Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A pharmacodynamic study of the optimal P2Y12 inhibitor regimen for East Asian patients with acute coronary syndrome

Background/Aims: Newer P2Y12 inhibitors, such as prasugrel and ticagrelor, have greater antiplatelet efficacy but may increase the risk of bleeding. In this study, we compared the pharmacodynamic efficacy of prasugrel and ticagrelor in East Asian patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Methods: We selected 83 ACS patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention who were discharged with 90 mg ticagrelor twice daily (n = 24), 10 mg prasugrel daily (n = 39) or 5 mg prasugrel daily (n = 20). After 2 to 4 weeks, on-treatment platelet reactivity (OPR) was assessed in terms of P2Y12 reaction units (PRUs) using the VerifyNow P2Y12 assay (Accumetrics). We compared East Asian (85 < PRU ≤ 275) and Caucasian (85 < PRU ≤ 208) criteria for assessing the therapeutic window of OPR. Results: OPR was lowest in the ticagrelor group, followed by the 10 mg prasugrel and 5 mg prasugrel groups (49.1 ± 29.9 vs. 83.7 ± 57.1 vs. 168.5 ± 60.8, respectively; p < 0.001). The 5 mg prasugrel group had the highest proportion of patients with OPR values within the therapeutic window, followed by the 10 mg prasugrel and ticagrelor groups (90.0% vs. 46.2% vs. 12.5%, respectively; p < 0.001 for East Asian criteria; 60.0% vs. 43.6% vs. 12.5%, respectively; p < 0.001 for Caucasian criteria). Conclusions: Short-term administration of 5 mg prasugrel facilitated maintenance within the therapeutic window of OPR compared with the 10 mg prasugrel and ticagrelor groups. Thus, 5 mg prasugrel daily may be the optimal antiplatelet regimen for stabilized East Asian ACS patients.
Broadcast Scheduling in Interference Environment

Broadcast is a fundamental operation in wireless networks and naive flooding is not practical because it cannot deal with interference. Scheduling is a good way to avoid interference, but previous studies on broadcast scheduling algorithms all assume highly theoretical models such as the unit disk graph model. In this work, we re-investigate this problem using the 2-disk and the signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio (SINR) model to realize it. We first design a constant approximation algorithm for the 2-disk model and then extend it to the SINR model. This result is the first result on broadcast scheduling algorithms in SINR model, to the best of our knowledge.
Effects of dietary nutrient levels on microbial community composition and diversity in the ileal contents of pregnant Huanjiang mini-pigs

The mammalian gut microbiota influences various metabolic and physiological processes. Substantial metabolic changes occur during a healthy pregnancy that may be related to microbiota composition dynamics. However, the effect of diet on intestinal microbiota composition and diversity during pregnancy remains unclear. We examined the ileal contents of Huanjiang mini-pigs at two pregnancy stages to determine the effects of dietary nutrient levels on such microbial communities. Animals received either a higher-nutrient (HN) diet formulated to meet US National Research Council requirements or a lower-nutrient (LN) diet that met the Chinese National Feeding Standard recommendations. On day 45 or 75 of pregnancy, sows were euthanized and their ileal contents sampled. Experimental diet and pregnancy stage did not affect ileal bacterial richness or diversity, as determined by Chao1 and ACE species richness measures and Shannon and Simpson indices, respectively. The phyla Firmicutes and Proteobacteria, accounting for 69.99–85.44% and 5.82–15.17% of the total reads, respectively, predominated regardless of diet. At the genus level, diet significantly affected the abundance of Lactobacillus species, which was greater in pigs given HN feed (P < 0.05), but had little impact on that of Megasphaera species (P = 0.096). Pregnancy stage had a minimal effect on Proteobacteria numbers (P = 0.053). The number of bacteria of the phylum Firmicutes and genus Lactobacillus decreased, while that of the phylum Proteobacteria, family Enterobacteriaceae, and genus Bacteroides increased between days 45 and 75 of pregnancy. Of the short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) measured, only propionate levels changed significantly, with higher concentrations observed on day 45 than on day 75. Our findings indicate that Firmicutes and Proteobacteria dominate pregnant sow ileal bacterial profiles. Excepting a tendency for the number of Proteobacteria to increase as pregnancy progressed, pregnancy stage and diet had little effect on ileal microbiotic composition and diversity and luminal SCFA concentrations.
Communication synchronous scheme for MPSoC

Inter-Processor communication synchronization in multi-processor system-on-chip (MPSoC) is one of the key factors for the whole chip performance. It cannot only affect the efficiency of task-level parallelism, but also has high dependency on MPSoC hardware architecture. Two synchronization mechanisms, i.e. mailbox and packet switching, are studied and analyzed in Network on chip based MPSoC. At first, the two schemes are implemented and verified in stand-alone mode, analyzed with communication latency, communication bandwidth and resource utilization. Furthermore, the two schemes are analyzed in MPSoC prototype environment that runs real-time fade-in fade-out video processing. Experimental results show that the mailbox based synchronization scheme has low latency and low resource overhead, but it is not feasible for large number of clusters due to the physical limitation. Although the packet based scheme has more latency, it has more scalability and feasibility.
DeTor: Provably Avoiding Geographic Regions in Tor

Large, routing-capable adversaries such as nationstates have the ability to censor and launch powerful deanonymization attacks against Tor circuits that traverse their borders. Tor allows users to specify a set of countries to exclude from circuit selection, but this provides merely the illusion of control, as it does not preclude those countries from being on the path between nodes in a circuit. For instance, we find that circuits excluding US Tor nodes definitively avoid the US 12% of the time. This paper presents DeTor, a set of techniques for proving when a Tor circuit has avoided user-specified geographic regions. DeTor extends recent work on using speed-of-light constraints to prove that a round-trip of communication physically could not have traversed certain geographic regions. As such, DeTor does not require modifications to the Tor protocol, nor does it require a map of the Internet’s topology. We show how DeTor can be used to avoid censors (by never transiting the censor once) and to avoid timing-based deanonymization attacks (by never transiting a geographic region twice). We analyze DeTor’s success at finding avoidance circuits through simulation using real latencies from Tor.
A Cascade of Boosted Generative and Discriminative Classifiers for Vehicle Detection

We present an algorithm for the on-board vision vehicle detection problem using a cascade of boosted classifiers. Three families of features are compared: the rectangular filters (Haar-like features), the histograms of oriented gradient (HoG), and their combination (a concatenation of the two preceding features). A comparative study of the results of the generative (HoG features), discriminative (Haar-like features) detectors, and of their fusion is presented. These results show that the fusion combines the advantages of the other two detectors: generative classifiers eliminate "easily" negative examples in the early layers of the cascade, while in the later layers, the discriminative classifiers generate a fine decision boundary removing the negative examples near the vehicle model. The best algorithm achieves good performances on a test set containing some 500 vehicle images: the detection rate is about 94% and the false-alarm rate per image is 0.0003.
Časoprostorové a infrastrukturní aspekty procesu sociální exkluze

Researchers who have studied the living conditions of Roma (Gypsy) communities since the collapse of state socialism in Eastern Europe tend to emphasise two dimensions of the growing degree of social exclusion of the Roma: the economic dimension (the decline in socio-economic status) and the spatial dimension (the growing levels of residential segregation). This article aims to study how spatial exclusion and involuntary residential segregation ‘function’, that is, how they operate on the social micro level as a ‘generator’ of social and economic disadvantage. Certain types of objective obstacles arise in the living environment of excluded people and they continuously have to overcome these obstacles on an everyday basis. The author analyses how spatial exclusion acts on the excluded by requiring relatively high expenditures of money and time for them to overcome exclusion. He then examines the infrastructural dimensions of spatial exclusion, describing infrastructural exclusion as a dimension of disadvantage in which the excluded have limited access to infrastructures and through them resources otherwise commonly accessible in the dominant socio-economic system. Access to these infrastructures and resources can be regarded as an indicator of social integration and as an essential precondition for equal and meaningful social and economic participation in the life of the dominant socio-economic system. In conclusion, the author discusses the conflicting or almost contradictory relationship between the generation of spatial and infrastructural exclusion on the one hand and social integration projects on the other.
The Evolution of Electrical Engineering

Adjustable Speed Drives Self-Study Course by Wayne L. Stebbins, Published by IEEE, Piscataway, NJ. A high demand for adjustable speed drive (ASD) systems in utility, industrial, and commercial sectors has created an increase in a wide variety of drive applications. This increase in the many drive options poses a potential concern about a lack of sufficient understanding of drive technologies, their benefits, and applications including emerging power quality issues. To help engineers better understand the capabilities of motor drive technologies, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. offers a self-study course on ASD. This continuing education course, authored by Wayne L. Stebbins, an electrical engineer at Hoechst Celanese, presents general guidelines for the proper selection of ASD systems. “Knowing and understanding these guidelines will help engineers select ASDs that can perform to their optimal level in a specific application,” says Stebbins. Among many objectives, the course teaches the following: AC motor fundamentals ASDs used in commercial, industrial, and electric utility applications Successful ASD installations ASD application fundamentals Power quality issues ASD project implementation. The course conisists of a 13-chapter study guide, a 400-page textbook, and an optional ASD master software. A final examination follows the course. Those who successfully complete the course will be awarded eight Continuing Education Units (CEUs) and the IEEE Certificate of Achievement. To order this self-study course, use the following product numbers: Including Software HL5741; Member price: $359; List price: $499. Without Software HL5750; Member price: $299; List price: $399. Order from the IEEE Customer Service, 445 Hoes Lane, PO Box 1331, Piscataway, NJ 08855-1331. Make checks payable to IEEE. For single sales, call 1800-678-IEEE; for company or institutional sales, call 1-800-701-IEEE; or fax 732-981-9667. Please add the following shipping and handling charges: for orders totaling over $200, add $15. Call for overseas Air Freight charges. Credit card orders (Mastercard, Visa, American Express, and Diner’s Club) are accepted.
Effects of Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Human Trophoblast Cell Functions In Vitro

Trophoblast cell dysfunction is involved in many disorders during pregnancy such as preeclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction. Few treatments exist, however, that target improving trophoblast cell function. Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) are capable of self-renewing, can undergo multilineage differentiation, and have homing abilities; in addition, they have immunomodulatory effects and paracrine properties and thus are a prospective source for cell therapy. To identify whether hUCMSCs can regulate trophoblast cell functions, we treated trophoblast cells with hUCMSC supernatant or cocultured them with hUCMSCs. Both treatments remarkably enhanced the migration and invasion abilities of trophoblast cells and upregulated their proliferation ability. At a certain concentration, hUCMSCs also modulated hCG, PIGF, and sEndoglin levels in the trophoblast culture medium. Thus, hUCMSCs have a positive effect on trophoblast cellular functions, which may provide a new avenue for treatment of placenta-related diseases during pregnancy.
Effect of three different anaesthetic agents on the postoperative production of cardiac troponin T in paediatric cardiac surgery.

BACKGROUND Paediatric cardiac surgery is associated with some degree of myocardial injury. Ischaemic preconditioning (IP) has been investigated widely in the adult population. Volatile agents have been shown to simulate IP providing extra protection to the myocardium during adult cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) while propofol seems to act through different mechanisms. IP has not been investigated in the paediatric population to the same extent. Cardiac troponin T (cTnT) is a reliable marker of myocardial injury in neonates and children. We have investigated the relationship between three anaesthetic agents, midazolam, propofol, and sevoflurane, and postoperative production of cTnT. METHODS Ninety patients undergoing repair of congenital heart defect with CPB were investigated in a prospective randomized study. cTnT was measured four times during the first 24 h following admission to the paediatric intensive care unit. Other variables measured included arterial blood gases, lactate, fluid balance, use of inotropic drugs, PaO2/FiO2 ratio and ventilator hours. RESULTS cTnT was elevated in all three groups throughout the study period. The differences between the three groups were not statistically significant. Eight hours after admission to the intensive care unit cTnT concentrations tended to be higher in the midazolam group [mean (95% confidence intervals)]; 2.7 (1.9-3.5) ng ml(-1). Patients receiving a propofol-based anaesthesia had similar concentrations 2.6 (1.7-3.5) ng ml(-1) while those receiving sevoflurane tended to have a lower cTnT production 1.7 (1.3-2.2) ng ml(-1). CONCLUSIONS Midazolam, propofol, and sevoflurane appear to provide equal myocardial protection in paediatric cardiac surgery when using cTnT as a marker of myocardial damage.
PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSE OF PERIWINKLE PLANTS (CATHARANTHUS ROSEUS L.) TO TRYPTOPHAN AND PUTRESCINE

A pot experiment was conducted in the screen of the National Research Centre during two successive seasons to study the response of periwinkle plants to foliar spray with tryptophan or putrescine at the concentrations 10 M, 10 M or 10 M. The obtained data indicated that exogenous application of tryptophan or putrescine on periwinkle transplants considerably increased plant growth at successive developmental stages. The effect was more pronounced with 10 M tryptophan or putrescine. Photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoids), soluble and total insoluble sugars, total proteins and total alkaloids in the leaves of periwinkle plants were increased as a result of application of tryptophan or putrescine, more so with 10 M each. Tryptophan at 10 or 10 M increased gibberellic acid (GA3), IAA and ABA contents, while low concentration (10 M) of tryptophan decreased their endogenous levels. Tryptophan at 10 M or 10 M decreased cytokinins, while application of tryptophan at 10 M increase the endogenous cytokinins. Foliar application of putrescine at used concentrations caused obvious increases in the quantitative amounts of endogenous GA3, IAA, cytokinins and ABA.
The Role of the Component Metals in the Toxicity of Military-Grade Tungsten Alloy

Tungsten-based composites have been recommended as a suitable replacement for depleted uranium. Unfortunately, one of these mixtures composed of tungsten (W), nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co) induced rhabdomyosarcomas when implanted into the leg muscle of laboratory rats and mice to simulate a shrapnel wound. The question arose as to whether the neoplastic effect of the mixture could be solely attributed to one or more of the metal components. To investigate this possibility, pellets with one or two of the component metals replaced with an identical amount of the biologically-inert metal tantalum (Ta) were manufactured and implanted into the quadriceps of B6C3F1 mice. The mice were followed for two years to assess potential adverse health effects. Implantation with WTa, CoTa or WNiTa resulted in decreased survival, but not to the level reported for WNiCo. Sarcomas in the implanted muscle were found in 20% of the CoTa-implanted mice and 5% of the WTa- and WCoTa-implanted rats and mice, far below the 80% reported for WNiCo-implanted mice. The data obtained from this study suggested that no single metal is solely responsible for the neoplastic effects of WNiCo and that a synergistic effect of the three metals in tumor development was likely.
Adaptive and Specialised Transcriptional Responses to Xenobiotic Stress in Caenorhabditis elegans Are Regulated by Nuclear Hormone Receptors

Characterisation of the pathways by which xenobiotics are metabolised and excreted in both target and non-target organisms is crucial for the rational design of effective and specific novel bioactive molecules. Consequently, we have investigated the induced responses of the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to a variety of xenobiotics which represent a range of putative modes of action. The majority of genes that were specifically induced in preliminary microarray analyses encoded enzymes from Phase I and II metabolism, including cytochrome P450s, short chain dehydrogenases, UDP-glucuronosyl transferases and glutathione transferases. Changes in gene expression were confirmed by quantitative PCR and GFP induction in reporter strains driven by promoters for transcription of twelve induced enzymes was investigated. The particular complement of metabolic genes induced was found to be highly contingent on the xenobiotic applied. The known regulators of responses to applied chemicals ahr-1, hif-1, mdt-15 and nhr-8 were not required for any of these inducible responses and skn-1 regulated GFP expression from only two of the promoters. Reporter strains were used in conjunction with systematic RNAi screens to identify transcription factors which drive expression of these genes under xenobiotic exposure. These transcription factors appeared to regulate specific xenobiotic responses and have no reported phenotypes under standard conditions. Focussing on nhr-176 we demonstrate the role of this transcription factor in mediating the resistance to thiabendazole.
Robust Beamforming for Physical Layer Security in BDMA Massive MIMO

In this paper, we design robust beamforming to guarantee the physical layer security for a multiuser beam division multiple access (BDMA) massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system, when the channel estimation errors are taken into consideration. With the aid of artificial noise, the proposed design are formulated as minimizing the transmit power of the base station, while providing legal users and the eavesdropper with different signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio. It is strictly proved that, under BDMA massive MIMO scheme, the initial non-convex optimization can be equivalently converted to a convex semi-definite programming problem and the optimal rank-one beamforming solutions can be guaranteed. In stead of directly resorting to the convex tool, we make one step further by deriving the optimal beamforming direction and the optimal beamforming power allocation in closed-form, which greatly reduces the computational complexity and makes the proposed design practical for real world applications. Simulation results are then provided to verify the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.
Dependence of flood risk perceptions on socioeconomic and objective risk factors

This study examines flood risk perceptions of individuals in the Netherlands using a survey of approximately 1000 homeowners. Perceptions of a range of aspects of flood risk are elicited. Various statistical models are used to estimate the influence of socioeconomic and geographical characteristics, personal experience with flooding, knowledge of flood threats, and individual risk attitudes on shaping risk belief. The study shows that in general, perceptions of flood risk are low. An analysis of the factors determining risk perceptions provides four main insights relevant for policy makers and insurers. First, differences in expected risk are consistently related to actual risk levels, since individuals in the vicinity of a main river and low‐lying areas generally have elevated risk perceptions. Second, individuals in areas unprotected by dikes tend to underestimate their risk of flooding. Third, individuals with little knowledge of the causes of flood events have lower perceptions of flood risk. Fourth, there is some evidence that older and more highly educated individuals have a lower flood risk perception. The findings indicate that increasing knowledge of citizens about the causes of flooding may increase flood risk awareness. It is especially important to target individuals who live in areas unprotected by dike infrastructure, since they tend to be unaware of or ignore the high risk exposure faced.
SELF-ESTEEM REGULATION IN THREATENING SOCIAL COMPARISON: THE ROLES OF BELIEF IN A JUST WORLD AND SELF-EFFICACY

In this study, it was hypothesized that a high belief in a just world for Self (BJW-S), coupled with high perceived self-efficacy, would contribute to preservation of self-esteem in threatening social comparison. Participants ( N = 186) completed the General Self-efficacy Scale (Walliser, Schwartzer, & Jerusalem, 1993) and the BJW-S and BJW for Others (BJW-O) scales (Lipkus, Dalbert, & Siegler, 1996). They were then given either an upward (unfavorable) or downward (favorable) social comparison in the academic field. The results suggested that BJW-S (but not BJW-O) coupled with high self-efficacy contributed to maintaining self-esteem in the face of an unfavorable social comparison. However, in cases of low perceived self-efficacy, BJW-S acted in the opposite direction: when BJW-S was low, self-esteem was not affected by unfavorable social comparisons, while it decreased when BJW-S was high.
On the overlap between apathy and depression in dementia

Background: Whereas apathy is increasingly recognised as a frequent abnormal behaviour in dementia, its overlap with depression remains poorly understood. Aims: To assess the psychometric characteristics of a structured interview for apathy, and to examine the overlap between apathy and depression in dementia. Methods: A total of 150 patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) underwent a comprehensive psychiatric and cognitive assessment. Results: Twelve per cent of the sample met criteria for both apathy and depression, 7% met criteria for apathy only, and 31% met criteria for depression only. Apathy (but not depression) was significantly associated with more severe cognitive deficits. Apathy and anxiety scores accounted for 65% of the variance of depression scores in dementia, and the diagnosis of apathy had a minor impact on the rating of severity of depression. Conclusions: The Structured Interview for Apathy demonstrated adequate psychometric characteristics. Using a novel structured interview for apathy in AD we demonstrated that whereas the construct of depression primarily consists of symptom clusters of apathy and anxiety, apathy is a behavioural dimension independent of depression.