to correlate patient self-assessment with assessment by independent observers. Overall, patients were very satisfied with appearance of the nipple-areola complex and most would choose nipple-sparing mastectomy again. A majority of patients rated sensation as fair or poor, with sensation constituting the most frequent aspect of the nipple-areola complex that patients would change. Larger body mass index, expander volumes, and volume of breast tissue removed may predict dissatisfaction postoperatively.
Three‐dimensional whole‐heart T2 mapping at 3T

Detecting variations in myocardial water content with T2 mapping is superior to conventional T2‐weighted MRI since quantification enables direct observation of complicated pathology. Most commonly used T2 mapping techniques are limited in achievable spatial and/or temporal resolution, both of which reduce accuracy due to partial‐volume averaging and misregistration between images. The goal of this study was to validate a novel free breathing T2 mapping sequence that overcomes these limitations.
Analysis of occult hepatitis B virus infection in liver tissue of HIV patients with chronic hepatitis C

Objective:Current data on the prevalence of occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in HIV-positive individuals conflict. As occult HBV infection could have an impact on the outcome of liver disease in HIV-positive patients, we investigated a large number of HIV-positive/HBV-surface-antigen (HBsAg) negative subjects with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection by using the ‘gold standard’ approach for occult HBV detection—analysis of liver DNA extracts. Methods:The presence or absence of HBV DNA was determined by PCR testing of four different viral genomic regions in DNA extracts of needle liver biopsy specimens of 101 HBsAg negative individuals with HIV/HCV co-infection. HBV genotyping was performed by sequencing analysis of the preS-S gene in occult HBV isolates from 18 cases. Results:Occult HBV infection was diagnosed in 42 of the 101 cases (41%). No clinically relevant difference was found between occult HBV-positive and -negative patients. HBV genotype D and A were detected, respectively, in 11 (61%) and 7 (39%) of 18 cases analysed. Conclusions:Occult HBV infection frequently occurs in HIV/HCV co-infected patients indicating the importance of performing prospective studies able to clarify its clinical impact in these patients. HBV genotype A is highly prevalent in HIV-infected subjects with occult HBV infection in a similar way to HBsAg/HIV-positive individuals.
Pesticides and human diabetes: a link worth exploring?

It is no exaggeration to claim that the ‘diabetes epidemic’ has become a ‘runaway train’ causing huge health and economic consequences, especially in the developing nations. Traditionally, the risk factors for diabetes have largely focused on genetics and lifestyle. Great emphasis is placed on lifestyle measures and finding novel pharmacological treatment options to combat diabetes, but there is increasing evidence linking environmental pollutants, especially pesticides, to the development of insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes. Pesticide use has increased dramatically worldwide and the effects of pesticides on glucose metabolism are too significant for a possible diabetogenic link to be dismissed. The aim of this review article was to assess the links between pesticides and human diabetes with the goal of stimulating further research in this area.
Is There a Blueprint for Building an Agile Culture?

: Establishing agile principles and values requires time becoming part of the organizational mindset. One approach is implementing selected agile methods first and waiting for the agile culture to emerge and mature. Nevertheless, it remains unclear if there is a way to improve the culture-building process by emphasizing factors that foster an agile culture. Research on factors that support a systematic development of an agile culture is rare. Hence, we aim to shed light on how an agile culture can be developed in a systematic way. To investigate approaches to initiate and stabilize a cultural change towards agile, we conducted a semi-structured interview with eight agile coaches. Our results comprise 50 factors that influence culture development. Furthermore, we identified two major phases of an agile transition. Even though different focal points are set, early and continuous management involvement is key to a successful transition. Nevertheless, our results do not indicate a generalizable blueprint-like approach for establishing an agile culture.
L4: Practical loss-based stepsize adaptation for deep learning

We propose a stepsize adaptation scheme for stochastic gradient descent. It operates directly with the loss function and rescales the gradient in order to make fixed predicted progress on the loss. We demonstrate its capabilities by strongly improving the performance of Adam and Momentum optimizers. The enhanced optimizers with default hyperparameters consistently outperform their constant stepsize counterparts, even the best ones, without a measurable increase in computational cost. The performance is validated on multiple architectures including ResNets and the Differential Neural Computer. A prototype implementation as a TensorFlow optimizer is released.
Primary Carbides in Alloy 718

This study presents the effects of long term homogenisation at 1200C on the as-cast structure of alloy 718 in terms of the size distribution of the primary carbides. We find that the size distribution changes slightly over the first 20h of treatment, following a solution of some of the carbide, but that it does not change significantly over the next 180h, indicating a rapid process of following the solution equilibrium at temperature. The effect is also reported in relation to the melting of an electrode of the same structure during the VAR process. It is found that the as-cast structure of the electrode used in VAR does not influence the structure of the VAR ingot in respect of primary carbide size distribution.
Mining of the Uncharacterized Cytochrome P450 Genes Involved in Alkaloid Biosynthesis in California Poppy Using a Draft Genome Sequence

Abstract Land plants produce specialized low molecular weight metabolites to adapt to various environmental stressors, such as UV radiation, pathogen infection, wounding and animal feeding damage. Due to the large variety of stresses, plants produce various chemicals, particularly plant species-specific alkaloids, through specialized biosynthetic pathways. In this study, using a draft genome sequence and querying known biosynthetic cytochrome P450 (P450) enzyme-encoding genes, we characterized the P450 genes involved in benzylisoquinoline alkaloid (BIA) biosynthesis in California poppy (Eschscholzia californica), as P450s are key enzymes involved in the diversification of specialized metabolism. Our in silico studies showed that all identified enzyme-encoding genes involved in BIA biosynthesis were found in the draft genome sequence of approximately 489 Mb, which covered approximately 97% of the whole genome (502 Mb). Further analyses showed that some P450 families involved in BIA biosynthesis, i.e. the CYP80, CYP82 and CYP719 families, were more enriched in the genome of E. californica than in the genome of Arabidopsis thaliana, a plant that does not produce BIAs. CYP82 family genes were highly abundant, so we measured the expression of CYP82 genes with respect to alkaloid accumulation in different plant tissues and two cell lines whose BIA production differs to estimate the functions of the genes. Further characterization revealed two highly homologous P450s (CYP82P2 and CYP82P3) that exhibited 10-hydroxylase activities with different substrate specificities. Here, we discuss the evolution of the P450 genes and the potential for further genome mining of the genes encoding the enzymes involved in BIA biosynthesis.
Shortening and intracellular Ca2+ in ventricular myocytes and expression of genes encoding cardiac muscle proteins in early onset type 2 diabetic Goto–Kakizaki rats

There has been a spectacular rise in the global prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Cardiovascular complications are the major cause of morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients. Contractile dysfunction, associated with disturbances in excitation–contraction coupling, has been widely demonstrated in the diabetic heart. The aim of this study was to investigate the pattern of cardiac muscle genes that are involved in the process of excitation–contraction coupling in the hearts of early onset (8–10 weeks of age) type 2 diabetic Goto–Kakizaki (GK) rats. Gene expression was assessed in ventricular muscle with real‐time RT‐PCR; shortening and intracellular Ca2+ were measured in ventricular myocytes with video edge detection and fluorescence photometry, respectively. The general characteristics of the GK rats included elevated fasting and non‐fasting blood glucose and blood glucose at 120 min following a glucose challenge. Expression of genes encoding cardiac muscle proteins (Myh6/7, Mybpc3, Myl1/3, Actc1, Tnni3, Tnn2, Tpm1/2/4 and Dbi) and intercellular proteins (Gja1/4/5/7, Dsp and Cav1/3) were unaltered in GK ventricle compared with control ventricle. The expression of genes encoding some membrane pumps and exchange proteins was unaltered (Atp1a1/2, Atp1b1 and Slc8a1), whilst others were either upregulated (Atp1a3, relative expression 2.61 ± 0.69 versus 0.84 ± 0.23) or downregulated (Slc9a1, 0.62 ± 0.07 versus 1.08 ± 0.08) in GK ventricle compared with control ventricle. The expression of genes encoding some calcium (Cacna1c/1g, Cacna2d1/2d2 and Cacnb1/b2), sodium (Scn5a) and potassium channels (Kcna3/5, Kcnj3/5/8/11/12, Kchip2, Kcnab1, Kcnb1, Kcnd1/2/3, Kcne1/4, Kcnq1, Kcng2, Kcnh2, Kcnk3 and Kcnn2) were unaltered, whilst others were either upregulated (Cacna1h, 0.95 ± 0.16 versus 0.47 ± 0.09; Scn1b, 1.84 ± 0.16 versus 1.11 ± 0.11; and Hcn2, 1.55 ± 0.15 versus 1.03 ± 0.08) or downregulated (Hcn4, 0.16 ± 0.03 versus 0.37 ± 0.08; Kcna2, 0.35 ± 0.03 versus 0.80 ± 0.11; Kcna4, 0.79 ± 0.25 versus 1.90 ± 0.26; and Kcnj2, 0.52 ± 0.07 versus 0.78 ± 0.08) in GK ventricle compared with control ventricle. The amplitude of ventricular myocyte shortening and the intracellular Ca2+ transient were unaltered; however, the time‐to‐peak shortening was prolonged and time‐to‐half decay of the Ca2+ transient was shortened in GK myocytes compared with control myocytes. The results of this study demonstrate changes in expression of genes encoding various excitation–contraction coupling proteins that are associated with disturbances in myocyte shortening and intracellular Ca2+ transport.