Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Socioeconomic Status and Incidence of Hospitalization With Lower‐Extremity Peripheral Artery Disease: Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study

Background Compared to coronary heart disease, heart failure, and stroke, the relationship between low socioeconomic status (SES) and peripheral artery disease (PAD) is less well established. We examined the association between SES and incidence of hospitalization with PAD and explored whether this association can be explained by traditional cardiovascular risk factors and healthcare access. Methods and Results A total of 12 517 participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study (1987‐1989) with no prior PAD were examined. Individual‐level SES was assessed from household income (low <$12 000/year, medium $12 000 to $24 999/year, and high ≥$25 000/year [double to approximate to values in 2016]) and educational attainment (high school), and area‐level SES from area deprivation index (quintiles). During a median follow‐up of 23.6 (Interquartile range 19.6‐24.5) years, 433 participants had a hospitalization with PAD. In Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, the demographically adjusted hazard ratio was 2.42 (1.81‐3.23) for low household income, 2.08 (1.60‐2.69) for low educational attainment, and 2.18 (1.35‐3.53) for most deprived neighborhoods, compared to their high‐SES counterparts. After adjustment for traditional cardiovascular risk factors and heath care access, the associations were attenuated but remained significant, particularly for income and education. Results were consistent when stratified by race (P‐values for interaction >0.2 for all SES parameters). Conclusions Low individual‐ and area‐level SES are strong predictors of hospitalization with PAD, in part due to increased prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and poor access to care in these groups. Additional risk factors may also need to be identified and acted on to eliminate SES disparities in PAD hospitalization.
Defining population boundaries: use of three Bayesian approaches with microsatellite data from British natterjack toads (Bufo calamita)

Defining boundaries between populations is often difficult in the absence of information about current levels of gene flow. Such definitions can be important, however, both for the understanding of population dynamics and for conservation planning. Recently developed Bayesian methods for analysing genetic data now provide a powerful approach to this problem. Natterjack toads Bufo calamita are endangered in Britain, where their distribution is restricted to four geographically discrete regions. In three of these regions the boundaries between populations are often uncertain. We therefore used Bayesian approaches with microsatellite data to try and define British natterjack population structure, and thus inform conservation management. A large sample of natterjack toads from all 38 locations in Britain where the species is native was genotyped at eight microsatellite loci. The genetic diversity of natterjack populations declined as a function of increasing latitude, echoing postglacial colonization dynamics. Comparisons of three assignment methods (structure, baps and geneland) generated some broad similarities but also some inconsistencies in the definitions of population structure, especially in the most complex region (south Cumbria). Implications of the analyses for the future conservation of Bufo calamita in Britain are discussed.
The Role of Exercise Testing in the Modern Management of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

A culture of exercise testing is firmly embedded in the management of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) but its clinical relevance and utility have recently been under some debate. The six minute walk test (6MWT) has been used as a primary outcome measure to enable the licensing of many of the medications used for this condition. Recent reviews have questioned the validity of this test as a surrogate of clinical outcomes. At the same time, other questions are emerging where exercise testing may be the solution. With the rise in understanding of genetic markers of idiopathic PAH (IPAH), the screening of an otherwise healthy population for incipient pulmonary hypertension (PH) will be required. The proliferation in treatment choices and identification of populations with PH where PAH treatment is not indicated, such as left heart and lung disease, requires more definitive differentiation from patients with PAH. There is a continuing question about the existence and clinical relevance of exercise induced PAH as a cause of unexplained dyspnoea and fatigue and as a latent phase of resting PH. This review presents a summary and critical analysis of the current role of exercise testing in PAH and speculates on future trends.
Design of a Concurrent Dual-Band 1.8–2.4-GHz GaN-HEMT Doherty Power Amplifier

In this paper, the design, implementation, and experimental results of a high-efficiency dual-band GaN-HEMT Doherty power amplifier (DPA) are presented. An extensive discussion about the design of the passive structures is presented showing different possible topologies of the dual-band DPA. One of the proposed topologies is used to design a dual-band DPA in hybrid technology for the frequency bands 1.8 and 2.4 GHz with the second efficiency peak at 6-dB output power back-off (OBO). For a continuous-wave output power of 20 W, the measured power-added efficiency (PAE) is 64% and 54% at 1.8 and 2.4 GHz, respectively. At -dB OBO, the resulting measured PAEs were 60% and 44% in the two frequency bands. Linearized concurrent modulated measurement using 10-MHz LTE signal with 7-dB peak-to-average-ratio (PAR) at 1.8 GHz and 10-MHz WiMAX signal with 8.5-dB PAR at 2.4 GHz shows an average PAE of 34%, at an adjacent channel leakage ratio of -48 dBc and -46 dBc at 1.8 and 2.4 GHz, respectively.
Thoracic combined spinal epidural anesthesia for laparoscopic cholecystectomy in a geriatric patient with ischemic heart disease and renal insufficiency

Older people undergoing any surgery have a higher incidence of morbidity and mortality, resulting from a decline in physiological reserves, associated comorbidities, polypharmacy, cognitive dysfunction, and frailty. Most of the clinical trials comparing regional versus general anesthesia in elderly have failed to establish superiority of any single technique. However, the ideal approach in elderly is to be least invasive, thus minimizing alterations in homeostasis. The goal of anesthetic management in laparoscopic procedures includes management of pneumoperitoneum, achieving an adequate level of sensory blockade without any respiratory compromise, management of shoulder tip pain, provision of adequate postoperative pain relief, and early ambulation. Regional anesthesia fulfills all the aforementioned criteria and aids in quick recovery and thus has been suggested to be a suitable alternative to general anesthesia for laparoscopic surgeries, particularly in patients who are at high risk while under general anesthesia or for patients unwilling to undergo general anesthesia. In conclusion, we report results of successful management with thoracic combined spinal epidural for laparoscopic cholecystectomy of a geriatric patient with ischemic heart disease with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and renal insufficiency.
Recurrent Highway Networks

Many sequential processing tasks require complex nonlinear transition functions from one step to the next. However, recurrent neural networks with 'deep' transition functions remain difficult to train, even when using Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks. We introduce a novel theoretical analysis of recurrent networks based on Gersgorin's circle theorem that illuminates several modeling and optimization issues and improves our understanding of the LSTM cell. Based on this analysis we propose Recurrent Highway Networks, which extend the LSTM architecture to allow step-to-step transition depths larger than one. Several language modeling experiments demonstrate that the proposed architecture results in powerful and efficient models. On the Penn Treebank corpus, solely increasing the transition depth from 1 to 10 improves word-level perplexity from 90.6 to 65.4 using the same number of parameters. On the larger Wikipedia datasets for character prediction (text8 and enwik8), RHNs outperform all previous results and achieve an entropy of 1.27 bits per character.
Assessing the Reliability of Conversational Interviewing

Although not widely used, advocates of conversational interviewing argue that it reduces respondent burden and results in higher quality data in situations where the survey information being requested is complex, highly sensitive, or where the topic elicits stress. However, because it does not rely on a scripted interview, conversational interviewing also raises concerns and challenges concerning its consistency and reliability. This study explored an approach for assessing the reliability of response coding in a conversational interview by asking 86 interviewers to observe and code a video of an interview conducted conversationally. Responses coded by interviewers were then compared to gold-standard answers. To assess the impact of experience, the video observations were conducted on two occasions: once immediately after initial training, and, again, four months later in the data collection period. Results after initial training showed high levels of interviewer consistency using percent agreement with the gold-standard answers, and after four months of data-collection experience, performance significantly improved. Other measures of reliability that correct for chance agreement such as Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC) and Cronbach’s alpha were also explored and their use as possible tools for assessing interviewer consistency discussed.
Intrinsic AC Shunting in [100]-Tilt Bicrystal YBa2Cu3O $_{7 - x}$ Josephson Junctions

[100]-tilt YBa<sub>2</sub>Cu<sub>3</sub>O<sub>7-x</sub> bicrystal Josephson junctions are good candidates to realize high values of characteristic voltages I<sub>c</sub>R<sub>n</sub>, which are expected due to large energy gaps in high-T<sub>c</sub> materials. Here, we report on detailed electrical characterization of [100]-tilt YBa<sub>2</sub>Cu<sub>3</sub>O<sub>7-x</sub> bicrystal Josephson junctions, which have the maximal I<sub>c</sub>R<sub>n</sub>-values up to 9.4 mV, for resistances R<sub>n</sub> in the range from 0.9 to 400Ω. The I-V curves have been fitted well to those of the RSJ model with ac-coupled resistive shunts R<sub>e</sub>. The first derivatives dV/dI versus V have demonstrated a reproducible set of resonances of two types. Numerical simulations of the dV/dI versus V for Josephson junctions coupled with external THz RLC-resonators have been made and both types of resonances have been fitted. A form of the I-V curves and resonances in the first derivatives dV/dI versus V have been attributed to intrinsic broadband and frequency-selective losses, due to interaction of Josephson oscillations with transverse and longitudinal IR-active phonons in YBa<sub>2</sub>Cu<sub>3</sub>O<sub>7-x</sub> electrodes.
Role of Ultrasound in Evaluation of Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip in Infants

Background/Aim: The present study was directed to investigate the accuracy of ultrasound (USG) in early detection of developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) to prevent permanent complications. Material & Methods: A total of 276 infants was investigated; their ages range from 1 - 6 months. Patients referred from the clinic based on clinical assessment (mainly Barlo & Ortolani maneuvers). Then the patient’s hips were examined by expert radiologists in USG scan. After that, dynamic (coronal and transverse) & static ultrasound views evaluated by the same radiologist using Graf’s criteria. Infants with abnormal ultrasound findings suggestive of DDH were followed up after 4 - 6 weeks by the same investigator to monitor the progress. At the same time, the patient referred to a specialist for conservative management from the first positive findings. Results: Among the 276 referred patients, infants with normal stable hips (Graf Type I and Type II a+) were 221 (80%), 155 of them were female and 66 male infants. Infants with unstable hips based on Graf’s criteria (Type II a-, II b, II c and Type III a) were 55 (20%). Out of 55 with abnormal findings, the affected hips on both sides, right and left were: 5 cases (1.8%), 7 (2.5%) and 43 hips (15.5%) consecutively. Out of 55 infants affected; 3 referred to tertiary centers for further surgical management while 52 managed conservatively. Conclusion: Delayed treatment rates of DDH and complications could be reduced by the usage of the USG after the first month of life. In addition to physical assessment, USG for high-risk infants will provide more accurate diagnosis and minimize complications.
Preeclampsia and pregnancies with small-for-gestational age neonates have different profiles of complement split products

Objective. The activation of the complement system results in the generation of split products with pro-inflammatory properties. The objective of this study was to determine whether preeclampsia and small-for-gestational age (SGA) are associated with changes in the maternal plasma concentrations of anaphylatoxins C3a, C4a and C5a. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted in the following groups: (a) normal pregnant women (n = 134); (b) women who delivered an SGA neonate (n = 53); (c) preeclampsia with (n = 52) and without SGA (n = 54). Maternal plasma anaphylatoxin concentrations were determined by enzyme-linked immunoassay. Results. (1) Women with preeclampsia with or without SGA had a significantly higher median plasma C5a concentration than that of normal pregnant women and those with SGA alone (all P < 0.01); (2) women with SGA alone did not have an increase in plasma C5a concentration; (3) in contrast, the median maternal plasma concentration of C4a was lower in women with preeclampsia and SGA than that of those with a normal pregnancy (P = 0.001); (4) no changes in C3a were observed among the study groups. Conclusion. Preeclampsia is associated with increased plasma concentration of C5a, regardless of the presence or absence of an SGA fetus. In contrast, there was no difference in the plasma C3a, C4a and C5a concentration in patients with SGA.
Recent upturn in mortality in rural Zimbabwe: evidence for an early demographic impact of HIV‐1 infection?

Objectives:To describe recent mortality trends in rural Zimbabwe and to assess the impact of HIV-1 infection. Method:Comparative, cross-sectional, retrospective, demographic survey with 1-year follow-up. Parallel HIV-1 surveillance. Comparison of results with 1992 national census and vital registration data and results from mathematical model-based population projections. Setting and participants:Residents of 929 (745 revisited in 1995) households in two rural areas of Manicaland Province, Zimbabwe, with contrasting HIV-1 prevalence: Honde and Rusitu valleys. Subjects gave information on parental survival for 2320 resident children. Female residents aged 13–49 years (n = 1237) provided information on birth histories and child survival. Consenting women attending local antenatal clinics (n = 487) provided blood samples for HIV-1 screening and demographic information. Main outcome measures:HIV-1 prevalence in pregnant women; per capita death registration rates; incidence of parental death for children aged under 8 years; infant mortality and age-specific death probabilities. Results:HIV-1 prevalence was high in each study area. Death registration and age-specific mortality have begun to rise. The largest increases were seen in the area of higher HIV-1 prevalence (Honde) and among younger adults, particularly men. Incidence of parental death was observed to be rising. Increases in registered deaths were concentrated among HIV-1-associated causes. Conclusions:The observed increases in mortality by age, sex and cause of death were consistent with those expected early in a severe HIV-1 epidemic, on the basis of mathematical model projections and observations elsewhere in Africa. Further rises in mortality, particularly among women and young children, and consequent increases in orphanhood, are to be expected in rural areas of Zimbabwe.
Evidence on the pathogenic role of auto-antibodies in acute cardiovascular diseases

Summary Atherothrombosis is the major determinant of acute ischaemic cardiovascular events, such as myocardial infarction and stroke. Inflammatory processes have been linked to all phases of atherogenesis In particular, the identification of autoimmunity mediators in the complex microenvironment of chronic inflammation has become the focus of attention in both early and advanced atherogenic processes. Autoantibodies against self-molecules or new epitopes generated by oxidative processes infiltrate atherosclerotic plaques and were shown to modulate the activity of immune cells by binding various types of receptors. However, despite mounting evidence for a pathophysiological role of autoantibodies in atherothrombosis, the clinical relevance for circulating autoantibodies in cardiovascular outcomes is still debated. This review aims at illustrating the mechanisms by which different types of autoantibodies might either promote or repress atherothrombosis and to discuss the clinical studies assessing the role of auto-antibodies as prognostic biomarkers of plaque vulnerability.
CNS Myelin Paranodes Require Nkx6-2 Homeoprotein Transcriptional Activity for Normal Structure

Homeodomain proteins play critical roles during development in cell fate determination and proliferation, but few studies have defined gene regulatory networks for this class of transcription factors in differentiated cells. Using a lacZ-knock-in strategy to ablate Nkx6-2, we find that the Nkx6-2 promoter is active embryonically in neuroblasts and postnatally in oligodendrocytes. In addition to neurological deficits, we find widespread ultrastructural abnormalities in CNS white matter and aberrant expression of three genes encoding a paranodal microtubule destabilizing protein, stathmin 1, and the paranodal cell adhesion molecules neurofascin and contactin. The involvement of these downstream proteins in cytoskeletal function and cell adhesion reveals mechanisms whereby Nkx6-2 directly or indirectly regulates axon- glial interactions at myelin paranodes. Nkx6-2 does not appear to be the central regulator of axoglial junction assembly; nonetheless, our data constitute the first evidence of such a regulatory network and provide novel insights into the mechanism and effector molecules that are involved.
Soluble CD40 Ligand in Aspirin-Treated Patients Undergoing Cardiac Catheterization

Plasma soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) is mainly generated by cleavage of CD40L from the surface of activated platelets, and therefore considered a platelet activation marker. Although the predictive value of sCD40L for ischemic events has been demonstrated in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS), studies on the association of sCD40L with cardiovascular outcomes in lower risk populations yielded heterogeneous results. We therefore sought to investigate factors influencing sCD40L levels, and the predictive value of sCD40L for long-term ischemic events in unselected, aspirin-treated patients undergoing cardiac catheterization. sCD40L was determined by a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 682 consecutive patients undergoing cardiac catheterization. Two-year follow-up data were obtained from 562 patients. Dual antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and clopidogrel was associated with significantly lower levels of sCD40L and lower platelet surface expressions of P-selectin and activated GPIIb/IIIa compared to aspirin monotherapy (all p≤0.01). Hypertension was linked to lower plasma concentrations of sCD40L, whereas female sex, increasing high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, and hematocrit were associated with higher sCD40L concentrations (all p<0.05). sCD40L levels were similar in patients without and with the primary endpoint in the overall study population (p = 0.4). Likewise, sCD40L levels did not differ significantly between patients without and with the secondary endpoints (both p≥0.4). Similar results were obtained when only patients with angiographically-proven coronary artery disease (n = 459), stent implantation (n = 205) or ACS (n = 125) were analyzed. The adjustment for differences in patient characteristics by multivariate regression analyses did not change the results. ROC curve analyses did not reveal cut-off values for sCD40L for the prediction of the primary or secondary endpoints. In conclusion, plasma sCD40L levels are reduced by antiplatelet therapy with clopidogrel, but not associated with long-term ischemic outcomes in unselected consecutive aspirin-treated patients undergoing cardiac catheterization.
Incremental Hypothesis Alignment for Building Confusion Networks with Application to Machine Translation System Combination

Confusion network decoding has been the most successful approach in combining outputs from multiple machine translation (MT) systems in the recent DARPA GALE and NIST Open MT evaluations. Due to the varying word order between outputs from different MT systems, the hypothesis alignment presents the biggest challenge in confusion network decoding. This paper describes an incremental alignment method to build confusion networks based on the translation edit rate (TER) algorithm. This new algorithm yields significant BLEU score improvements over other recent alignment methods on the GALE test sets and was used in BBN's submission to the WMT08 shared translation task.
Role of Peripheral Benzodiazepine Receptors in Mitochondrial, Cellular, and Cardiac Damage Induced by Oxidative Stress and Ischemia-Reperfusion

Mitochondrial dysfunction has been identified as a possible early event in ischemia-reperfusion damage. The peripheral benzodiazepine receptor, a mitochondrial inner membrane protein, has already been proposed to play a role in mitochondrial regulation, although its exact function remains unclear. The aim of this work was to determine the role of peripheral benzodiazepine receptor in ischemia-reperfusion injury and to test the potential beneficial effect of a novel potent peripheral benzodiazepine receptor ligand, 7-chloro-N,N,5-trimethyl-4-oxo-3-phenyl-3,5-dihydro-4H-pyridazino[4,5-b]indole-1-acetamide (SSR180575). To characterize and link the mitochondrial, cellular, and cardiac consequences of ischemia-reperfusion, we examined the effects of SSR180575 in several in vitro and in vivo models of oxidative stress. Hydrogen peroxide decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, reduced oxidative phosphorylation capacities, and caused cytochrome c release, caspase 3 activation, and DNA fragmentation. SSR180575 (100 nM-1 μM) prevented all these effects. In perfused rat hearts, SSR180575 administered in vitro (100 nM-1 μM) or by oral pretreatment (3-30 mg/kg) greatly reduced the contractile dysfunction associated with ischemia-reperfusion. Furthermore, in anesthetized rats, SSR180575 (3-30 mg/kg p.o.) produced significant reductions in infarct size after coronary artery occlusion/reperfusion. In conclusion, we have demonstrated that peripheral benzodiazepine receptor play a major role in the regulation of cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury and that SSR180575, a novel peripheral benzodiazepine receptor ligand, is of potential interest in these indications.