Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pilot Trial of Memantine in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract This multiple case series was initially designed as a prospective, open–label, 12–week trial investigation evaluating memantine (Namenda) for the treatment of psychiatric and cognitive symptoms associated with PTSD. In a selected, small sample of individuals (n = 4) with combat PTSD, treatment with memantine produced consistent improvement on a delayed recall measure of memory, variable reduction of depressive symptoms, and variable reduction in hyperarousal symptoms. These data suggest potential positive treatment outcomes, both cognitively and psychiatrically, and provide rationale for future double–blind, placebo-controlled studies of memantine in PTSD.
Drinking patterns, drinking contexts and alcohol-related aggression among late adolescent and young adult drinkers.

AIMS The main objectives of this study were to determine: (1) the relative roles of heavy episodic drinking (HED), drinking frequency and drinking volume in explaining alcohol-related aggression and (2) whether drinking context variables (i.e. usual drinking locations, typical drinking companions and extent of peer drinking) confound or modify the relationship between HED and alcohol-related aggression or whether they predict alcohol-related aggression independently. DESIGN A secondary analysis of the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth was conducted. Alcohol-related aggression (denoted fights after drinking) was measured based on self-reports of arguments or fights that occurred during or after drinking in the previous 12 months. PARTICIPANTS A composite sample of drinkers, ages 17-21, from the 1994, 1996 and 1998 Young Adult surveys (n = 738) was used. FINDINGS Frequency of drinking and drinking volume largely confounded the association between HED and fights after drinking. Usually drinking in public locations away from home versus private locations was found to be significantly associated with a greater likelihood of fights after drinking among females. Among males, usual drinking location modified the relationship between drinking frequency and alcohol-related aggression, with the greatest risk of aggression for males who drank frequently and usually drank in public locations away from home. CONCLUSIONS Programs designed to reduce drinking frequency in this population and to increase the safety of drinking locations in public places away from home may prove to be beneficial in reducing alcohol-related aggression.
Dietary influence of tyrosine and phenylalanine on the response of B16 melanoma to carbidopa-levodopa methyl ester chemotherapy.

Abstract The effect of dietary tyrosine and phenylalanine on survival of adult female C57BL/6 × DBA/2 F, mice bearing i.p. slow-growing, moderately pigmented and fast-growing, highly pigmented B16 melanoma tumors was studied alone and in combination with carbidopa-levodopa methyl ester chemotherapy. These studies tested three different diets: a natural product diet containing 1.09% phenylalanine and 0.64% tyrosine (commercial diet); a chemically defined crystalline amino acid diet containing 0.6% phenylalanine and 0.3% tyrosine (purified diet); and a nutritionally deficient chemically defined diet conaining 0.08% phenylalanine and 0.04% tyrosine (deficient diet). Mice received carbidopa (100 mg/kg) and levodopa methyl ester (1000 mg/kg) i.p. daily for 12 days. The median survival of mice bearing the slow-growing tumor averaged 8 days longer than that of mice bearing the fast-growing tumor. Median survival increased by 42% (slow-growing tumor) and by 30% (fast-growing tumor) in mice maintained on the deficient diet. Drug treatment significantly increased survival in mice maintained on the purified and deficient diets but was relatively ineffective in mice maintained on the commercial diet regardless of the tumor growth characteristics. The largest increases in median survival of 61% (slow-growing tumor) and of 78% (fast-growing tumor) occurred in the treated mice maintained on the deficient diet. Plasma tyrosine and phenylalanine levels decreased by 33 and 21%, respectively, in mice maintained on the deficient diet and were unaffected by drug treatment. Tumors were 60% smaller in mice maintained on the deficient diet compared to mice maintained on the purified diet. Drug treatment resulted in decreased food intake and weight loss in all tumor-bearing dietary groups. Restricting food intake in untreated tumor-bearing mice to the amounts consumed by the drug treatment groups resulted in a parallel loss in body weight but no significant alteration in median survival. These data show that concomitant dietary tyrosine-phenylalanine restriction enhances the antitumor activity of carbidopa-levodopa methyl ester against B16 melanoma.
Debugging the data plane with anteater

Diagnosing problems in networks is a time-consuming and error-prone process. Existing tools to assist operators primarily focus on analyzing control plane configuration. Configuration analysis is limited in that it cannot find bugs in router software, and is harder to generalize across protocols since it must model complex configuration languages and dynamic protocol behavior. This paper studies an alternate approach: diagnosing problems through static analysis of the data plane. This approach can catch bugs that are invisible at the level of configuration files, and simplifies unified analysis of a network across many protocols and implementations. We present Anteater, a tool for checking invariants in the data plane. Anteater translates high-level network invariants into boolean satisfiability problems (SAT), checks them against network state using a SAT solver, and reports counterexamples if violations have been found. Applied to a large university network, Anteater revealed 23 bugs, including forwarding loops and stale ACL rules, with only five false positives. Nine of these faults are being fixed by campus network operators.
Virtual Tawaf: A case study in simulating the behavior of dense, heterogeneous crowds

We present a system to simulate the movement of individual agents in large-scale crowds performing the Tawaf. The Tawaf serves as a unique test case. The crowd consists of a heterogeneous set of pilgrims, varying with respect to physical capacity as well as activity. Furthermore, the density of the crowd reaches very high levels. Our approach uses a finite state machine to specify the behavior of the agents at each time step in conjunction with a geometric, agent-based algorithm to specify how an agent interacts with its local neighbors to generate collision-free trajectories. The overall system can model agents with varying age, gender and behaviors, supporting the heterogeniety observed in the performance of the Tawaf, even at high densities.
Relationship Between Elevated Serum Troponin Values in End-Stage Renal Disease Patients and Abnormal Isotopic Cardiac Scans Following Stress

One hundred asymptomatic high-risk renal transplant candidates were screened for asymptomatic coronary artery disease using stress cardiac isotopic imaging. The cardiac markers, serum cTnT, cTnI, and CKMB, were collected pre and post stress testing. Of the 99 patients whose cardiac scans were technically satisfactory, 32 were normal, 49 had a definite imaging abnormality and the scan was indeterminate in the remaining 18 patients. Based on these results, patients were stratified into either normal, indeterminate or abnormal scan groups. They then were analyzed to detect any correlations between cardiac perfusion defects and either elevated pre-stress cardiac markers or consistent changes 24 h after stress testing. While the mean pre-stress serum values for both cardiac troponin T (0.117 ± 0.12 µg/L) and cardiac troponin I (0.235 ± 0.89 µg/L) were increased in the abnormal cardiac scan group, only the cTnT value proved to differ significantly from the normal group (p<0.01). For the indeterminate group neither marker was different from the normal scan group. Only an elevated serum cTnT>0.1 µg/L (OR 3.042, p = 0.030) proved to discriminate an abnormal scan in this population. It is concluded that the increase in pre-stress serum cTnT encountered in patients with chronic renal failure, with or without evidence of overt, symptomatic coronary artery disease, may represent a combination of subclinical myocardial damage and a prolonged half-life of the marker in the serum. Because of the frequency of elevated serum concentrations of cTnT and, to a lesser degree cTnI, the physician should exercise caution when interpreting a single elevated Troponin value during the evaluation of chest pain in patients with end-stage renal disease. A cTnT>0.1 µg/L increases the likelihood of finding significant coronary artery disease three fold in high-risk ESRD patients being evaluated for renal transplantation.
The Search for a Volatile Human Specific Marker in the Decomposition Process

In this study, a validated method using a thermal desorber combined with a gas chromatograph coupled to mass spectrometry was used to identify the volatile organic compounds released during decomposition of 6 human and 26 animal remains in a laboratory environment during a period of 6 months. 452 compounds were identified. Among them a human specific marker was sought using principle component analysis. We found a combination of 8 compounds (ethyl propionate, propyl propionate, propyl butyrate, ethyl pentanoate, pyridine, diethyl disulfide, methyl(methylthio)ethyl disulfide and 3-methylthio-1-propanol) that led to the distinction of human and pig remains from other animal remains. Furthermore, it was possible to separate the pig remains from human remains based on 5 esters (3-methylbutyl pentanoate, 3-methylbutyl 3-methylbutyrate, 3-methylbutyl 2-methylbutyrate, butyl pentanoate and propyl hexanoate). Further research in the field with full bodies has to corroborate these results and search for one or more human specific markers. These markers would allow a more efficiently training of cadaver dogs or portable detection devices could be developed.
Analysis of linear elasticity and non-linearity due to plasticity and material damage in woven and biaxial braided composites

Analysis of Linear Elasticity and Non-Linearity Due to Plasticity and Material Damage in Woven and Biaxial Braided Composites. (December 2007) Deepak Goyal, B.E. (Hons.), Panjab University, Chandigarh, India; M.S., Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. John D. Whitcomb Textile composites have a wide variety of applications in the aerospace, sports, automobile, marine and medical industries. Due to the availability of a variety of textile architectures and numerous parameters associated with each, optimal design through extensive experimental testing is not practical. Predictive tools are needed to perform virtual experiments of various options. The focus of this research is to develop a better understanding of linear elastic response, plasticity and material damage induced nonlinear behavior and mechanics of load flow in textile composites. Textile composites exhibit multiple scales of complexity. The various textile behaviors are analyzed using a two-scale finite element modeling. A framework to allow use of a wide variety of damage initiation and growth models is proposed. Plasticity induced non-linear behavior of 2x2 braided composites is investigated using a modeling approach based on Hill’s yield function for orthotropic materials. The mechanics of load flow in textile composites is demonstrated using special non-standard postprocessing techniques that not only highlight the important details, but also transform the extensive amount of output data into comprehensible modes of behavior. The investigations show that the damage models differ from each other in terms of amount of degradation as well as the properties to be degraded under a particular failure mode. When compared with experimental data, predictions of some models match well for glass/epoxy composite whereas other’s match well for carbon/epoxy
Point Defects in Metals

5.1 Calculate the fraction of atom sites that are vacant for lead at its melting temperature of 327°C (600 K). Assume an energy for vacancy formation of 0.55 eV/atom. Solution In order to compute the fraction of atom sites that are vacant in lead at 600 K, we must employ Equation 5.1. As stated in the problem, Q v = 0.55 eV/atom. Thus,
Effects of contrast adjustment on visual gloss of natural textures

We propose a novel subband-based S-curve transformation for increasing the perceived contrast of images, and use it to explore the relation between perceived gloss and perceived contrast of natural textures. The proposed transformation makes minimal assumptions on lighting conditions and does not require prior knowledge of surface geometry. Through a series of subjective experiments with both complex real-world textures and synthesized Lambertian surfaces, we show that there is a strong and robust correlation between perceived contrast and perceived gloss, regardless of the composition of the texture. We also show that contrast modification of an image with near-frontal illumination can compensate for the change in perceived gloss due to an oblique illumination (of the same texture at the same viewing angle).
Experimental Examination and Physical Understanding of the Coulomb Scattering Mobility in Strained-Si nMOSFETs

In this paper, the impact of biaxial tensile strain on the electron mobility limited by Coulomb scattering in inversion layers is experimentally examined. It includes the study of both interface state (Nit) and substrate impurity (Nsub) Coulomb scatterings. Compared with unstrained-Si devices, the mobility limited by Nsub is enhanced in strained-Si nMOSFETs, whereas the mobility limited by Nit is degraded. These new findings are investigated through extensive mobility measurements at various temperatures (50 K-300 K) and surface electric fields. It is found that two key parameters exist for explaining the opposite strain dependence of mobility limited by Nit and Nsub scatterings: One is the valley population, and the other is the distance between inversion layer electrons and the charged centers.
Metacognition in human decision-making: confidence and error monitoring

People are capable of robust evaluations of their decisions: they are often aware of their mistakes even without explicit feedback, and report levels of confidence in their decisions that correlate with objective performance. These metacognitive abilities help people to avoid making the same mistakes twice, and to avoid overcommitting time or resources to decisions that are based on unreliable evidence. In this review, we consider progress in characterizing the neural and mechanistic basis of these related aspects of metacognition—confidence judgements and error monitoring—and identify crucial points of convergence between methods and theories in the two fields. This convergence suggests that common principles govern metacognitive judgements of confidence and accuracy; in particular, a shared reliance on post-decisional processing within the systems responsible for the initial decision. However, research in both fields has focused rather narrowly on simple, discrete decisions—reflecting the correspondingly restricted focus of current models of the decision process itself—raising doubts about the degree to which discovered principles will scale up to explain metacognitive evaluation of real-world decisions and actions that are fluid, temporally extended, and embedded in the broader context of evolving behavioural goals.
How the hydrophobic factor drives protein folding

Significance A study of how hydrophobicity (HY) drives protein folding reveals two kinds of HY: intrinsic (proportional to surface area) and extrinsic (augmented by hydration shells). The Nozaki–Tanford method of measuring HY has been modified to use gaseous solutes. Hydration shells on alkanes explain the unusual HY of alkanes. Transfer of alkanes from water to cyclohexane causes release of alkane hydration shells. Comparing the energetics of formation and release shows that hydration shells are clearly present on alkanes and supports Kauzmann's 1959 mechanism for how the hydrophobic factor drives protein folding. A space-filling model is given for the hydration shells on linear alkanes. How hydrophobicity (HY) drives protein folding is studied. The 1971 Nozaki–Tanford method of measuring HY is modified to use gases as solutes, not crystals, and this makes the method easy to use. Alkanes are found to be much more hydrophobic than rare gases, and the two different kinds of HY are termed intrinsic (rare gases) and extrinsic (alkanes). The HY values of rare gases are proportional to solvent-accessible surface area (ASA), whereas the HY values of alkanes depend on special hydration shells. Earlier work showed that hydration shells produce the hydration energetics of alkanes. Evidence is given here that the transfer energetics of alkanes to cyclohexane [Wolfenden R, Lewis CA, Jr, Yuan Y, Carter CW, Jr (2015) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 112(24):7484–7488] measure the release of these shells. Alkane shells are stabilized importantly by van der Waals interactions between alkane carbon and water oxygen atoms. Thus, rare gases cannot form this type of shell. The very short (approximately picoseconds) lifetime of the van der Waals interaction probably explains why NMR efforts to detect alkane hydration shells have failed. The close similarity between the sizes of the opposing energetics for forming or releasing alkane shells confirms the presence of these shells on alkanes and supports Kauzmann's 1959 mechanism of protein folding. A space-filling model is given for the hydration shells on linear alkanes. The model reproduces the n values of Jorgensen et al. [Jorgensen WL, Gao J, Ravimohan C (1985) J Phys Chem 89:3470–3473] for the number of waters in alkane hydration shells.
Risk Factors for Long‐Term Outcome of Ifosfamide‐Induced Nephrotoxicity in Children

Ifosfamide is widely used in the treatment of pediatric solid tumors. Its main adverse effects are various forms of renal tubular and glomerular damage. The authors sought to determine factors that predict the risk for the development and severity of ifosfamide‐induced nephrotoxicity in children and to examine the long‐term outcome of this complication. A total of 174 children who had received ifosfamide for various cancers were studied. Nephrotoxicity was assessed by laboratory markers of glomerular and tubular function and a grading score (none, mild, moderate, severe). Patients were assessed 4 to 12 weeks after each ifosfamide course, 3 months after completion of chemotherapy, and 5 years later. Of 174 children, 72 (41.4%) developed tubular dysfunction, whereas only 11 (6.3%) demonstrated glomerular dysfunction; 40 (23.0%) demonstrated mild toxicity, 16 (9.2%) demonstrated moderate toxicity, and 16 (9.2%) developed severe nephrotoxicity. The four severity subgroups (none, mild, moderate, severe) received comparable doses/m2/cycle of ifosfamide and mesna. Children exhibiting severe toxicity were significantly younger compared to those with moderate, mild, or no nephrotoxicity (median age: 2.2, 7.0, 8.2, and 10.5 years, respectively; p < 0.001) and received significantly higher cumulative doses of ifosfamide (49.6 ± 12.3, 46.0 ± 13.1, 36.2 ± 9.7, and 33.8 ± 7.6 g/m2, respectively; p < 0.001). Cumulative doses of cisplatin were higher among children with severe nephrotoxicity compared to those with moderate, mild, or no toxicity, although this difference did not reach statistical significance. Of all risk factors analyzed by multiple regression analysis, age was the most significant predictor for the grade of nephrotoxicity (p < 0.001), followed by the cumulative dose of ifosfamide (p = 0.005). Seven out of 16 children (44.0%) with severe nephrotoxicity and 4 out of 16 children (25.0%) with moderate nephrotoxicity demonstrated severe chronic tubular toxicity over a follow‐up period of 5 years. Since severe ifosfamide‐induced renal toxicity tends to be chronic in a substantial number of treated children, it should be balanced carefully against efficacy. Cumulative ifosfamide doses of 45 g/m2 and above should be carefully considered, especially in children younger than age 3.
Abnormal Myocardial Presynaptic Norepinephrine Recycling in Patients With Brugada Syndrome

Background—Life-threatening ventricular tachyarrhythmias can occur in young patients without structural heart disease (idiopathic forms). In many patients, these are typically triggered by an increased sympathetic tone, eg, by physical or mental stress. In contrast, in Brugada syndrome, ventricular tachyarrhythmias more often occur during rest or sleep when the vagal tone is predominant. Furthermore, adrenergic agonists can reduce the level of ST-segment elevation, whereas it is increased by parasympathetic agonists or adrenergic antagonists. The aim of this study was to investigate presynaptic and postsynaptic myocardial sympathetic function in patients with Brugada syndrome. Methods and Results—Nine patients with Brugada syndrome (6 male, 3 female; age, 41±13 years) were enrolled in this study. The cardiac autonomic nervous system was assessed noninvasively, quantifying myocardial presynaptic and postsynaptic sympathetic function by means of positron emission tomography with the norepinephrine analogue 11C-Hydroxyephedrine (11C-HED) and the nonselective &bgr;-blocker 11C-CGP 12177 (11C-CGP). Presynaptic sympathetic norepinephrine recycling, assessed by 11C-HED, was globally increased in patients with Brugada syndrome compared with a group of age-matched healthy control subjects (92.9±16.2 mL/g versus 69.1±14.2 mL/g; P<0.05), whereas postsynaptic &bgr;-adrenoceptor density, assessed by 11C-CGP, was similar in patients and control subjects (10.4±6.7 pmol/g versus 10.2±2.9 pmol/g; P=NS). Conclusions—The present study on autonomic innervation in Brugada syndrome describes an enhanced presynaptic norepinephrine recycling with preserved &bgr;-adrenoceptor density, further supporting the hypothesis of an autonomic dysfunction in Brugada syndrome. This is a further step toward the understanding of the pathophysiology of the disease with potential future impact on therapeutic strategies.
Cost-Effectiveness of Apixaban, Dabigatran, Rivaroxaban, and Warfarin for Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation

Background and Purpose— To estimate the cost-effectiveness of stroke prevention in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation by using novel oral anticoagulants apixaban 5 mg, dabigatran 150 mg, and rivaroxaban 20 mg compared with warfarin. Methods— A Markov decision-analysis model was constructed using data from clinical trials to evaluate lifetime costs and quality-adjusted life-years of novel oral anticoagulants compared with warfarin. The modeled population was a hypothetical cohort of 70-year-old patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation, increased risk for stroke (CHADS2 ≥1), renal creatinine clearance ≥50 mL/min, and no previous contraindications to anticoagulation. The willingness-to-pay threshold was $50 000/quality-adjusted life-years gained. Results— In the base case, warfarin had the lowest cost of $77 813 (SD, $2223), followed by rivaroxaban 20 mg ($78 738±$1852), dabigatran 150 mg ($82 719±$1959), and apixaban 5 mg ($85 326±$1512). Apixaban 5 mg had the highest quality-adjusted life-years estimate at 8.47 (SD, 0.06), followed by dabigatran 150 mg (8.41±0.07), rivaroxaban 20 mg (8.26±0.06), and warfarin (7.97±0.04). In a Monte Carlo probabilistic sensitivity analysis, apixaban 5 mg, dabigatran 150 mg, rivaroxaban 20 mg, and warfarin were cost-effective in 45.1%, 40%, 14.9%, 0% of the simulations, respectively. Conclusions— In patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation and an increased risk of stroke prophylaxis, apixaban 5 mg, dabigatran 150 mg, and rivaroxaban 20 mg were all cost-effective alternatives to warfarin. The cost-effectiveness of novel oral anticoagulantss was dependent on therapy pricing in the United States and neurological events associated with rivaroxaban 20 mg.