Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Non-Orthogonal Unicast and Broadcast Transmission via Joint Beamforming and LDM in Cellular Networks

Limited bandwidth resources and higher energy efficiency requirements motivate incorporating multicast and broadcast transmission into the next-generation cellular network architectures, particularly for multimedia streaming applications. Layered division multiplexing (LDM), a form of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), can potentially improve unicast throughput and broadcast coverage with respect to traditional orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (FDM) or time division multiplexing (TDM), by simultaneously using the same frequency and time resources for multiple unicast or broadcast transmissions. In this paper, the performance of LDM-based unicast and broadcast transmission in a cellular network is studied by assuming a single frequency network (SFN) operation for the broadcast layer, while allowing arbitrarily clustered cooperation among the base stations (BSs) for the transmission of unicast data streams. Beamforming and power allocation between unicast and broadcast layers, the so-called injection level in the LDM literature, are optimized with the aim of minimizing the sum-power under constraints on the user-specific unicast rates and on the common broadcast rate. The effects of imperfect channel coding and imperfect channel state information (CSI) are also studied to gain insights into robust implementation in practical systems. The non-convex optimization problem is tackled by means of successive convex approximation (SCA) techniques. Performance upper bounds are also presented by means of the S-procedure followed by semidefinite relaxation (SDR). Finally, a dual decomposition-based solution is proposed to facilitate an efficient distributed implementation of LDM in each of the SCA subproblems, where the unicast beamforming vectors can be obtained locally by the cooperating BSs. Numerical results are presented, which show the tightness of the proposed bounds and hence the near-optimality of the proposed solutions.
Omalizumab for Urticarial Vasculitis: Case Report and Review of the Literature

Urticarial vasculitis is characterised by inflamed itching or burning red patches or wheals that resemble urticaria but persist for greater than 24 hours. It is often idiopathic but is sometimes associated with collagen-vascular disease, particularly systemic lupus erythematosus. Treatment options include oral antihistamines, oral corticosteroids, dapsone, colchicine or hydroxychloroquine. We describe a male patient with urticarial vasculitis who was treated with omalizumab (anti-IgE) with convincing results and provide a review of previous reports of patients with urticarial vasculitis treated with omalizumab.
Rationale for redefining obesity in Asians.

INTRODUCTION There has been extensive research on defining the appropriate body mass index (BMI) cut-off point for being overweight and obese in the Asian population since the World Health Organisation (WHO) Expert Consultation Meeting in 2002. MATERIALS AND METHODS We reviewed the literature on the optimal BMI cut-off points for Asian populations. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, National Institute for Health Research Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (NHS CRD) Database, Cochrane Library and Google. Attempts to identify further studies were made by examining the reference lists of all retrieved articles. There were 18 articles selected for the review. RESULTS There were 13 studies which have identified the BMI cut-off points for Asian populations lower than the international BMI cut-off points recommended by the WHO. Many of the studies have recommended lowering BMI cut-off point specific for Asian populations. A few studies concurred with the recommended cut-off point for Asian populations recommended by International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO), the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) and the WHO in 2002. Asian populations were also noted to have higher cardiovascular risk factors than Western populations at any BMI level. CONCLUSIONS Further research would be needed to look at the all-cause mortality at same BMI levels between Asians and Caucasians in order to evaluate the BMI cut-off recommendations for Asian populations. It is necessary to develop and redefine appropriate BMI cut-off points which are country-specific and ethnic-specific for Asians. These will facilitate the development of appropriate preventive interventions to address the public health problem posed by obesity.
Quantification of Endoglucanase Activity based on Carboxymethyl Cellulose in Four Fungi Isolated from an Aerated Lagoon in a Pulp and Paper Mill

The aim of this study was to identify cellulolytic fungal strains capable of degrading cellulose from an aerated lagoon in a pulp and paper mill. Four fungal strains that were found to be highly active were isolated on carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and suggested to be CMCase/endoglucanase. The identified strains were Aspergillus niger, Penicillium sp. , Aspergillus fumigatus, and Mucor sp. All the strains were studied in terms of cultural morphological characteristics and microscopic examinations. The endoglucanase with the highest isolate production was Penicillium sp. , which also showed the highest qualitative endoglucanase activity (1.3 cm), in addition to the main activity of endoglucanase with 297 mmol/mg.min after 116 h. The results indicated that CMC is able to induce endoglucanase enzyme production and that the fungal isolates showed significant cellulose degradation properties.
Lightweight aggregate concrete : science, technology, and applications

In spite of the increasing use and demand for lightweight aggregate concrete (LWAC), there is still a lack of adequate explanations to understand the mechanisms responsible for the strength and durability properties of LWAC. This book is written to give an overall picture of LWAC, from the historical background, aggregate production, proportioning and production of concrete, to applications in structures. Physical properties and chemical durability are described in detail. The physical properties include density, strength, shrinkage, and elasticity. Chemical durability includes resistance to acids, chloride ingress, carbonation, and freeze-thaw resistance. Fire resistance is also included, which is seldom considered, but is a very important aspect of the safety of the structure.Microstructure development and its relation to the durability properties of LWAC generally are not highlighted in the literature. The development of bonds, the microstructure with different binder systems, and different types of lightweight aggregates are explained. They show how lightweight aggregate concrete differs from normal weight concrete. The chapters on chloride ingress and freeze-thaw resistance are detailed because of the use of LWAC in offshore construction. The economical aspects of using LWAC are also reviewed. Emphasis is placed on the fact that although the cost of LWAC is high, the total cost of construction has to be considered, including the cost of transport, reinforcement, etc. When these are considered then LWAC becomes cheaper and attractive. The life cycle cost of the concrete is another consideration for calculating long-term savings on maintenance costs.
Three-dimensional fusion of coronary arteries with myocardial perfusion distributions: clinical validation.

UNLABELLED Clinical decisions regarding diagnosis and effective treatment of coronary artery disease frequently require integration of information from various imaging modalities, which are acquired, processed, and read at different physical locations and times. We have developed methods to integrate the information in 2 cardiac imaging studies, perfusion SPECT and coronary angiography. Three-dimensional (3D) models of the coronary artery tree created from biplane angiograms were automatically aligned with 3D models of the left ventricular epicardial surface created from perfusion SPECT. Myocardial mass at risk was used as a unique measure to validate the accuracy of the unification. METHODS Thirty patients were injected with the perfusion agent (99m)Tc-tetrosfosmin during balloon occlusion while undergoing percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty for single-vessel coronary artery disease. Thus, a single, severe perfusion defect was induced by a single coronary artery occlusion of known severity and placement. The accuracy of the unification was measured by computing the overlap between physiologic area at risk, determined using SPECT perfusion quantification techniques only, and anatomic area at risk, determined using coronary artery anatomy aligned with the epicardial surface of the left ventricle. RESULTS The unification resulted in an 80% overlap of areas at risk, and an overlap of 84% of normal areas, for all coronary artery distributions. The mass at risk measured based on the unified anatomic information correlated with the physiologically based mass at risk as y = 0.92x + 10.3 g; r = 0.76, SEE = 10.4 g. CONCLUSION A unification algorithm for automatically registering 3D models of the epicardial surface from perfusion SPECT and 3D coronary artery trees from coronary angiography has been presented and validated in 30 patient studies.
Design and implementation of a calorimetric measurement facility for determining losses in electrical machines

The measurement of the total losses of electrical machines is of most interest to designers for verifying their calculations. These measurements can be done in various ways, however, some lead to more accurate results than others. We will show why the conventional input-output procedure does not result in accurate loss figures, An alternate method is proposed. For this purpose a calorimetric measurement facility was designed and implemented. This paper is intended to present the calibration procedure for this facility, as well as results of tests performed on a 10 hp induction motor.
Dynamic Imaging of the Effector Immune Response to Listeria Infection In Vivo

Host defense against the intracellular pathogen Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) requires innate and adaptive immunity. Here, we directly imaged immune cell dynamics at Lm foci established by dendritic cells in the subcapsular red pulp (scDC) using intravital microscopy. Blood borne Lm rapidly associated with scDC. Myelomonocytic cells (MMC) swarmed around non-motile scDC forming foci from which blood flow was excluded. The depletion of scDC after foci were established resulted in a 10-fold reduction in viable Lm, while graded depletion of MMC resulted in 30–1000 fold increase in viable Lm in foci with enhanced blood flow. Effector CD8+ T cells at sites of infection displayed a two-tiered reduction in motility with antigen independent and antigen dependent components, including stable interactions with infected and non-infected scDC. Thus, swarming MMC contribute to control of Lm prior to development of T cell immunity by direct killing and sequestration from blood flow, while scDC appear to promote Lm survival while preferentially interacting with CD8+ T cells in effector sites.
18F-FDG PET Metabolic Parameters and MRI Perfusion and Diffusion Parameters in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Preliminary Study

Objectives Glucose metabolism, perfusion, and water diffusion may have a relationship or affect each other in the same tumor. The understanding of their relationship could expand the knowledge of tumor characteristics and contribute to the field of oncologic imaging. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationships between metabolism, vasculature and cellularity of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), using multimodality imaging such as 18F-FDG positron emission tomography (PET), dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE)-MRI, and diffusion weighted imaging(DWI). Materials and Methods Twenty-one patients with advanced HCC underwent 18F-FDG PET, DCE-MRI, and DWI before treatment. Maximum standard uptake values (SUVmax) from 18F-FDG-PET, variables of the volume transfer constant (Ktrans) from DCE-MRI and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) from DWI were obtained for the tumor and their relationships were examined by Spearman’s correlation analysis. The influence of portal vein thrombosis on SUVmax and variables of Ktrans and ADC was evaluated by Mann-Whitney test. Results SUVmax showed significant negative correlation with Ktrans max (ρ = −0.622, p = 0.002). However, variables of ADC showed no relationship with variables of Ktrans or SUVmax (p>0.05). Whether portal vein thrombosis was present or not did not influence the SUV max and variables of ADC and Ktrans (p>0.05). Conclusion In this study, SUV was shown to be correlated with Ktrans in advanced HCCs; the higher the glucose metabolism a tumor had, the lower the perfusion it had, which might help in guiding target therapy.
Efficient computation of the most probable motion from fuzzy correspondences

An algorithm is presented for finding the most probable image motion between two images from fuzzy point correspondences. In fuzzy correspondence a point in one image is assigned to a region in the other image. Such a region can be line (aperture effect) or a convex polygon. Noise and outliers are always present, and points may belong to different motions. The presented algorithm, which uses linear programming, recovers the motion parameters and performs outlier rejection and motion-segmentation at the same time. The linear program computes the global optimum without a need for initial guess.
Antibody-Mediated Enhancement of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infectivity Is Determined by the Structure of gp120 and Depends on Modulation of the gp120-CCR5 Interaction

ABSTRACT In this study, we characterized the viral determinants of coreceptor usage in relation to susceptibility to antibody-mediated neutralization or enhancement of infectivity by using chimeras of three highly related human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) isolates of different phenotypes. We found that the V3 region was the main determinant of antibody-mediated enhancement and coreceptor specificity but that the overall structure of gp120 was also important for these properties. Constructs susceptible to antibody-mediated enhancement preferentially use CCR5 as a coreceptor, in contrast to constructs that were neutralized or not affected. Using monoclonal antibodies directed against CD4 or CCR5, we were able to show that antibody-mediated enhancement was CD4 dependent. Altogether, our results suggest that the modulation of the interaction of gp120 with CCR5 is the mechanism underlying antibody-mediated enhancement of HIV-1 infectivity.
Impulse Noise Removal Using Directional Difference Based Noise Detector and Adaptive Weighted Mean Filter

A two-stage algorithm, called switching-based adaptive weighted mean filter, is proposed to remove salt-and-pepper noise from the corrupted images. First, the directional difference based noise detector is used to identify the noisy pixels by comparing the minimum absolute value of four mean differences between the current pixel and its neighbors in four directional windows with a predefined threshold. Then, the adaptive weighted mean filter is adopted to remove the detected impulses by replacing each noisy pixel with the weighted mean of its noise-free neighbors in the filtering window. Numerous simulations demonstrate that the proposed filter outperforms many other existing algorithms in terms of effectiveness in noise detection, image restoration and computational efficiency.
Temporal Trends of Secondhand Smoke Exposure: Nonsmoking Workers in the United States (NHANES 2001–2010)

Background: The workplace is one of the major locations outside of the home for nonsmokers’ exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS). New policies in many U.S. states and localities restrict or prohibit smoking in the workplace, and information on current trends in the exposure of nonsmokers to SHS across various occupational groups is therefore needed. Objective: We evaluated temporal trends in SHS exposure among nonsmoking workers in the United States and identified those occupations with workers with the highest levels of SHS exposure. Methods: We combined serum cotinine (sCOT) measurements and questionnaire data from five survey cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES: 2001–2010). Trends in SHS exposure by occupations were determined from percent changes and least-squares geometric means (LSGMs) of sCOT concentrations computed using sample-weighted multiple regression models. Results: Between NHANES 2001–2002 and NHANES 2009–2010, LSGMs of sCOT levels had changed –25% (95% CI: –39, –7%) in nonsmoking workers. The largest decrease was identified among food preparation workers [–54% (95% CI: –74, –19%)], followed by white-collar [–40%, (95% CI: –56, –19%)] and blue-collar workers (–32%, 95% CI: –51, –5%). LSGMs of sCOT remained highest in food preparation workers in all survey cycles, but the gap between occupations narrowed in the latest survey cycle (2009–2010). For example, the gap in LSGMs of sCOT between food preparation and science/education workers dropped > 70% during 2000 to 2010. Conclusions: During the period from 2001 to 2010, the overall SHS exposure in nonsmoking workers declined with substantial drops in food preparation/service and blue-collar workers. Although disparities persist in SHS exposure, the gaps among occupations have narrowed. Citation: Wei B, Bernert JT, Blount BC, Sosnoff CS, Wang L, Richter P, Pirkle JL. 2016. Temporal trends of secondhand smoke exposure: nonsmoking workers in the United States (NHANES 2001–2010). Environ Health Perspect 124:1568–1574; http://dx.doi. org/10.1289/EHP165
Syndecan-1 mediates cell spreading in transfected human lymphoblastoid (Raji) cells

Syndecan-1 is a cell surface proteoglycan containing a highly conserved transmembrane and cytoplasmic domain, and an extracellular domain bearing heparan sulfate glycosaminoglycans. Through these domains, syndecan-1 is proposed to have roles in growth factor action, extracellular matrix adhesion, and cytoskeletal organization that controls cell morphology. To study the role of syndecan-1 in cell adhesion and cytoskeleton reorganization, mouse syndecan-1 cDNA was transfected into human Raji cells, a lymphoblastoid cell line that grows as suspended cells and exhibits little or no endogenous cell surface heparan sulfate. High expressing transfectants (Raji-Sl cells) bind to and spread on immobilized thrombospondin or fibronectin, which are ligands for the heparan sulfate chains of the proteoglycan. This binding and spreading as not dependent on the cytoplasmic domain of the core protein, is mutants expressing core proteins with cytoplasmic deletions maintain the ability to spread. The spreading is mediated through engagement of the syndecan-1 core protein, as the Raji-S 1 cells also bind to and spread on immobilized mAb 281.2, an antibody specific for the ectodomain of the syndecan-1 core protein. Spreading on the antibody is independent of the heparan sulfate glycosaminoglycan chains and can be inhibited by competition with soluble mAb 281.2. The spreading can be inhibited by treatment with cytochalasin D or colchicine. These data suggest that the core protein of syndecan-1 mediates spreading through the formation of a multimolecular signaling complex at the cell surface that signals cytoskeleton reorganization. This complex may form via intramembrane or extracellular interactions with the syndecan core protein.
Elevated Osteopontin Levels in Patients With Peripheral Arterial Disease

This study was carried out to compare concentrations of osteopontin (OPN) and osteoprotegerin (OPG) in peripheral arterial disease (PAD). The study population consisted of 200 consecutive subjects in whom both OPN/OPG and ankle—brachial index were measured. It was found that OPN levels, but not OPG levels, were significantly more increased in patients with PAD than those without PAD. Serum OPN levels were significantly lower in subjects with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor blockers than those without these agents. In this study, it has been demonstrated for the first time that serum OPN levels are related to PAD. Inhibition of renin— angiotensin system could decrease OPN levels and prevent the progression of PAD.
The impact of prior abortion on anxiety and depression symptoms during a subsequent pregnancy: data from a population-based cohort study in China

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess anxiety and depression in women with history of spontaneous abortion or induced abortion during a subsequent pregnancy. Methods: The data were consecutively obtained from seven maternal and child health (MCH) Centers in the Anhui Province of China. The sociodemographic characteristics of the women, the number of previous pregnancies, number of living children, and gestational age of the current pregnancy were ascertained at the time of the interview. Results: The pregnant women who were in the first trimester of their pregnancy reported significantly higher scores than those in the second trimester both on SAS (Zung’s Self-Rating Anxiety Scale) and CES-D (The Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale) (SAS score means: 32.11 vs 31.68, P=0.000; CES-D score means: 4.59 vs 4.06, P=0.012). The women with a history of induced abortions were significantly more likely to report more “cases” of depression (OR = 1.543, 95% CI = 1.055- 254) and more “cases” of anxiety (OR = 2.142, 95% CI = 1.294-3.561) during the first trimester than those with no history of abortion. Controlling for confounding variables yielded similar results. However, “cases” of depression and “cases” of anxiety were equally common in women with history of spontaneous abortions and in those with no abortion history. Conclusions: These results suggest women who have experienced a previous induced abortion have omnipresent anxiety and depression symptoms during a subsequent pregnancy, especially during the first trimester.