Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Very distal transradial approach (VITRO) for coronary interventions

Introduction Radial access is a standard approach for coronary interventions. However, it carries some risk of local or long-term complications such as hematoma or radial artery occlusion. Aim To assess the feasibility of a very distal left and right transradial approach (VITRO) for coronary interventions. Material and methods Three hundred and twenty consecutive patients were submitted to diagnostic or therapeutic coronary interventions. In 102 patients the distal radial artery was not palpable or the pulse was too weak. In 218 selected patients (142 male, 76 female, age: 69 ±11 years) we decided to perform a distal transradial approach. Results The VITRO access was suitable in 195 patients with a success rate of 89.4%. In 9 patients arterial puncture failed, while in 14 others despite successful arterial puncture the wire could not be advanced towards the forearm part of the radial artery. Not only elective diagnostic angiographies were performed with VITRO but also urgent ad hoc coronary interventions in subjects with unstable angina or NSTEMI (48 subjects; 24.3%). Moreover, this very distal approach allowed 11 rotablations and 11 FFR/iFR examinations to be performed in 22 patients. No major bleeding, requiring prolonged hospital stay, surgery or transfusion occurred. One patient on oral anticoagulation with DAPT had conservatively managed minor forearm bleeding. Conclusions Very distal radial artery access is feasible, safe and comfortable in 60% of patients referred for elective or urgent coronary arteries angiography, or coronary interventions.
The Impact of Anemia on Long-Term Clinical Outcome in Patients Undergoing Revascularization With the Unrestricted Use of Drug-Eluting Stents

Background— Anemia is frequent among patients with cardiovascular disease and adversely affects prognosis. The objective of this analysis was to assess the impact of anemia on long-term clinical outcomes among patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with the unrestricted use of drug-eluting stents (DES). Methods and Results— Between April 2002 to March 2009, 6528 consecutive patients underwent PCI with the unrestricted use of DES. Among patients with anemia according to the criteria by the World Health Organization (WHO) (hemoglobin <130 g/L for men and <120 g/L for women, respectively) patients below the 25th percentile separately for men and women were defined to have severe anemia. We compared clinical outcomes among patients with severe anemia and no/mild anemia during long-term follow-up through 4 years. Whereas 21.6% of patients were found to have anemia according to the WHO definition, 347 patients (5.5%) had severe anemia (mean hemoglobin, 98±11 g/L). Severe anemia was more prevalent among the elderly (P<0.001), diabetics (P<0.001), and patients with chronic kidney disease (P<0.001). In adjusted analyses, severe anemia was associated with an increased risk of death (hazard ratio, 1.86; 95% confidence interval, 1.37–2.52; P<0.0001), cardiac death (hazard ratio, 2.32; 95% confidence interval, 1.57–3.43; P<0.0001), and myocardial infarction (hazard ratio, 2.02; 95% confidence interval, 1.36–3.01; P=0.00054) as compared with no/mild anemia without significant interaction across sexes (P=0.86) and acute coronary syndromes (P=0.61) and a trend toward a particularly high risk of mortality among anemic patients <65 years of age (P=0.07). Severe anemia resulted in a greater risk of overall definite stent thrombosis (hazard ratio, 2.59; 95% confidence interval, 1.48–4.54; P=0.00089). Conclusions— Severe anemia is common among patients undergoing PCI with the unrestricted use of DES and adversely affects long-term prognosis, including survival.
Attack Detection in Wireless Localization

Accurately positioning nodes in wireless and sensor networks is important because the location of sensors is a critical input to many higher-level networking tasks. However, the localization infrastructure can be subjected to non-cryptographic attacks, such as signal attenuation and amplification, that cannot be addressed by traditional security services. We propose several attack detection schemes for wireless localization systems. We first formulate a theoretical foundation for the attack detection problem using statistical significance testing. Next, we define test metrics for two broad localization approaches: multilateration and signal strength. We then derived both mathematical models and analytic solutions for attack detection for any system that utilizes those approaches. We also studied additional test statistics that are specific to a diverse set of algorithms. Our trace-driven experimental results provide strong evidence of the effectiveness of our attack detection schemes with high detection rates and low false positive rates across both an 802.11 (WiFi) network as well as an 802.15. 4 (ZigBee) network in two real office buildings. Surprisingly, we found that of the several methods we describe, all provide qualitatively similar detection rates which indicate that the different localization systems all contain similar attack detection capability.
BACE1 RNAi Restores the Composition of Phosphatidylethanolamine-Derivates Related to Memory Improvement in Aged 3xTg-AD Mice

β-amyloid (Aβ) is produced by the β-secretase 1 (BACE1)-mediated enzymatic cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein through the amyloidogenic pathway, making BACE1 a therapeutic target against Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Alterations in lipid metabolism are a risk factor for AD by an unknown mechanism. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of RNA interference against BACE1 (shBACEmiR) on the phospholipid profile in hippocampal CA1 area in aged 3xTg-AD mice after 6 and 12 months of treatment compared to aged PS1KI mice. The shBACEmiR treatment induced cognitive function recovery and restored mainly the fatty acid composition of lysophosphatidylethanolamine and etherphosphatidylethanolamine, reduced the cPLA2’s phosphorylation, down-regulated the levels of arachidonic acid and COX2 in the hippocampi of 3xTg-AD mice. Together, our findings suggest, for the first time, that BACE1 silencing restores phospholipids composition which could favor the recovery of cellular homeostasis and cognitive function in the hippocampus of triple transgenic AD mice.
Surrogate data analysis for assessing the significance of the coherence function

In cardiovascular variability analysis, the significance of the coupling between two time series is commonly assessed by setting a threshold level in the coherence function. While traditionally used statistical tests consider only the parameters of the adopted estimator, the required zero-coherence level may be affected by some features of the observed series. In this study, three procedures, based on the generation of surrogate series sharing given properties with the original but being structurally uncoupled, were considered: independent identically distributed (IID), Fourier transform (FT), and autoregressive (AR). IID surrogates maintained the distribution of the original series, while FT and AR surrogates preserved the power spectrum. The ability of the three methods to define the threshold for zero coherence was validated and compared by computer simulations reproducing typical cardiovascular interactions. While the IID threshold depended only on record length and design parameters of the coherence estimator, FT and AR thresholds were frequency-dependent with peaks corresponding to the local maxima of the estimated coherence. FT and AR surrogates were able to compensate spurious coherence peaks due to equal-frequency but independent oscillations in the two series. The benefit of frequency-dependent thresholds was evident for short series with narrow-band oscillations. Thus, surrogates preserving the power spectrum of the original series are recommended to avoid false coupling detections in the presence of oscillations occurring at nearby frequencies but produced by different mechanisms, as may frequently happen in cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory regulation.
Livelihoods, Mining and Peasant Protests in the Peruvian Andes

This paper explores the relationships between Andean Peru's new mineral-based neoliberal political economy, protests against transnational mining corporations and the transformation of livelihoods taking place in the region. It evaluates how new transnational mining operations are dramatically altering livelihood resources in two case-study areas of the Peruvian Andes and in what ways they are linked to community mobilizations against mining operations. The paper argues that the utilization of frameworks based on resources and livelihoods can contribute to analyses of the spatial relationships between transnational mining corporations and local livelihood transformation. Through a comparative case study of two peasant protests that began in late 1999 and continue today in the Cordillera Huayhuash and Cajamarca, the paper illustrates how transnational mining corporations are transforming the environmental, social and economic contexts for livelihoods in the region and how these changes are linked to household engagement in protests against mining operations. Resumen Este estudio explora la relación entre la nueva economía política neoliberal del Perú, las protestas contra corporaciones mineras transnacionales y la transformación de los medios de subsistencia que tienen lugar en la región. Evalúa como las nuevas operaciones de la minería transnacional están alterando estos medios en dos áreas-caso en los Andes peruanos y de que manera están relacionadas con las movilizaciones comunitarias contrarias a las operaciones mineras. El autor argumenta cómo el uso de marcos basados en recursos y sustentos podría contribuir al análisis de las relaciones espaciales entre las corporaciones mineras transnacionales y la transformación del sustento local. A través de un estudio comparativo de dos protestas campesinas que comenzaron en el año 1999 y se continúan hasta hoy día en la cordillera Huayhuash y Cajamarca, el estudio muestra como tales corporaciones están transformando los contextos ambientales y socio-económicos de los medios de subsistencia dentro la región.
What Drives Information Security Policy Violations among Banking Employees?: Insights from Neutralization and Social Exchange Theory

Employees' information security policy ISP violations are a major problem that plagues organizations worldwide, particularly in the banking/financial sector. Research shows that employees use neutralization techniques to rationalize their ISP violating behaviors; it is therefore important to understand what leads to and influences these neutralization techniques. The authors' study draws upon social exchange theory to develop a set of factors that drive employees' neutralization of ISP violations. The model specifies previously untested relationships between job satisfaction, organizational commitment, role conflict, role ambiguity, and neutralization techniques. Using a sample of Malaysian banking employees, the authors found a positive relationship between role conflict and neutralization of ISP violations, whereas organizational commitment was negatively related to neutralization in this context. The authors' findings offer fresh insights for scholars and practitioners in dealing with the problem of employees' intentional ISP violations while extending the reach of neutralization theory beyond North American and European cultures.
How Much Would a Permanent Tax Cut Boost Japanese Consumption

To reduce contact pressure and wear-and-tear on contact surfaces of link elements of an endless chain (9) looped between spherical engagement surfaces of cone disks, the radius of curvature R of the spherical engagement surfaces, at any point of engagement with the contact surfaces of the chain link elements is greater than a theoretical radius of curvature R, which theoretical radius of curvature results when the distances of axial movement of the movable cone disks for any two transmission ratios are equal, within the range of transmission ratio of the cone disk transmission; and in which the radius D of curvature of the contact surfaces of the link elements is greater than half the width of the link elements, measured transversely to the chain when it is looped between the pairs of cone disks.
EXPLORING PERSONALITY TRAITS AND LONELINESS IN UNIVERSITY EFL (ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE) LEARNERS

is study attempts to explore the relationships between personality traits, loneliness, and university students’ EFL (English as a foreign language) achievement. A sample consisting of 137 freshman students from two universities participated in this study. Statistical results showed that conscientiousness was positively related to EFL achievement, while neuroticism was negatively related to EFL achievement. Statistical results also revealed that students who achieved poorer EFL results tended to consider themselves to be lonelier. In addition, loneliness was also found to have significant negative relationships with three personality traits including extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Taken together, this study would help to contribute to the understanding of personality, loneliness, and EFL achievement in university students.
Context-based Online Configuration-Error Detection

Software failures due to configuration errors are commonplace as computer systems continue to grow larger and more complex. Troubleshooting these configuration errors is a major administration cost, especially in server clusters where problems often go undetected without user interference. This paper presents CODE-a tool that automatically detects software configuration errors. Our approach is based on identifying invariant configuration access rules that predict what access events follow what contexts. It requires no source code, application-specific semantics, or heavyweight program analysis. Using these rules, CODE can sift through a voluminous number of events and detect deviant program executions. This is in contrast to previous approaches that focus on only diagnosis. In our experiments, CODE successfully detected a real configuration error in one of our deployment machines, in addition to 20 user-reported errors that we reproduced in our test environment. When analyzing month-long event logs from both user desktops and production servers, CODE yielded a low false positive rate. The efficiency of CODE makes it feasible to be deployed as a practical management tool with low overhead.
A low-temperature phase of the 1:1 complex of 2-(6-diethylamino-3-diethyliminio-3H-xanthen-9-yl)benzoate with ethyl gallate at 93 K

The title compound, C28H30N2O3·C9H10O5, is a well known red leuco complex of 2-(6-diethylamino-3-diethyliminio-3H-xanthen-9-yl)benzoate (rhodamine B base abbreviated to RBB, a leuco dye) with ethyl gallate (EG, developer). The structure of the complex at room temperature has recently been reported by Sekiguchi, Takayama, Gotanda & Sano [Chem. Lett. (2007 ▶), 36, 1010–1011]. We have found a new phase of the material with two discrete base/developer complexes (RBB-A/EG-A and RBB-B/EG-B) in the asymmetric unit at 93 K. There are no significant differences between the two developer molecules EG-A and EG-B. The lactone ring of RBB is opened in each molecule to form a zwitterionic structure. However, the xanthene system is almost flat in RBB-A (r.m.s. deviation 0.0234 Å) but is less so in RBB-B (r.m.s. deviation 0.1095 Å). Furthermore, the ethyl groups of the xanthene diethylamino substituents lie on the same side of the xanthene plane in RBB-A but on opposite sides in RBB-B. Dimeric dye/developer complexes are formed through inter- and intramolecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds and are linked further into dimers by additional O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds involving either EG-A or EG-B developer molecules.
Novel complex GUCY2D mutation in Japanese family with cone-rod dystrophy.

PURPOSE All mutations in the retinal guanylate cyclase gene (GUCY2D) that causes autosomal dominant cone-rod dystrophy (CORD) are associated with an amino acid substitution in codon 838. A novel heterozygous complex missense mutation of I915T and G917R in the GUCY2D gene was found in a Japanese family with autosomal dominant CORD. The clinical features associated with this mutation were described. METHODS Blood samples were collected from 27 patients with cone-rod or cone dystrophies and from 11 patients with macular dystrophy. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral leukocytes. All 18 coding exons of the GUCY2D gene were directly sequenced. The PCR product carrying a novel mutation was subcloned, and each allele was sequenced. A complete ophthalmologic examination was performed in members of the family with the novel mutation. RESULTS A novel heterozygous complex missense mutation of T2817C and G2822C that would predict I915T and G917R amino acid substitutions, respectively, was found in an autosomal dominant CORD family. The two nucleotide changes were located on the same allele, and segregated with the disease. Two other known missense mutations of R838H and R838C were found in two other CORD families. The clinical phenotype associated with the novel mutation was similar to that with the Arg838 mutations. CONCLUSIONS A heterozygous complex mutation of I915T and G917R in the GUCY2D gene caused autosomal dominant CORD, indicating that a heterozygous mutation that does not include a codon 838 substitution can lead to this ocular phenotype.
Implicit Processing of Phonotactic Cues: Evidence from Electrophysiological and Vascular Responses

Spoken word recognition is achieved via competition between activated lexical candidates that match the incoming speech input. The competition is modulated by prelexical cues that are important for segmenting the auditory speech stream into linguistic units. One such prelexical cue that listeners rely on in spoken word recognition is phonotactics. Phonotactics defines possible combinations of phonemes within syllables or words in a given language. The present study aimed at investigating both temporal and topographical aspects of the neuronal correlates of phonotactic processing by simultaneously applying ERPs and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Pseudowords, either phonotactically legal or illegal with respect to the participants' native language, were acoustically presented to passively listening adult native German speakers. ERPs showed a larger N400 effect for phonotactically legal compared to illegal pseudowords, suggesting stronger lexical activation mechanisms in phonotactically legal material. fNIRS revealed a left hemispheric network including fronto-temporal regions with greater response to phonotactically legal pseudowords than to illegal pseudowords. This confirms earlier hypotheses on a left hemispheric dominance of phonotactic processing most likely due to the fact that phonotactics is related to phonological processing and represents a segmental feature of language comprehension. These segmental linguistic properties of a stimulus are predominantly processed in the left hemisphere. Thus, our study provides first insights into temporal and topographical characteristics of phonotactic processing mechanisms in a passive listening task. Differential brain responses between known and unknown phonotactic rules thus supply evidence for an implicit use of phonotactic cues to guide lexical activation mechanisms.
Cyanobacteria of Greece: an annotated checklist

Abstract Background The checklist of Greek Cyanobacteria was created in the framework of the Greek Taxon Information System (GTIS), an initiative of the LifeWatchGreece Research Infrastructure (ESFRI) that has resumed efforts to compile a complete checklist of species reported from Greece. This list was created from exhaustive search of the scientific literature of the last 60 years. All records of taxa known to occur in Greece were taxonomically updated. New information The checklist of Greek Cyanobacteria comprises 543 species, classified in 130 genera, 41 families, and 8 orders. The orders Synechococcales and Oscillatoriales have the highest number of species (158 and 153 species, respectively), whereas these two orders along with Nostocales and Chroococcales cover 93% of the known Greek cyanobacteria species. It is worth mentioning that 18 species have been initially described from Greek habitats. The marine epilithic Ammatoidea aegea described from Saronikos Gulf is considered endemic to this area. Our bibliographic review shows that Greece hosts a high diversity of cyanobacteria, suggesting that the Mediterranean area is also a hot spot for microbes.
Depression in Employees in Privately Owned Enterprises in China: Is It Related to Work Environment and Work Ability?

This study examines the individual and workplace factors related to depression and stress in a large privately owned enterprise in China. The cross-sectional study design involved 13 privately owned retail enterprises in China. A self-report survey was administered to 4,847 employees aged 18–54 recruited through the management boards of the 13 enterprises. A chi-square test was used to compare differences between the depressed and non-depressed groups on a number of demographic variables and chronic diseases. Logistic regression analysis was performed to assess depression in relation to individual factors (work ability and resilience) and organisational environmental factors (workplace ethos and culture, psychosocial environment and health promotion policies and activities). Significant relationships were found between employee depression all personal factors, and one organisational environmental factor. Personal factors include poor work ability and low resilience, while workplace factors include workplace ethos and culture. The primary organisational environmental factor was a low level of enterprise ethos and culture.
Transglycosylated Starch Improves Insulin Response and Alters Lipid and Amino Acid Metabolome in a Growing Pig Model

Due to the functional properties and physiological effects often associated with chemically modified starches, significant interest lies in their development for incorporation in processed foods. This study investigated the effect of transglycosylated cornstarch (TGS) on blood glucose, insulin, and serum metabolome in the pre- and postprandial phase in growing pigs. Eight jugular vein-catheterized barrows were fed two diets containing 72% purified starch (waxy cornstarch (CON) or TGS). A meal tolerance test (MTT) was performed with serial blood sampling for glucose, insulin, lipids, and metabolome profiling. TGS-fed pigs had reduced postprandial insulin (p < 0.05) and glucose (p < 0.10) peaks compared to CON-fed pigs. The MTT showed increased (p < 0.05) serum urea with TGS-fed pigs compared to CON, indicative of increased protein catabolism. Metabolome profiling showed reduced (p < 0.05) amino acids such as alanine and glutamine with TGS, suggesting increased gluconeogenesis compared to CON, probably due to a reduction in available glucose. Of all metabolites affected by dietary treatment, alkyl-acyl-phosphatidylcholines and sphingomyelins were generally increased (p < 0.05) preprandially, whereas diacyl-phosphatidylcholines and lysophosphatidylcholines were decreased (p < 0.05) postprandially in TGS-fed pigs compared to CON. In conclusion, TGS led to changes in postprandial insulin and glucose metabolism, which may have caused the alterations in serum amino acid and phospholipid metabolome profiles.