Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of enzymatic and anatomic estimates of myocardial infarct size in man.

Enzymatic estimates of myocardial infarct size based on plasma levels of MB creatine kinase (MB-CK) were compared with anatomic infarct size in 49 human hearts obtained at autopsy. The patients studied had been enrolled in the Multicenter Investigation of Limitation of Infarct Size (MILIS) study program within 18 hr of the onset of acute infarction and were treated at one of five participating hospitals. Infarct size was estimated from serial measurements of plasma MB-CK made at the core laboratory for CK analysis. Hearts obtained at autopsy were studied independently by the core pathology laboratory without knowledge of the MB-CK levels or clinical results. Data from the two laboratories were compared at the data coordinating center. Of 49 hearts, 12 were excluded either because anatomic infarct size could not be established or because the infarct occurring at the time of enrollment in the MILIS study could not be distinguished with certainty from other infarcts. Of the remaining 37 hearts, peak MB-CK level was available in 36, but samples sufficient for estimation of infarct size were available in only 25. The overall correlation coefficient (Spearman) was . 87 for these 25 hearts, indicating that enzymatic estimates of infarct size correlate closely with anatomic measurements. The results indicate that CK estimates of myocardial infarct size represent a valid clinical end point for assessing myocardial infarct size, and the effect of therapy thereon, in groups of treated and control patients.
Effects of conjugated linoleic acids on prostaglandin secretion by bovine endometrial epithelial cells in vitro.

OBJECTIVE To determine the effects of 2 conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) isomers (cis-9, trans-11 and trans-10, cis-12) on synthesis of prostaglandin (PG) E(2) and F(2α) and expression of prostaglandin H synthase-2 (PGHS-2) of adult and fetal bovine endometrial epithelial cells in vitro. SAMPLE Primary cultures of endometrial epithelial cells obtained from 4 adult cows and 4 fetal bovine carcasses. PROCEDURES Cells were exposed to 0, 50, 100, or 200μM cis-9, trans-11 or trans-10, cis-12 CLA isomers for 24 hours. Culture media collected before and after 6 hours of stimulation of cells with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate were assayed to detect PGE(2) and PGF(2α) via ELISA. After stimulation, cells were collected for western blot analysis to quantify PGHS-2. RESULTS Concentrations of PGF(2α) and PGE(2) were significantly lower in culture media of adult and fetal endometrial epithelial cells exposed to any concentration of either CLA than they were in media of cells not exposed to CLAs. The trans-10, cis-12 CLA isomer seemed to decrease PG production more markedly than did the cis-9, trans-11 CLA isomer. Most concentrations of both CLAs significantly reduced culture media PGE(2):PGF(2α) concentration ratios of cells. Exposure of cells to CLAs did not affect expression of PGHS-2 protein. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results of this study indicated CLAs significantly decreased PGF(2α) and PGE(2) concentrations and PGE(2):PGF(2α) concentration ratios for cultures of adult and fetal endometrial epithelial cells with no apparent effect on PGHS-2 expression. Similar effects in cows could have effects on maternal recognition of pregnancy and immune function.
Thrombocytopenia in patients treated with heparin, combination antiplatelet therapy, and intra-aortic balloon pump counterpulsation.

OBJECTIVES Determine the incidence and timing of intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP)-associated thrombocytopenia, if concomitant antiplatelet agents increase the incidence of thrombocytopenia, and the incidence of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) in a contemporary IABP population. BACKGROUND Previous studies predate the current practice of treating acute coronary syndrome patients with heparin and aspirin plus thienopyridines and glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor antagonists such that data are unavailable to determine if their co-administration worsens IABP-associated thrombocytopenia. METHODS A retrospective cohort study of adult IABP patients (n = 107) from 2002 to 2006 was performed to determine the indication for and duration of counterpulsation, platelet counts during and for 7 days postcounterpulsation, medications potentially contributing to thrombocytopenia, and HIT antibody results if obtained. RESULTS Thrombocytopenia, defined as platelets <150,000/mL or >50% decrease from baseline, occurred in 57.9% of patients. Overall, platelets declined to 60.2 +/- 22.8% of baseline with the mean (+/- standard deviation) nadir on day 2.8 +/- 2.0. Comparing patients who received heparin, aspirin, thienopyridines, and glycoprotein IIb/IIIa antagonists (n = 44) versus heparinized patients +/- aspirin (n = 45), platelet nadirs were 62.7 +/- 20.9% versus 58.3 +/- 23.9% of baseline levels, respectively (P = 0.42). The incidence of HIT was 2.8% in the entire cohort. CONCLUSIONS IABP-associated thrombocytopenia occurred in 57.9% of this cohort. HIT was diagnosed in 2.8% and should be considered as a diagnosis if platelet counts do not stabilize or continue to fall after 3-4 days of counterpulsation. Increased use of antiplatelet therapy does not impact the degree of thrombocytopenia although the current practice of prompt IABP removal may offset this effect.
Periprosthetic DXA after total hip arthroplasty with short vs. ultra-short custom-made femoral stems

Background and purpose Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) analysis of the 7 periprosthetic Gruen zones is the most commonly used protocol to evaluate bone remodeling after the implantation of conventional femoral stems. We assessed the value of DXA after cementless primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) by comparing the effect of progressive shortening of the stem of two femoral implants on periprosthetic bone remodeling using a specifically developed protocol of analysis with 5 periprosthetic regions of interest (ROIs). Patients and methods Bone mineral density (BMD) was evaluated in 37 patients in the plateau stage, 3 years after THA. Two femoral implants featuring conceptually new designs and surgical technique were tested: types 1 and 2, characterized by extremely short stem and virtual absence of distal stem, respectively. Results We found that progressive shortening of the femoral stem produces more proximal loading, which effectively preserves metaphyseal bone stock and increases periprosthetic BMD in the medial ROIs over time. In the type 2 group, higher absolute BMD values were observed in medial ROIs 4 and 5. No differences were found in ROIs 1, 2, and 3. Interpretation This study shows the flexibility of DXA in adapting the protocol of periprosthetic analysis to the specific requirements of new implant designs, and it shows its high sensitivity in evaluation of the biological response of bone to changes in implant shape.
Optimal Fourier Inversion in Semi-Analytical Option Pricing

At the time of writing this article, Fourier inversion is the computational method of choice for a fast and accurate calculation of plain vanilla option prices in models with an analytically available characteristic function. Shifting the contour of integration along the complex plane allows for different representations of the inverse Fourier integral. In this article, we present the optimal contour of the Fourier integral, taking into account numerical issues such as cancellation and explosion of the characteristic function. This allows for robust and fast option pricing for almost all levels of strikes and maturities.
Clinical implications of ribonucleotide reductase subunit M1 in patients with pancreatic cancer who undergo curative resection followed by adjuvant chemotherapy with gemcitabine

To the best of our knowledge, the clinical implications of using ribonucleoside reductase subunit M1 (RRM1) in patients who undergo curative resection and adjuvant chemotherapy have not been established. In the present study, the clinical data from 101 consecutive patients who underwent macroscopically curative resection, and who received adjuvant gemcitabine chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer at the Kanagawa Cancer Centre (Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan) between April 2005 and December 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. The association between the RRM1 status and survival and clinicopathological features were assessed. Of the 101 patients, 41 patients expressed high levels of RRM1 expression (40.6%). Although a significant difference was observed in lymphatic invasion, there was no difference between the two groups with regard to any other clinicopathological parameters. The median follow-up period was 67.3 months. There was a significant difference between the recurrence-free survival (RFS) rates at 5 years after surgery, which were 12.9 and 0% in the high RRM1 and low RRM1 groups, respectively (P=0.042). Furthermore, there was a significant difference in the 5-year overall survival (OS) rates following surgery, which were 5.1 and 21.5% in the high RRM1 and low RRM1 groups, respectively (P=0.015). The results of the present study indicated that out of the factors assessed, RRM1 was the most important prognostic factor for OS and RFS in patients with pancreatic cancer who underwent curative resection followed by adjuvant chemotherapy with gemcitabine. Adjuvant chemotherapy with gemcitabine alone may be insufficient for the treatment of pancreatic cancer, particularly in patients with relevant risk factors.
SpaceJMP: Programming with Multiple Virtual Address Spaces

Memory-centric computing demands careful organization of the virtual address space, but traditional methods for doing so are inflexible and inefficient. If an application wishes to address larger physical memory than virtual address bits allow, if it wishes to maintain pointer-based data structures beyond process lifetimes, or if it wishes to share large amounts of memory across simultaneously executing processes, legacy interfaces for managing the address space are cumbersome and often incur excessive overheads. We propose a new operating system design that promotes virtual address spaces to first-class citizens, enabling process threads to attach to, detach from, and switch between multiple virtual address spaces. Our work enables data-centric applications to utilize vast physical memory beyond the virtual range, represent persistent pointer-rich data structures without special pointer representations, and share large amounts of memory between processes efficiently. We describe our prototype implementations in the DragonFly BSD and Barrelfish operating systems. We also present programming semantics and a compiler transformation to detect unsafe pointer usage. We demonstrate the benefits of our work on data-intensive applications such as the GUPS benchmark, the SAMTools genomics workflow, and the Redis key-value store.
Cellular Antioxidant Effect of Four Bromophenols from the Red Algae, Vertebrata lanosa

Three known bromophenols, 2,3-dibromo-4,5-dihydroxybenzylaldehyde (1), 2,2′,3-tribromo-3′,4,4′,5-tetrahydroxy-6′-hydroxymethyldiphenylmethane (2) and bis(2,3-dibromo-4,5-dihydroxylbenzyl) ether (3), and one new one, 5,5″-oxybis(methylene)bis(3-bromo-4-(2′,3′-dibromo-4′,5′-dihydroxylbenzyl)benzene-1,2-diol) (4), were isolated from an extract of the red alga, Vertebrata lanosa. The antioxidant activity of these four bromophenols was examined using one biochemical and two cellular assays: Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC), Cellular Antioxidant Activity (CAA) and Cellular Lipid Peroxidation Antioxidant Activity (CLPAA) assays. Compound 2 distinguished itself by showing potent activity, having a better antioxidant effect than luteolin in both the CAA and CLPAA assays and of quercetin in the CLPAA assay. Although several bromophenols are known to be potent antioxidants in biochemical assays, this is the first time their cellular antioxidant activity has been demonstrated.
Nano-Architectural Alterations in Mucus Layer Fecal Colonocytes in Field Carcinogenesis: Potential for Screening

Current fecal tests (occult blood, methylation, DNA mutations) target minute amounts of tumor products among a large amount of fecal material and thus have suboptimal performance. Our group has focused on exploiting field carcinogenesis as a modality to amplify the neoplastic signal. Specifically, we have shown that endoscopically normal rectal brushings have striking nano-architectural alterations which are detectable using a novel optical technique, partial wave spectroscopic microscopy (PWS). We therefore wished to translate this approach to a fecal assay. We examined mucus layer fecal colonocytes (MLFC) at preneoplastic and neoplastic time points (confirmed with rat colonoscopy) in the azoxymethane (AOM)-treated rat model and conducted PWS analysis to derive the nano-architectural parameter, disorder strength (Ld). We confirmed these results with studies in a genetic model (the Pirc rat). We showed that MLFC appeared microscopically normal, consistent with field carcinogenesis. Ld was elevated at an early time point (5 weeks post-AOM injection, effect size = 0.40, P = 0.024) and plateaued before adenoma formation (10 weeks post-AOM, effect size = 0.66, P = 0.001), with no dramatic increase once tumors developed. We replicated these data in the preneoplastic Pirc rat with an effect size in the MLFC that replicated the rectal brushings (increase vs. age-matched controls of 62% vs. 74%, respectively). We provide the first demonstration of a biophotonics approach to fecal assay. Furthermore, targeting the nano-architectural changes of field carcinogenesis rather than the detection of tumor products may provide a novel paradigm for colorectal cancer screening. Cancer Prev Res; 6(10); 1111–9. ©2013 AACR.
High-Frequency Oscillations in the Output Networks of the Hippocampal–Entorhinal Axis of the Freely Behaving Rat

Population bursts of the CA3 network, which occur during eating, drinking, awake immobility, and slow-wave sleep, produce a large field excitatory postsynaptic potential throughout stratum radiatum of the CA1 field (sharp wave). The CA3 burst sets into motion a short-lived, dynamic interaction between CA1 pyramidal cells and interneurons, the product of which is a 200 Hz oscillatory field potential (ripple) and phase-related discharge of the CA1 network. Although many CA1 pyramidal neurons discharge during the time frame (50–100 msec) of each sharp wave, each wave of a ripple (∼5 msec) reflects the synchronization of more discrete subsets of CA1 neurons. When we used multi-site recordings in freely behaving rats, we observed ripples throughout the longitudinal extent (∼4–5 mm) of the dorsal CA1 region that were coherent for multiple cycles of each ripple. High-frequency ripples were also observed throughout the hippocampal–entorhinal output pathway that were concurrent but less coherent on a cycle-by-cycle basis. Single and multiunit neuronal activity was phase-related to local ripples throughout the hippocampal–entorhinal output pathway. Entorhinal ripples occurred 5–30 msec after the CA1 ripples and were related to the occurrence of an entorhinal sharp wave. Thus, during each hippocampal sharp wave, there is a powerful synchronization among the neuronal networks that connect the hippocampus to the neocortex. We suggest that this population interaction (1) biologically constrains theoretical models of hippocampal function and dysfunction and (2) has the capacity to support an “off-line” memory consolidation process.
Mortality in relation to smoking: 50 years' observations on male British doctors

Abstract Objective To compare the hazards of cigarette smoking in men who formed their habits at different periods, and the extent of the reduction in risk when cigarette smoking is stopped at different ages. Design Prospective study that has continued from 1951 to 2001. Setting United Kingdom. Participants 34 439 male British doctors. Information about their smoking habits was obtained in 1951, and periodically thereafter; cause specific mortality was monitored for 50 years. Main outcome measures Overall mortality by smoking habit, considering separately men born in different periods. Results The excess mortality associated with smoking chiefly involved vascular, neoplastic, and respiratory diseases that can be caused by smoking. Men born in 1900-1930 who smoked only cigarettes and continued smoking died on average about 10 years younger than lifelong non-smokers. Cessation at age 60, 50, 40, or 30 years gained, respectively, about 3, 6, 9, or 10 years of life expectancy. The excess mortality associated with cigarette smoking was less for men born in the 19th century and was greatest for men born in the 1920s. The cigarette smoker versus non-smoker probabilities of dying in middle age (35-69) were 42% ν24% (a twofold death rate ratio) for those born in 1900-1909, but were 43% ν 15% (a threefold death rate ratio) for those born in the 1920s. At older ages, the cigarette smoker versus non-smoker probabilities of surviving from age 70 to 90 were 10% ν 12% at the death rates of the 1950s (that is, among men born around the 1870s) but were 7% ν 33% (again a threefold death rate ratio) at the death rates of the 1990s (that is, among men born around the 1910s). Conclusion A substantial progressive decrease in the mortality rates among non-smokers over the past half century (due to prevention and improved treatment of disease) has been wholly outweighed, among cigarette smokers, by a progressive increase in the smoker ν non-smoker death rate ratio due to earlier and more intensive use of cigarettes. Among the men born around 1920, prolonged cigarette smoking from early adult life tripled age specific mortality rates, but cessation at age 50 halved the hazard, and cessation at age 30 avoided almost all of it.
A dynamic on-line parameter identification and full-scale system experimental verification for large synchronous machines

An on-line parameter identification and full-scale experimental verification for large synchronous machines (>50 MVA) is presented in this paper. A step change of excitation is imposed to a generator when the machine is in normal operation. The transient voltages, currents and the power angle are recorded. Based on the large disturbance equations and using the measured power angle as an observation argument in an identification algorithm, the synchronous machine electrical parameters (x/sub d/, x/sub d/', x/sub d/", T/sub do/', T/sub do/", x/sub q/, x/sub q/", T/sub qo/") and mechanical parameters (H,D) are obtained. In addition, the system parameters (equivalent infinite bus voltage V/sub bus/ and line reactance x/sub e/) are identified as well. The proposed method has been repetitively applied to turbogenerators and hydrogenerators with capacities up to 300 MVA. In particular, a field test has been conducted on a system with a capacity of 15000 MVA. The experimental results from all of the full-scale tests are consistent and the effectiveness of the proposed on-line identification method is verified. The plant experiences indicate that by adopting the identified parameters, the stability margin of the generator can be improved by up to 5%, resulting in 30-50 MVA more power generation. >
Anaesthesia for awake craniotomy is safe and well-tolerated.

INTRODUCTION Awake craniotomy for tumour resection has been performed at Glostrup Hospital since 2004. We describe and discuss the various anaesthetic approaches for such surgery and retrospectively analyse the 44 planned awake craniotomies performed at Glostrup Hospital. The surgery falls into four phases: craniotomy, mapping, tumour resection and closing. Three methods are being used: monitored anaesthetic care, asleep-awake-asleep and asleep-awake (AA). MATERIAL AND METHODS Anaesthesia is induced and maintained with propofol and remifentanil. A laryngeal mask (LM) is used as an airway during the craniotomy phase. In the AA method, patients are mapped and the tumour is resected while the patient is awake. RESULTS A total of 41 of 44 planned AA craniotomies were performed. Three had to be converted into general anaesthesia (GA) due to tight brain, leaking LM and tumour haemorrhage, respectively. The following complications were observed: bradycardia 10%, leaking LM 5%, nausea 10%, vomiting 5%, focal seizures 28%, generalized seizures 10%, hypoxia 2%, hypotension 5% and hypertension 2%. CONCLUSION Our results comply well with the international literature in terms of complications related to haemodynamics, respiration, seizures, vomiting and nausea and in terms of patient satisfaction. Awake craniotomy is a well-tolerated procedure with potential benefits. More prospective randomized studies are required.
Development and optimization of high level dataflow programs: The HEVC decoder design case

With the standardization of the new High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) compression algorithm, a dataflow specification of the HEVC decoding process is also available as part of the standard. This paper presents methodologies to improve and optimize the performance of implementations derived by the dataflow specification. Regarding the architectural aspect of dataflow network, the throughput has been increased by developing more potential parallelism. For the platform aspect, critical processes have been optimized by applying SIMD functions and communications have been improved by cache efficient FIFO implementation. Results revealed an average acceleration factor of 7 in the decoding framerate over the reference dataflow implementation.
Recognition of Nonprototypical Emotions in Reverberated and Noisy Speech by Nonnegative Matrix Factorization

We present a comprehensive study on the effect of reverberation and background noise on the recognition of nonprototypical emotions from speech. We carry out our evaluation on a single, well-defined task based on the FAU Aibo Emotion Corpus consisting of spontaneous children's speech, which was used in the INTERSPEECH 2009 Emotion Challenge, the first of its kind. Based on the challenge task, and relying on well-proven methodologies from the speech recognition domain, we derive test scenarios with realistic noise and reverberation conditions, including matched as well as mismatched condition training. As feature extraction based on supervised Nonnegative Matrix Factorization (NMF) has been proposed in automatic speech recognition for enhanced robustness, we introduce and evaluate different kinds of NMF-based features for emotion recognition. We conclude that NMF features can significantly contribute to the robustness of state-of-the-art emotion recognition engines in practical application scenarios where different noise and reverberation conditions have to be faced.
Radiation Exposure Decreases the Quantity and Quality of Cardiac Stem Cells in Mice

Radiation exposure may increase cardiovascular disease risks; however, the precise molecular/cellular mechanisms remain unclear. In the present study, we examined the hypothesis that radiation impairs cardiac stem cells (CSCs), thereby contributing to future cardiovascular disease risks. Adult C57BL/6 mice were exposed to 3 Gy γ-rays, and heart tissues were collected 24 hours later for further experiments. Although c-kit-positive cells were rarely found, radiation exposure significantly induced apoptosis and DNA damage in the cells of the heart. The ex vivo expansion of CSCs from freshly harvested atrial tissues showed a significantly lower production of CSCs in irradiated mice compared with healthy mice. The proliferative activity of CSCs evaluated by Ki-67 expression was not significantly different between the groups. However, compared to the healthy control, CSCs expanded from irradiated mice showed significantly lower telomerase activity, more 53BP1 foci in the nuclei, lower expression of c-kit and higher expression of CD90. Furthermore, CSCs expanded from irradiated mice had significantly poorer potency in the production of insulin-like growth factor-1. Our data suggest that radiation exposure significantly decreases the quantity and quality of CSCs, which may serve as sensitive bio-parameters for predicting future cardiovascular disease risks.