Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The current single exhalation method of measuring exhales nitric oxide is affected by airway calibre.

The authors have observed that some patients with acute exacerbations of asthma do not have substantially higher levels of exhaled nitric oxide (NO). The study examined whether this could be explained by the effect of airway calibre on exhaled NO. Exhaled NO, height and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) were measured in 12 steroid-naive asthmatics and 17 normal subjects. For comparison, another group of patients with airways disease (34 cystic fibrosis patients) were also studied. In 20 asthmatics (on various doses of inhaled steroids, 0-3,200 microg x day-1), exhaled NO was measured before and after histamine challenge (immediately after reaching the provocative concentration causing a 20% fall in FEV1) and in 12 of these patients, also after nebulized salbutamol to restore FEV1 to baseline. Studies were also conducted to examine possible confounding effects of repeated spirometry (as would occur in histamine challenge) and nebulized salbutamol alone in exhaled NO levels. Exhaled NO was measured using a single exhalation method with a chemiluminescence analyser at a constant flow rate and mouth pressure. There was a significant correlation between FEV1 and exhaled NO in steroid naive asthmatics (r=0.9, p<0.001) and cystic fibrosis patients (r=-0.48, p<0.05) but not in normal subjects (r=-0.13, p=0.61). Exhaled NO decreased significantly after histamine challenge and returned to baseline after bronchodilation by nebulized salbutamol (mean+/-SEM: 23.6+/-3.6 parts per billion (ppb) (prehistamine), 18.2+/-2.7 ppb (posthistamine) and 23.6+/-3.8 ppb (postsalbutamol) p=0.001). Repeated spirometry and nebulized salbutamol did not affect exhaled NO measurements significantly. Exhaled nitric oxide levels appear to be lower in circumstances of smaller airway diameter. Hence, within a subject nitric oxide levels may be artefactually decreased during bronchoconstriction. This may be caused by increased airflow velocity in constricted airways when the exhalation rate is kept constant.
VTEC O117:K1:H7 A new clonal group of E. coli associated with persistent diarrhoea in Danish travellers

20 patients were infected with a new group of verocytotoxin-producing E. coli (VTEC) strains of serotype O117:K1:H7 during a 5-y period. The main symptoms were persistent watery diarrhoea with abdominal cramps; 2 persons of the 20 were healthy carriers. The duration of gastrointestinal symptoms in patients was median 11 weeks with 80% being ill for more than 30 d. In 19 cases the infection was acquired during travel (Asia, Africa and Cuba), and 1 case was laboratory acquired. All strains were positive for the vtx1 gene and negative for the vtx2, the eae, the saa and the ehxA genes. 13 strains (65%) were resistant to 4 or more antimicrobial agents. By PFGE using the restriction enzyme XbaI, the strains were clonally related, but not identical. O117:K1:H7 is a clonal group of VTEC that should be considered in patients returning from Africa and Asia with long-lasting watery diarrhoea.
Pulse Broadening in Quantum-Dot Mode-Locked Semiconductor Lasers: Simulation, Analysis, and Experiments

We consider a mode-locked (ML) quantum-dot (QD) edge-emitting semiconductor laser consisting of a reverse-biased saturable absorber and a forward-biased amplifying section. To describe the dynamics of this laser, we use the traveling wave model taking into account carrier exchange processes between a reservoir and the QDs. A comprehensive parameter study is presented and an analysis of mode-locking pulse broadening with an increase of injection current is performed. The results of our theoretical analysis are supported by experimental data demonstrating a strong pulse asymmetry in a monolithic two-section QD laser.
Tumor Size of Invasive Breast Cancer on Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Conventional Imaging (Mammogram/Ultrasound): Comparison with Pathological Size and Clinical Implications

Background and Aim: In Landspitali University Hospital, magnetic resonance imaging is used non-selectively in addition to mammogram and ultrasound in the preoperative assessment of breast cancer patients. The aim of this study was to assess invasive tumor size on imaging, compare with pathological size and evaluate the impact of magnetic resonance imaging on the type of surgery performed. Material and Methods: All women with invasive breast cancer, diagnosed in Iceland, between 2007 and 2009 were reviewed retrospectively. In all, 438 of 641 (68%) patients diagnosed had preoperative magnetic resonance imaging. Twelve patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy were excluded and 65 patients with multifocal or contralateral disease were assessed separately. Results: Correlations between microscopic and radiologic tumor sizes were relatively weak. All imaging methods were inaccurate especially for large tumors, resulting in an overall underestimation of tumor size for these tumors. Magnetic resonance imaging under- and overestimated pathological tumor size by more than 10 mm in 16/348 (4.6%) and 26/348 patients (7.5%), respectively. In 19 patients (73%), overestimation of size was seen exclusively on magnetic resonance imaging. For tumors under- or overestimated by magnetic resonance imaging, the mastectomy rates were 56% and 65%, respectively, compared to an overall mastectomy rate of 43%. Of 51 patients diagnosed with multifocal disease on pathology, 19 (37%) were diagnosed by mammogram or ultrasound and 40 (78%) by magnetic resonance imaging resulting in a total detection rate of 84% (43 patients). Fourteen (3%) patients were diagnosed preoperatively with contralateral disease. Of those tumors, all were detected on magnetic resonance imaging but seven (50%) were also detected on mammogram or ultrasound or both. Conclusion: Our results suggest that routine use of magnetic resonance imaging may result in both under- and overestimation of tumor size and increase mastectomy rates in a small proportion of patients. Magnetic resonance imaging aids in the diagnosis of contralateral and multifocal disease.
Variational bayes inference of spatial mixture models for segmentation

Mixture models are commonly used in the statistical segmentation of images. For example, they can be used for the segmentation of structural medical images into different matter types, or of statistical parametric maps into activating and nonactivating brain regions in functional imaging. Spatial mixture models have been developed to augment histogram information with spatial regularization using Markov random fields (MRFs). In previous work, an approximate model was developed to allow adaptive determination of the parameter controlling the strength of spatial regularization. Inference was performed using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling. However, this approach is prohibitively slow for large datasets. In this work, a more efficient inference approach is presented. This combines a variational Bayes approximation with a second-order Taylor expansion of the components of the posterior distribution, which would otherwise be intractable to Variational Bayes. This provides inference on fully adaptive spatial mixture models an order of magnitude faster than MCMC. We examine the behavior of this approach when applied to artificial data with different spatial characteristics, and to functional magnetic resonance imaging statistical parametric maps
Influences on cooperation in BitTorrent communities

We collect BitTorrent usage data across multiple file-sharing communities and analyze the factors that affect users' cooperative behavior. We find evidence that the design of the BitTorrent protocol results in increased cooperative behavior over other P2P protocols used to share similar content (e.g. Gnutella). We also investigate two additional community-specific mechanisms that foster even more cooperation.
NBN Gene Polymorphisms and Cancer Susceptibility: A Systemic Review

The relationship between DNA repair failure and cancer is well established as in the case of rare, high penetrant genes in high cancer risk families. Beside this, in the last two decades, several studies have investigated a possible association between low penetrant polymorphic variants in genes devoted to DNA repair pathways and risk for developing cancer. This relationship would be also supported by the observation that DNA repair processes may be modulated by sequence variants in DNA repair genes, leading to susceptibility to environmental carcinogens. In this framework, the aim of this review is to provide the reader with the state of the art on the association between common genetic variants and cancer risk, limiting the attention to single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the NBN gene and providing the various odd ratios (ORs). In this respect, the NBN protein, together with MRE11 and RAD50, is part of the MRN complex which is a central player in the very early steps of sensing and processing of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), in telomere maintenance, in cell cycle control, and in genomic integrity in general. So far, many papers were devoted to ascertain possible association between common synonymous and non-synonymous NBN gene polymorphisms and increased cancer risk. However, the results still remain inconsistent and inconclusive also in meta-analysis studies for the most investigated E185Q NBN miscoding variant.
Las actitudes en la reforma: un aspecto de la educación emocional

La actual ley de educacion en Espana (L.O.G.S.E.) considera a las actitudes como unos contenidos curriculares que deben de ensenarse en la escuela. Sin embargo ni la promocion de las actitudes ni su evaluacion son tareas faciles para el educador. Ello se debe, sobre todo, al hecho de que el termino ? actitud? adolece de la necesaria claridad conceptual. En nuestra opinion, las disposiciones actitudinales se corresponden con determinados estados afectivos que predisponen a los individuos a actuar en el sentido que dichos estados prescriben. De este modo, la formacion de las actitudes puede considerarse como un aspecto de la educacion emocional que los profesores deben promover con independencia de si pertenecen a una u otra area de conocimiento.
Role of leukotrienes in exercise-induced bronchoconstriction before and after a pilot rehabilitation training program

Background Whatever the initial stimulus for the exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) observed in asthmatic patients after exercise, the final effect is release of bronchoactive mediators, especially cysteinyl leukotrienes. Exercise rehabilitation training programs have been reported to protect against EIB. The exact mechanism(s) involved are not well understood. However, this protective effect may be related to adaptation and better coordination during exercise, depletion of cysteinyl leukotrienes, and/or a sluggish cysteinyl leukotriene response to exercise. The aim of the present work was to test the hypothesis that improvement in the incidence and severity of post-exercise bronchoconstriction after a rehabilitation training program is related to a change in leukotriene levels in response to exercise. Methods Twenty asthmatic children aged 6–12 years and known to develop EIB were enrolled in an exercise training program for 12 weeks. The severity and incidence of EIB before and after training was assessed. Baseline and post-exercise sputum cysteinyl leukotriene levels were assessed before and after the training program. Results The training program offered significant protection against EIB with a concomitant decrease in sputum cysteinyl leukotriene levels in response to exercise. Conclusion A training program can result in depletion and/or a sluggish cysteinyl leukotriene response to exercise and may be responsible for the protective effect of training programs on EIB. It is recommended to use an exercise rehabilitation training program as a complementary tool in the management of bronchial asthma, especially EIB.
Use of tissue-type plasminogen activator for acute ischemic stroke: the Cleveland area experience.

CONTEXT Little is known regarding outcomes after intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator (IV tPA) therapy for acute ischemic stroke outside a trial setting. OBJECTIVE To assess the rate of IV tPA use, the incidence of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), and in-hospital patient outcomes throughout a large urban community. DESIGN Historical prospective cohort study conducted from July 1997 through June 1998. SETTING Twenty-nine hospitals in the Cleveland, Ohio, metropolitan area. PATIENTS A total of 3948 patients admitted to a study hospital with a primary diagnosis of ischemic stroke (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification code 434 or 436). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Rate of IV tPA use and occurrence of symptomatic ICH among patients treated with tPA; proportion of patients receiving tPA whose treatment deviated from national guidelines; in-hospital mortality among patients receiving tPA compared with that among ischemic stroke patients not receiving tPA and with mortality predicted by a model. RESULTS Seventy patients (1.8%) admitted with ischemic stroke received IV tPA. Of those, 11 patients (15.7%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 8.1%-26.4%) had a symptomatic ICH (of which 6 were fatal) and 50% (95% CI, 37.8%-62.2%) had deviations from national treatment guidelines. In-hospital mortality was significantly higher among patients treated with tPA (15.7%) compared with patients not receiving tPA (5.1%, P<.001) and compared with the model's prediction (7.9%; P<.006). CONCLUSIONS A small proportion of patients admitted with acute ischemic stroke in Cleveland received tPA; they experienced a high rate of ICH. Cleveland community experience with tPA for acute ischemic stroke may differ from that reported in clinical trials.
A Clinical Approach to Common Cardiovascular Disorders When There Is a Family History

In the past decade, the discovery that cases of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death (SCD) in young individuals potentially could be caused by an unrecognized genetic substrate has defined a new subset of cardiac conditions: inherited arrhythmogenic diseases (IADs). 1 Although rare in clinical practice, these diseases are more common than previously thought. They represent a challenge for the arrhythmia specialist in terms of diagnosis and clinical management. The correct diagnosis of IADs, as well as the use and interpretation of the results of genetic testing, are not straightforward and require a specific expertise such as that provided by specialized and dedicated centers. Here we will review the general issues arising from the correct interpretation of genetic testing and its indications. We also will focus on the clinical management and use of genetic information in different inherited arrhythmias. Cardiac Channelopathies The term “channelopathies” defines a group of inherited arrhythmic syndromes caused by mutations on genes encoding for ion channel proteins and proteins that regulate ion channels. 1 These mutations disrupt the balance of currents in the cardiac action potential, favoring the onset of lifethreatening arrhythmias in the absence of structural heart defects.
Vocal-tract modeling: fractional elongation of segment lengths in a waveguide model with half-sample delays

Digital waveguide models are commonly used for simulating vocal-tract acoustics based on physiological data. In particular, waveguide models with half-sample delays are known to be well suited for speech production research. This paper presents enhancements to such a model, aimed at improved accuracy in mapping physiological vocal-tract data (shape and length of the airway) to waveguide parameters. The enhancements allow the length of the vocal tract to be continuously varied, thus enabling more realistic synthesis. This is achieved by smoothly varying the individual segment lengths of a piecewise-cylindrical representation of the airway, without altering the system sampling frequency. Fractional-delay filters are used for spatial interpolation of the digital waveguide model. The algorithms are validated by modeling the protrusion of lips, lowering of larynx and lengthening of intermediate segments for a static vowel shape
Frequency of fimbriation of nontypable Haemophilus influenzae and its ability to adhere to chinchilla and human respiratory epithelium

To date, we have examined nearly 60 clinical isolates of nontypable Haemophilus influenzae (26 nasopharyngeal, 33 from middle ear effusions) and have found that 100% were fimbriated. The percentage of cells bearing fimbriae within each isolate varied from less than 10 to 100%, with fimbriae being either peritrichous or bipolar in distribution. Fimbriae were approximately 2.4 to 3.6 nm in width; however, there was a high degree of variability in both length and number of fimbriae per individual bacterial cell among these isolates. All isolates tested adhered to both human oropharyngeal cells and chinchilla tracheal epithelium regardless of the degree to which the particular isolate was fimbriate. The level or degree of fimbriation did not correlate with either site of isolation, biotype, strength of hemagglutination reaction, or type of effusion present in the ear. These appendages appear to be quite different from those described for type b H. influenzae in which the ability to adhere and strength of ability to hemagglutinate correlated strongly with degree of fimbriation.
Prospects of barcoding the Italian wild dendroflora: oaks reveal severe limitations to tracking species identity

DNA barcoding may be particularly important in influencing ecology, economic issues, and the fundamental crisis facing biodiversity as a standardized, species‐level identification tool for taxonomy assessment. Trees play important roles in the conservation of many land ecosystems, the wood trade, and the definition of biogeographical processes; nevertheless, peculiar biological, evolutionary and taxonomical features will probably constitute an intriguing challenge to barcoders. We examined whether four marker regions (trnh‐psba, rbcL, rpoc1, matK) proposed by the Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) matched species taxonomy in a preliminary tree biodiversity survey of Italian forested land. Our objective was to provide a test of future in situ applications of DNA barcodes by evaluating the efficacy of species discrimination under the criteria of uniformity of methods and natural co‐occurrence of the species in the main forest ecosystems. Fifty‐two species were included in a floristic study. We obtained 73% total discrimination success, with trnH‐psbA as the best performing marker and oaks as the least responsive plants to the markers used. A further taxon‐based study of Quercus (thirty specimens, 12 species) revealed that this genus is refractory to barcoding (0% discrimination success), a probable consequence of low variation rate at the plastid genome level, hybridization, and the incidence of biogeography. We conclude that some species‐rich tree genera in small geographical regions may prove exceptionally difficult to barcode. Until more efficient markers are developed, we recommend that improved and diversified sampling (multiple locations of sympatric and co‐occurring congenerics) be embraced as a timely and important goal for the precise assessment of haplotype specificity to facilitate the productive application of barcoding in practice.
Who Should Care for the Elderly? an East-West Value Divide

Who Should Care for the Elderly? An East-West Value Divide. William T Liu & Hal Kendig (Eds.). Singapore: Singapore University Press. 2001. 356 pp. ISBN 9971-69-232-5. $48.00 cloth. This book includes an excellent collection of articles on critical issues of caregiving emerging from two different social contexts, the East and the West. It includes papers presented at an invited conference on East-West Values in Elder Care, organized by William Liu and convened in Hong Kong in 1996. Seven papers in part I address the Western perspective. The opening chapter by Montgomery, Borgatta, and Borgatta focuses on three critical aspects necessary to understanding the provision of care: the parties involved, the context, and the values of the participants. These authors discuss empirical data from a study of caregiving burden in the United States. They propose an approach to caregiving that recognizes the needs of caregivers and recipients; incorporates family and community support when necessary; and recommends public policy that, while acknowledging the role of values, is primarily based on rational analysis and oriented toward practical problems. The paper by Marvin Sussman on intergenerational relationships presents one example of such policy. Although creative, his proposed initiative to formalize intergenerational care through a family contract leaves many details unanswered as to how it might serve some families. The qualitative study by Allen Glicksman focuses on caregiving situations in which values and specific socioeconomic aspects interact to produce a greater diversity within the U.S. context of caring for the elderly. Alan Walker's contribution is a call to develop and implement caregiving policies in the European countries to generate practical actions and innovations, in particular strategies promoting participation of service users in decisions about their social care. Hal Kendig provides an interpretation of the Australian experiences in intergenerational support indicating that family care is still the norm and that past policies in support of aged care have strengthened family ties and provided a community safety net for dependent individuals. The last two contributions-by Ken Blakemore on the caregiving experiences of migrants and by Richard Hugman on the phenomenon of elder abuse-illustrate the interaction of cultural and social elements of caregiving in the West. The Eastern perspective opens with a discussion on caregiving from a social exchange theory by Ying-Yi Hong and William Liu. They focus on the role of expectations and perceptions of care to understand the dynamics of the caregiving relationship in a Confucian context. Based on secondary data of language accommodation (baby talk), they illustrate the interaction of the caregiver's expectations and the care receiver's attributes (e. …
Towards a characterization of crowdsourcing practices

The word Crowdsourcing -a compound contraction of Crowd and Outsourcing, was used by Howe in order to define outsourcing to the crowd. The Crowdsourcing phenomenon covers heterogeneous situations and it has inspired a number of authors. However, we are still lacking a general and synthetic view of this concept. The aim of our work is to characterize Crowdsourcing in its various aspects. First we define of Crowdsourcing, and provide examples that illustrate the diversity of Crowdsourcing practices and we present similarities and differences between Crowdsourcing and established theories (Open Innovation, User Innovation and Open Source Software). Then, we propose and illustrate a typology of Crowdsourcing practices based on two criteria: the integrative or selective nature of the process and the type of tasks that are crowdsourced (simple, complex and creative tasks). Finally, we present some potential benefits and pitfalls of Crowdsourcing.