Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parental perception of neonatal intensive care in public sector hospitals in South Africa.

BACKGROUND Little is known about parental experience and decision making with regard to premature infants requiring intensive care in developing countries. We undertook this study to characterise parents' experience of physician counselling and their role in making life-support decisions for very low-birth-weight (VLBW) (birth weight < 1 501 g) infants born in South Africa's public-sector neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). METHODS Parents of surviving VLBW infants treated in three Johannesburg-area public hospitals and attending follow-up clinics in August 2001 were interviewed regarding their experience of perinatal counselling on outcomes (pain, survival, disability), perception of actual and optimal decision making, and satisfaction with NICU communication. RESULTS Parents of 51 infants were interviewed. Seventy-five per cent of parents reported antenatal counselling by physicians on at least one perinatal topic (severe disability, pain, death, finances or religious/moral considerations). The majority of parents (> 60%) who received counselling thought that these topics had been discussed adequately. Most parents reported that doctors had the primary decision-making role, either without consulting them (41%) or after consulting them (37%). Joint decision making was rare (14%). Parents wanted more input in life-support decisions than they reported being given. CONCLUSION Counselling is not consistently provided in public-sector hospitals in Johannesburg. Parents of premature infants want a larger share in NICU decision making than they currently experience. Most parents were satisfied with communication later during their infant's hospitalisation. South Africa presents a unique opportunity to study the use of advanced medical technologies in a nation with marked disparities in access to care.
Late preterm birth is a strong predictor of maternal stress later in life: Retrospective cohort study in school‐aged children

The aim of this study was to compare the level of stress in mothers of school‐aged children born late preterm and admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with the level of maternal stress if a child was born late preterm and not admitted to the ICU as well as if a full‐term child was admitted to the ICU.
Comparative Evaluation of Advanced Three-Phase Three-Level Inverter/Converter Topologies Against Two-Level Systems

Efficient energy conversion in low-voltage applications has gained more attention due to increasing energy costs and environmental issues. Accordingly, three-level converters have been discussed as an alternative to the standard two-level voltage-source converter because they offer an increased efficiency at higher switching frequencies. From a system perspective, the benefits of using three-level converters are not only limited to the converter itself, but there are additional positive impacts on the surrounding such as on the load machine losses or on the electromagnetic interference input filter volume. In this paper, a holistic comparison of advanced three-level topologies against the two-level topology is given. Simple analytical calculations and measurements show the benefits and the optimization potential concerning several aspects, such as the necessary semiconductor chip area, the harmonic losses in the load machine and in filter components, and the volume of passive components.
Wavefront propagation in a competition equation with a new motility term modelling contact inhibition between cell populations

Linear diffusion is an established model for spatial spread in biological systems, including movement of cell populations. However, for interacting, closely packed cell populations, simple diffusion is inappropriate, because different cell populations will not move through one another: rather, a cell will stop moving when it encounters another cell. In this paper, I introduce a nonlinear diffusion term that reflects this phenomenon, known as contact inhibition of migration. I study this term in the context of two competing cell populations, one of which has a proliferative advantage over the other; this is motivated by the very early stages of solid tumour growth. I focus in particular on travelling–wave solutions, corresponding to moving interfaces between the two cell populations. Numerical simulations indicate that there are wavefront solutions for wave speeds above a critical minimum value, and I present linear analysis that explains the selection of wave speeds by initial conditions. I obtain an approximation to the shape of these waves for high speeds, and show that the minimum speed arises via quite new behaviour in the travelling–wave equations, with the proportion of cells of each type approaching a step function as the wave speed decreases towards the minimum. Exploiting this structure, I use singular perturbation theory to investigate the wave shape for speeds close to the minimum.
Matrix metalloproteinases in type 2 diabetes and non-diabetic controls: effects of short-term and chronic hyperglycaemia

Introduction The role of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) is not clear as increased activation of MMPs in the vasculature contrasts with decreased activity of MMPs in the kidneys, contributing to development of nephropathy. Material and methods We measured serum MMP-2 and MMP-9 in 22 subjects with type 2 DM age (mean ± SD) 56.7 ±16.8 years, BMI 31.8 ±4.6 kg/m2, HbA1c 8.45 ±1.78% and in 32 controls, age 39.2 ±16.0 years, BMI 35.2 ±8.5 kg/m2. In 15 subjects with 2 DM we also measured MMP-2 and MMP-9 at discharge from hospital and after 3 months (n = 8). In controls, MMP-2 and -9 were also measured during 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Results Concentrations of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were lower in subjects with type 2 DM (219 ±62 ng/ml vs. 305 ±63 ng/ml and 716 ±469 ng/ml vs. 1285 ±470 ng/ml, for MMP-2 and MMP-9, respectively, p < 0.05). MMP-9 concentrations fell at 120 min of OGTT from 1675 ±372 ng/ml to 1276 ±422 ng/ml (p < 0.05). In diabetic subjects there was a correlation between MMP-9 and HbA1c (r = 0.51, p< 0.05). In subjects with diabetes there was a fall of HbA1c from 9.77 ±1.76% to 8.36 ±1.54% (p < 0.01), at three months post-discharge. There was no difference in MMP-2, but there was a fall in MMP-9 at three months post-discharge in comparison to concentrations observed at admission (854 ±560 ng/ml vs. 500 ±235 ng/ml, p= 0.02). Conclusions Matrix metalloproteinases in type 2 and MMP-9 concentrations were lower in subjects with 2 DM than in non-diabetic controls. Regulation of MMPs appears to be complex as hyperglycaemia during OGTT results in a decrease in MMP-9, while chronic hyperglycaemia, reflected by HbA1c, correlates with MMP-9 concentrations in subjects with 2 DM.
Interannual and decadal variability in tropical Pacific sea level.

A notable feature in the first 20-year satellite altimetry records is an anomalously fast sea level rise (SLR) in the western Pacific impacting island nations in this region. This observed trend is due to a combination of internal variability and external forcing. The dominant mode of dynamic sea level (DSL) variability in the tropical Pacific presents as an east-west see-saw pattern. To assess model skill in simulating this variability mode, we compare 38 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) models with 23-year satellite data, 55-year reanalysis products, and 60–year sea level reconstruction. We find that models underestimate variance in the Pacific sea level see-saw, especially at decadal, and longer, time scales. The interannual underestimation is likely due to a relatively low variability in the tropical zonal wind stress. Decadal sea level variability may be influenced by additional factors, such as wind stress at higher latitudes, subtropical gyre position and strength, and eddy heat transport. The interannual variability of the Nino 3.4 index is better represented in CMIP5 models despite low tropical Pacific wind stress variability. However, as with sea level, variability in the Nino 3.4 index is underestimated on decadal time scales. Our results show that DSL should be considered, in addition to sea surface temperature (SST), when evaluating model performance in capturing Pacific variability, as it is directly related to heat content in the ocean column.
Proteomics, transcriptomics and lipidomics of exosomes and ectosomes

Mammalian cells secrete two types of extracellular vesicles either constitutively or in a regulated manner: exosomes (50–100 nm in diameter) released from the intracellular compartment and ectosomes (also called microvesicles, 100–1000 nm in diameter) shed directly from the plasma membrane. Extracellular vesicles are bilayered proteolipids enriched with proteins, mRNAs, microRNAs, and lipids. In recent years, much data have been collected regarding the specific components of extracellular vesicles from various cell types and body fluids using proteomic, transcriptomic, and lipidomic methods. These studies have revealed that extracellular vesicles harbor specific types of proteins, mRNAs, miRNAs, and lipids rather than random cellular components. These results provide valuable information on the molecular mechanisms involved in vesicular cargo‐sorting and biogenesis. Furthermore, studies of these complex extracellular organelles have facilitated conceptual advancements in the field of intercellular communication under physiological and pathological conditions as well as for disease‐specific biomarker discovery. This review focuses on the proteomic, transcriptomic, and lipidomic profiles of extracellular vesicles, and will briefly summarize recent advances in the biology, function, and diagnostic potential of vesicle‐specific components.
A SURVEY OF ALGORITHMS FOR SINGLE AND MULTI-OBJECTIVE UNRELATED PARALLEL-MACHINE DETERMINISTIC SCHEDULING PROBLEMS

ABSTRACT This paper surveys the literature related to solving traditional unrelated parallel-machine scheduling problems. It compiles algorithms for the makespan, total weighted sum of completion times, maximum tardiness, total tardiness, total earliness and tardiness, and multiple criteria performance measures. The review of the existing algorithms is restricted to the deterministic problems without setups, preemptions, or side conditions on the problem. Even for such traditional problems, this survey reveals that while makespan minimization has been fairly widely studied, problems that include processing characteristics such as release times, sequence dependent setups, and preemptions remain largely unstudied. Research in solving unrelated parallel-machine scheduling problems involving the minimization of the number of tardy jobs, weighted number of tardy jobs, total tardiness, and total weighted tardiness is quite limited.
Message‐Passing Algorithms for Synchronization Problems over Compact Groups

Various alignment problems arising in cryo‐electron microscopy, community detection, time synchronization, computer vision, and other fields fall into a common framework of synchronization problems over compact groups such as ℤ/L, U(1), or SO(3). The goal in such problems is to estimate an unknown vector of group elements given noisy relative observations. We present an efficient iterative algorithm to solve a large class of these problems, allowing for any compact group, with measurements on multiple “frequency channels” (Fourier modes, or more generally, irreducible representations of the group). Our algorithm is a highly efficient iterative method following the blueprint of approximate message passing (AMP), which has recently arisen as a central technique for inference problems such as structured low‐rank estimation and compressed sensing. We augment the standard ideas of AMP with ideas from representation theory so that the algorithm can work with distributions over general compact groups. Using standard but nonrigorous methods from statistical physics, we analyze the behavior of our algorithm on a Gaussian noise model, identifying phases where we believe the problem is easy, (computationally) hard, and (statistically) impossible. In particular, such evidence predicts that our algorithm is information‐theoretically optimal in many cases, and that the remaining cases exhibit statistical‐to‐computational gaps. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The effects of steel lamination core losses on transient magnetic fields using T-Ω method

A 3-dimensional (3D) transient finite element analysis (FEA) approach taking into account the effects of steel lamination core loss is proposed. When using the T-Omega method, the effects of lamination core loss are considered by introducing an additional field component in lamination regions which is derived from the instantaneous core loss in the time domain. The proposed approach is validated in two applications by the power-balance testing, that is, the input power increase due to the core-loss effects must be equal to the total core loss.
Neutrophils Express the High Affinity Receptor for IgG ( FcyRI , CD 64 ) After In Vivo Application of Recombinant Human Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor

Fc receptors are important effector molecules of neutrophilic granulocytes (polymorphonuclear neutrophils [PMN]), connecting phagocytic cells and the specific immune response. Neutrophils from healthy donors express the low-affinity receptors for IgG FcyRll (CD32) and FcyRlll (CD16). but not the high-affinity receptor FcyRI (CD64). The latter has been found on neutrophils from patients with certain bacterial infections and can be induced in vitro after incubation with interferon-y. We show here that neutrophils strongly express FcyRl after in vivo application of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF). PMN from patients receiving rhG-CSF displayed higher cytotoxicity against Daudi lymphoma cells in vitro compared with control patients and with healthy donors. Fab fragments against FcyRll (monoclonal antibody [MoAb] IV.3) inhibited neutrophil-mediated cytotoxicity of healthy donors but not of patients during rhG-CSF therapy. Therefore, expression of Fc receptors by PMN was investigated by flow cytometry and the mean
On the Value of Multiple Read/Write Streams for Approximating Frequency Moments

We consider the read/write streams model, an extension of the standard data stream model in which an algorithm can create and manipulate multiple read/write streams in addition to its input data stream. We show that any randomized read/write stream algorithm with a fixed number of streams and a sublogarithmic number of passes that produces a constant factor approximation of the k-th frequency moment Fk of an input sequence of length of at most N from {1, . , N} requires space Omega(N1-4/k-delta) for any delta > 0. For comparison, it is known that with a single read-only data stream there is a randomized constant- factor approximation for Fk using O(N1-2/k) space and that there is a deterministic algorithm computing Fk exactly using 3 read/write streams, O(log N) passes, and O(log N) space. Therefore, although the ability to manipulate multiple read/write streams can add substantial power to the data stream model, with a sub-logarithmic number of passes this does not significantly improve the ability to approximate higher frequency moments efficiently. Our lower bounds also apply to (1 + epsi)-approximations of Fk for epsi ges 1/N.
Bank of Finland 200 years I: Imperial cashier to central bank

The first volume of this work spans the period from its foundation in 1811 to the outbreak of war in 1939. It tells how Finland obtained its own monetary system half a century before independence from Russia. It also describes the fate of the Bank of Finland under the revolutionary People’s Delegation in spring 1918, and how the young governor Risto Ryti struggled to protect the markka during the Great Depression.
Fish consumption and cognitive decline with age in a large community study.

BACKGROUND Dietary intake of fish and the omega-3 fatty acids have been associated with lower risk of Alzheimer disease and stroke. OBJECTIVE To examine whether intakes of fish and the omega-3 fatty acids protect against age-related cognitive decline. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING Geographically defined Chicago, Ill, community. PARTICIPANTS Residents, 65 years and older, who participated in the Chicago Health and Aging Project. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Change in a global cognitive score estimated from mixed models. The global score was computed by summing scores of 4 standardized tests. In-home cognitive assessments were performed 3 times over 6 years of follow-up. RESULTS Cognitive scores declined on average at a rate of 0.04 standardized units per year (SU/y). Fish intake was associated with a slower rate of cognitive decline in mixed models adjusted for age, sex, race, education, cognitive activity, physical activity, alcohol consumption, and total energy intake. Compared with a decline rate in score of -0.100 SU/y among persons who consumed fish less than weekly, the rate was 10% slower (-0.090 SU/y) among persons who consumed 1 fish meal per week and 13% slower (-0.088 SU/y) among persons who consumed 2 or more fish meals per week. The fish association was not accounted for by cardiovascular-related conditions or fruit and vegetable consumption but was modified after adjustment for intakes of saturated, polyunsaturated, and trans fats. There was little evidence that the omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids were associated with cognitive change. CONCLUSIONS Fish consumption may be associated with slower cognitive decline with age. Further study is needed to determine whether fat composition is the relevant dietary constituent.
Change of lumbar motion after multi-level posterior dynamic stabilization with bioflex system : 1 year follow up.

OBJECTIVE This study examined the change of range of motion (ROM) at the segments within the dynamic posterior stabilization, segments above and below the system, the clinical course and analyzed the factors influencing them. METHODS This study included a consecutive 27 patients who underwent one-level to three-level dynamic stabilization with Bioflex system at our institute. All of these patients with degenerative disc disease underwent decompressive laminectomy with/without discectomy and dynamic stabilization with Bioflex system at the laminectomy level without fusion. Visual analogue scale (VAS) scores for back and leg pain, whole lumbar lordosis (from L1 to S1), ROMs from preoperative, immediate postoperative, 1.5, 3, 6, 12 months at whole lumbar (from L1 to S1), each instrumented levels, and one segment above and below this instrumentation were evaluated. RESULTS VAS scores for leg and back pain decreased significantly throughout the whole study period. Whole lumbar lordosis remained within preoperative range, ROM of whole lumbar and instrumented levels showed a significant decrease. ROM of one level upper and lower to the instrumentation increased, but statistically invalid. There were also 5 cases of complications related with the fixation system. CONCLUSION Bioflex posterior dynamic stabilization system supports operation-induced unstable, destroyed segments and assists in physiological motion and stabilization at the instrumented level, decrease back and leg pain, maintain preoperative lumbar lordotic angle and reduce ROM of whole lumbar and instrumented segments. Prevention of adjacent segment degeneration and complication rates are something to be reconsidered through longer follow up period.
The Effects of Eight Weeks Selected Aerobic Exercises on Sleep Quality of Middle-Aged Non-Athlete Females

Background: Sleep is considered as one of the most important factors, directly influencing mental and physical health components. In the last decade, low sleep quality - i.e. poor sleep - has become one of the major problems of the individuals, especially in middle-aged women. Low quality sleep also directly influences memory, functional components, nutrition, and mood. Objectives: This study aims to detect the effect of selected aerobic exercises on sleep quality in non-athlete middle-aged women. Materials and Methods: Fifteen non-athlete middle-aged women participated in this study, all of them suffered from insomnia. Pittsburgh questionnaire was used for determining sleep quality in this sample. Four indices including sleep duration, sleep disturbance, sleep latency, and sleep efficiency have been investigated through this. The period of exercises included eight weeks, three one-hour sessions each week. The sample group was trained during eight weeks through performance of selected aerobic exercises including three groups: sequential movements equip mental movement and movements on the pad. The selected protocol included performance of exercises: 10 minutes for warm up, 10 minutes for sequential movements, 20 minutes for movements by using equipment, 15 minutes for movements performed on the pad, and 5 minutes for cooling down. The exercises during the first four weeks have been presented with 60% increase of the heart rate, and 75% increase during the second four weeks. The sample group was provided with Pittsburgh questionnaire at the beginning of the exercises and the end of each week. The information of each person was registered. Results: The results showed that the mean of sleep duration, sleep disturbance, sleep latency, and sleep efficiency indices significantly reduced 32%, 22%, 30%, 14% and 36%, respectively. The results also showed that the trend of changes in sleep duration, sleep disturbance, sleep latency, and sleep efficiency indices had significant descending trend. Conclusions: We concluded that eight weeks of aerobic exercises can significantly increase sleep quality in middle-aged women.
Morphologic and Allozyme Analyses of European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus (L. 1758)) in the Black, Marmara and Aegean Seas

The morphologic and genetic variations of Engraulis encrasicolus (L. 1758) were studied based on morphometric, meristic and allozyme analyses. Samples were collected throughout the Black, Marmara and Aegean Seas. Discriminant function analysis of both morphometric and meristic characters indicated the existence of four morphologically differentiated groups of E. encrasicolus. The Aegean Sea and Marmara Sea samples were the most isolated from all others for morphometric and meristic characters. Genetic analyses indicated great variability but suggested low levels of differentiation in the eastern Black Sea samples. However, the low genetic distance between this and other samples suggests the existence of hybridization between the Azov and eastern Black Sea populations. Nonetheless, genetic analysis showed that these levels were significant and the population structure should be analysed using markers able to detect a greater degree of population differentiation.