Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Contemporary Management of ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Management of acute ST elevation myocardial infarction (MI) has become increasingly complex. Third-generation fibrinolytic agents have provided simpler bolus administration and enhanced arterial patency rates but have not lowered mortality. Prehospital fibrinolysis reduces time to treatment, and studies continue to better define the clinical benefits. Combining glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa inhibitors with reduced-dose fibrinolytic therapy thus far has not reduced mortality; improvements in secondary outcomes such as recurrent infarction have been offset by increases in bleeding complications, particularly in elderly patients. In contrast to fibrinolytic trial results, outcomes are improved in patients who promptly undergo primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Meta-analyses demonstrate a significant reduction in mortality compared with patients who receive fibrinolytic therapy. Accessibility of primary intervention remains an important limitation, although recent trials suggest superiority of intervention even when hospital transfer is necessary. Conflicting trends include the development of regional centers for interventional treatment of MI as well as the dissemination of limited interventional programs to smaller hospitals. Facilitated PCI, a hybrid of pharmacological reperfusion (typically combination therapy) followed by intervention, may bridge the delay when primary intervention is not immediately available. Optimal therapy for acute MI must be individualized based on both patient characteristics and resource availability.
An exploratory analysis of the use of cognitive, adaptive and behavioural indices for cluster analysis of ASD subgroups.

BACKGROUND Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) includes symptoms that vary in severity and frequency between children. Consequently, multiple psychometric assessment procedures are recommended to detect an ASD, including scales which asses the presence and nature of ASD-related behaviour. However, to date, few studies have examined the relative and specific contribution which such behaviourally oriented scales can make to the diagnosis of individual children with ASD. METHOD Cluster analysis was used to explore the common characteristics of a group of 53 preschool and elementary school children with an ASD, based upon scores on tests of cognitive ability, adaptive behaviour and behavioural checklists designed to measure the presence of typical ASD. RESULTS Data confirmed the expected variability in intelligence test scores. In addition, measures of adaptive behaviour and data from a behaviourally based rating scale suggested that children with Asperger's Disorder and autism might be reclassified into subgroups according to the presence of particular ASD-specific behaviours. CONCLUSIONS As well as confirming that children with ASD vary in their adaptive behaviour and cognitive levels, these data emphasise the limited contribution such assessment procedures make to an understanding of the child's day-to-day behaviour and functioning, thus arguing for the inclusion of behaviourally based rating scales to develop ideographic intervention plans.
Detection of Spatially Correlated Gaussian Time Series

This work addresses the problem of deciding whether a set of realizations of a vector-valued time series with unknown temporal correlation are spatially correlated or not. For wide sense stationary (WSS) Gaussian processes, this is a problem of deciding between two different power spectral density matrices, one of them diagonal. Specifically, we show that for arbitrary Gaussian processes (not necessarily WSS) the generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) is given by the quotient between the determinant of the sample space-time covariance matrix and the determinant of its block-diagonal version. Furthermore, for WSS processes, we present an asymptotic frequency-domain approximation of the GLRT which is given by a function of the Hadamard ratio (quotient between the determinant of a matrix and the product of the elements of the main diagonal) of the estimated power spectral density matrix. The Hadamard ratio is known to be the GLRT detector for vector-valued random variables and, therefore, what this paper shows is how frequency-dependent Hadamard ratios must be merged into a single test statistic when the vector-valued random variable is replaced by a vector-valued time series with temporal correlation. For bivariate time series, the derived frequency domain detector can be rewritten as a function of the well-known magnitude squared coherence (MSC) spectrum, which suggests a straightforward extension of the MSC spectrum to the general case of multivariate time series. Finally, the performance of the proposed method is illustrated by means of simulations.
Katrina's Children: Evidence on the Structure of Peer Effects from Hurricane Evacuees. NBER Working Paper No. 15291.

In 2005, hurricanes Katrina and Rita forced many children to relocate across the Southeast. While schools quickly enrolled evacuees, receiving families worried about the impact of evacuees on non-evacuee students. Data from Houston and Louisiana show that, on average, the influx of evacuees moderately reduced elementary math test scores in Houston. We reject linear-in-means models of peer effects and find evidence of a highly non-linear but monotonic model - student achievement improves with high ability and worsens with low ability peers. Moreover, exposure to undisciplined evacuees increased native absenteeism and disciplinary problems, supporting a "bad apple" model in behavior.
Fisheye vision: peripheral spatial compression for improved field of view in head mounted displays

A current problem with many video see-through displays is the lack of a wide field of view, which can make them dangerous to use in real world augmented reality applications since peripheral vision is severely limited. Existing wide field of view displays are often bulky, lack stereoscopy, or require complex setups. To solve this problem, we introduce a prototype that utilizes fisheye lenses to expand a user's peripheral vision inside a video see-through head mounted display. Our system provides an undistorted central field of view, so that natural stereoscopy and depth judgment can occur. The peripheral areas of the display show content through the curvature of each of two fisheye lenses using a modified compression algorithm so that objects outside of the inherent viewing angle of the display become visible. We first test an initial prototype with 180° field of view lenses, and then build an improved version with 238° lenses. We also describe solutions to several problems associated with aligning undistorted binocular vision and the compressed periphery, and finally compare our prototype to natural human vision in a series of visual acuity experiments. Results show that users can effectively see objects up to 180°, and that overall detection rate is 62.2% for the display versus 89.7% for the naked eye.
Productidinid brachiopods (Strophomenata, Productida), including Martinezchaconia luisae new genus and new species of Linoproductidae, from the Carboniferous of Santiago Ixtaltepec region, Oaxaca, Southeast México

We describe three brachiopod species of the Suborder Productidina from the Ixtaltepec Formation, Carboniferous of the north of Oaxaca State, southern Mexico, found in peri-reef deposits. Stegacanthia bowsheri and Undaria sp. are members of the families Sentosiidae and Monticuliferidae respectively and were found in strata of the Visean (Middle Mississippian). Martinezchaconia luisae, new genus and species of the Family Linoproductidae, was recollected in Bashkirian-Moscovian (Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian) strata. The respective ages are inferred from the index species of brachiopods associated with the productidines herein described.
Meteorological time series modeling using an adaptive gene expression programming

The precipitations are characterized by important spatial and temporal variation. Model determination for such series is of high importance for hydrological purposes (e.g. weather forecasting, agriculture, flood areas, administrative planning), even if discovering patterns in such series is a very difficult problem. The objective of the current study is to describe the use of an adaptive evolutionary technique that give promising results for the development of non-linear time series models.
Epigenetic modifications on X chromosomes in marsupial and monotreme mammals and implications for evolution of dosage compensation

X chromosome dosage compensation in female eutherian mammals is regulated by the noncoding Xist RNA and is associated with the differential acquisition of active and repressive histone modifications, resulting in repression of most genes on one of the two X chromosome homologs. Marsupial mammals exhibit dosage compensation; however, they lack Xist, and the mechanisms conferring epigenetic control of X chromosome dosage compensation remain elusive. Oviparous mammals, the monotremes, have multiple X chromosomes, and it is not clear whether they undergo dosage compensation and whether there is epigenetic dimorphism between homologous pairs in female monotremes. Here, using antibodies against DNA methylation, eight different histone modifications, and HP1, we conduct immunofluorescence on somatic cells of the female Australian marsupial possum Trichosurus vulpecula, the female platypus Ornithorhynchus anatinus, and control mouse cells. The two marsupial X's were different for all epigenetic features tested. In particular, unlike in the mouse, both repressive modifications, H3K9me3 and H4K20Me3, are enriched on one of the X chromosomes, and this is associated with the presence of HP1 and hypomethylation of DNA. Using sequential labeling, we determine that this DNA hypomethylated X correlates with histone marks of inactivity. These results suggest that female marsupials use a repressive histone-mediated inactivation mechanism and that this may represent an ancestral dosage compensation process that differs from eutherians that require Xist transcription and DNA methylation. In comparison to the marsupial, the monotreme exhibited no epigenetic differences between homologous X chromosomes, suggesting the absence of a dosage compensation process comparable to that in therians.
Spectral Analysis of the Lyα Forest in a Cold Dark Matter Cosmology

We simulate the Lyα forest in a standard cold dark matter universe using a two-level hierarchical grid code to evolve the dark and baryonic matter components self-consistently. We solve the time-dependent ionization equations for hydrogen and helium, adopting Haardt & Madau's recent estimate for the metagalactic UV radiation background. We compare our simulation results with the measured properties of the Lyα forest by constructing synthetic spectra and analyzing them using an automated procedure to identify, deblend, and fit Voigt line profiles to the absorption features. The H I column density and Doppler parameter distributions that we obtain agree closely with those measured by the Keck Observatory's High Resolution Eschelle Spectrograph (HIRES) and earlier high spectral resolution observations over the column density range 1012 cm-2 < NH I < 1016 cm-2. In particular, we find that a power-law column density distribution persists to the lowest values (~1012 cm-2) reported from the HIRES measurements, in agreement with the incompleteness-corrected observations. We are able to match the normalization of the column density distribution at the low end using the Haardt & Madau spectrum and a baryon density consistent with nucleosynthesis limits. We find, however, a significant deficit of systems at higher column densities, NH I greater than a few times 1016 cm-2. The deficit arises from a curvature in the column density distribution that may not be removed by an overall renormalization. We find evolution in the cloud number density and opacity comparable to the observed evolution, though growing somewhat too quickly at the highest redshifts. The evolution, however, is sensitive to the assumed UV radiation field, which becomes increasingly uncertain at higher redshifts (z > 3.5). We also compare with measured values of the intergalactic He II opacity. Our results require an He II ionizing background lower than the Haardt & Madau estimate by a factor of 4, corresponding to a soft intrinsic QSO spectrum, with αQ ≈ 1.8-2.
The effect of midazolam on neutrophil mitogen-activated protein kinase

Background Neutrophil p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) is a key enzyme in the intracellular signalling pathway that is responsible for many neutrophil functions, which are important in neutrophil–endothelial interaction. The imidazole compounds are inhibitors of this enzyme system. The objectives of this in-vitro investigation were to examine the effect of midazolam on neutrophil p38 MAPK activation (phosphorylation) following in-vitro ischaemia–reperfusion injury, and the expression of adhesion molecule CD11b/CD18. Methods In-vitro injury was produced by incubating the neutrophils with N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine. Neutrophils were treated with either 10 or 50 times the therapeutic plasma concentrations of midazolam and SB203580 (known inhibitor of p38 MAPK). The concentrations of phosphorylated p38 MAPK and expression of neutrophil adhesion molecules CD11b/CD18 were measured. Flow cytometry was used to estimate adhesion molecule expression. Results The concentration of phosphorylated p38 MAPK was less in neutrophils subjected to ischaemia–reperfusion and treated with midazolam either 10 μg ml−1 [13.6 (3.2) ng ml−1] or 50 μg ml−1 [12.4 (3.6) ng ml−1], or SB203580 [13 (2.6) ng ml−1] than those subjected to ischaemia–reperfusion alone [18 (3.18) ng ml−1] at a P value of less than 0.05. Following ischaemia–reperfusion injury, CD11b/CD18 expression (expression mean channel fluorescence) on neutrophils was greater when compared with controls. The magnitudes of CD11b and CD18 expression on ischaemia–reperfusion-injured neutrophils were decreased by midazolam (10 μg ml−1) as compared with control of 10.3 (2.6) vs. 14 (3.1) μg ml−1 and 28.3 (12.9) vs. 44 (12.1) μg ml−1, respectively, at a P value of less than 0.05. Similarly, the expression of CD11b and CD18 was less in ischaemia–reperfusion-injured neutrophils treated with inhibitor of 10.3 (2.8) vs. 14 (3.18) μg ml−1 and 29.5 (12.5) vs. 44.3 (12.3) μg ml−1 when compared with controls at a P value of less than 0.05. Conclusion Midazolam diminishes in-vitro ischaemia–reperfusion-induced phosphorylation of p38 MAPK in neutrophils. This decrease in p38 MAPK activation results in decreased neutrophil CD11b/CD18 molecule expression.
Severe Heart Failure and Early Mortality in a Double-Mutation Mouse Model of Familial Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Background— Familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (FHC) is characterized by genetic and clinical heterogeneity. Five percent of FHC families have 2 FHC-causing mutations, which results in earlier disease onset, increased cardiac dysfunction, and a higher incidence of sudden death events. These observations suggest a relationship between the number of gene mutations and phenotype severity in FHC. Methods and Results— We sought to develop, characterize, and investigate the pathogenic mechanisms in a double-mutant murine model of FHC. This model (designated TnI-203/MHC-403) was generated by crossbreeding mice with the Gly203Ser cardiac troponin I (TnI-203) and Arg403Gln α-myosin heavy chain (MHC-403) FHC-causing mutations. The mortality rate in TnI-203/MHC-403 mice was 100% by age 21 days. At age 14 days, TnI-203/MHC-403 mice developed a significantly increased ratio of heart weight to body weight, marked interstitial myocardial fibrosis, and increased expression of atrial natriuretic factor and brain natriuretic peptide compared with nontransgenic, TnI-203, and MHC-403 littermates. By age 16 to 18 days, TnI-203/MHC-403 mice rapidly developed a severe dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure, with inducibility of ventricular arrhythmias, which led to death by 21 days. Downregulation of mRNA levels of key regulators of Ca2+ homeostasis in TnI-203/MHC-403 mice was observed. Increased levels of phosphorylated STAT3 were observed in TnI-203/MHC-403 mice and corresponded with the onset of disease, which suggests a possible cardioprotective response. Conclusions— TnI-203/MHC-403 double-mutant mice develop a severe cardiac phenotype characterized by heart failure and early death. The presence of 2 disease-causing mutations may predispose individuals to a greater risk of developing severe heart failure than human FHC caused by a single gene mutation.
Reasoning in Expressive Description Logics with Fixpoints based on Automata on Infinite Trees

In the last years, the investigation on Description Logics (DLs) has been driven by the goal of applying them in several areas, such as, software engineering, information systems, databases, information integration, and intelligent access to the web. The modeling requirements arising in the above areas have stimulated the need for very rich languages, including fixpoint constructs to represent recursive structures. We study a DL comprising the most general form of fixpoint constructs on concepts, all classical concept forming constructs, plus inverse roles, n-ary relations, qualified number restrictions, and inclusion assertions. We establish the EXPTIME decidability of such logic by presenting a decision procedure based on a reduction to nonemptiness of alternating automata on infinite trees. We observe that this is the first decidability result for a logic combining inverse roles, number restrictions, and general fixpoints.
Using groups for investigating rewrite systems

We describe several technical tools that prove to be efficient for investigating the rewrite systems associated with an equational specification. These tools consist of introducing a monoid of partial maps, listing the monoid relations corresponding to the local confluence diagrams of the rewrite system, introducing the group presented by these relations, and, finally, replacing the initial rewrite system with an internal process entirely sitting in this group. When the approach can be completed, one typically obtains a practical method for constructing algebras satisfying prescribed equations and for solving the associated word problem. The above techniques have been developed by the first author in a context of general algebra. The goal of this paper is to bring them to the attention of the rewrite system community. We hope that these techniques may be useful for more general rewrite systems.
Small molecules targeting histone demethylase genes (KDMs) inhibit growth of temozolomide-resistant glioblastoma cells

In glioblastoma several histone demethylase genes (KDM) are overexpressed compared to normal brain tissue and the development of Temozolomide (TMZ) resistance is accompanied by the transient further increased expression of KDM5A and other KDMs following a mechanism that we defined as “epigenetic resilience”. We hypothesized that targeting KDMs may kill the cells that survive the cytotoxic therapy. We determined the effect of JIB 04 and CPI-455, two KDM inhibitors, on glioblastoma cells and found that both molecules are more effective against TMZ-resistant rather than native cells. Because of its lower IC50, we focused on JIB 04 that targets KDM5A and other KDMs as well. We have shown that this molecule activates autophagic and apoptotic pathways, interferes with cell cycle progression, inhibits cell clonogenicity and dephosphorylates Akt thus inactivating a potent pro-survival pathway. We performed combination temozolomide/JIB 04 in vitro treatments showing that these two molecules, under certain conditions, have a strong synergic effect and we hypothesize that JIB 04 intercepts the cells that escape the G2 block exerted by TMZ. Finally we studied the permeability of JIB 04 across the blood-brain barrier and found that this molecule reaches bioactive concentration in the brain; furthermore a pilot in vivo experiment in an orthotopic GB xenograft model showed a trend toward longer survival in treated mice with an Hazard Ratio of 0.5. In conclusion we propose that the combination between cytotoxic drugs and molecules acting on the epigenetic landscape may offer the opportunity to develop new therapies for this invariably lethal disease.
Focused Real-Time Dynamic Programming for MDPs: Squeezing More Out of a Heuristic

Real-time dynamic programming (RTDP) is a heuristic search algorithm for solving MDPs. We present a modified algorithm called Focused RTDP with several improvements. While RTDP maintains only an upper bound on the long-term reward function, FRTDP maintains two-sided bounds and bases the output policy on the lower bound. FRTDP guides search with a new rule for outcome selection, focusing on parts of the search graph that contribute most to uncertainty about the values of good policies. FRTDP has modified trial termination criteria that should allow it to solve some problems (within E) that RTDP cannot. Experiments show that for all the problems we studied, FRTDP significantly outperforms RTDP and LRTDP, and converges with up to six times fewer backups than the state-of-the-art HDP algorithm.
Double Trouble: Prevalence and Factors Associated with Tuberculosis and Diabetes Comorbidity in Bangladesh

Background Diabetes among tuberculosis patients increases the risk of tuberculosis treatment failure, death, and development of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Yet, there is no data is available in Bangladesh on the prevalence of diabetes among tuberculosis patients. The objective of the current study was to estimate prevalence and identify factors associated with tuberculosis-diabetes co-morbidity among TB patients enrolled in the Directly Observed Treatment, Short course program. Methods A community based cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted among 1910 tuberculosis patients living in six urban and eleven rural areas among whom Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (those who fasted) and Random Blood Sugar test (those who did not fast) were performed. Besides glucose levels, data on socio-demographic information, family history of diabetes and anthropometric measurements (height and weight) were also collected. Result Among the 1910 TB patients who participated in screening for diabetes, 245 (12.8%) were found to have diabetes and 296 (15.5%) to have pre-diabetes. Out of those who had diabetes, 34.7% were newly diagnosed through the current study and 65.3% already knew their status. Among those who were found to have prediabetes, 27 (9.1%) had impaired Fasting Blood Glucose (FBG), 230 (77.7%) had Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT), and 39 (13.2%) had both Impaired FBG and IGT. Older age, higher BMI, higher education (secondary level and above), being married, participation in less active work, and family history of diabetes are associated with higher prevalence of diabetes. Conclusion We observed a higher prevalence of diabetes and pre-diabetes in TB patients than reported previously in Bangladesh among the general population which may challenge TB and diabetes control in Bangladesh. Diabetes diagnosis, treatment and care should be integrated in the National TB Program.