Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predictors and treatment response with cardiac resynchronization therapy in patients with heart failure characterized by dyssynchrony: a pre-defined analysis from the CARE-HF trial.

AIMS The cardiac resynchronization therapy in heart failure trial (CARE-HF) demonstrated that cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) reduces morbidity and mortality in patients with heart failure and cardiac dyssynchrony. The aim of this study was to develop a prognostic model to evaluate the relationship between prospectively defined patient characteristics and treatment on the trial primary outcome of death from any cause or unplanned hospitalization for a major cardiovascular event. METHODS AND RESULTS A total of 813 patients were enrolled in the CARE-HF study and were followed for a mean of 29.4 months. A Cox Proportional Hazards Model was fitted to identify predictors of the primary outcome and any predictors that modified the effect of CRT. Ischaemic aetiology, more severe mitral regurgitation and increased N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide, were associated with an increased risk of death or unplanned cardiovascular hospitalization irrespective of cardiac resynchronization [Hazard ratio (HR) 1.89, 95% CI 1.45-2.46, HR 1.71, 95% CI 1.38-2.12 and HR 1.31, 95% CI 1.17-1.47, respectively] and increasing systolic blood pressure with a decreasing risk of an event (HR 0.99, 95% CI 0.98-1.00). The benefits of cardiac resynchronization were modified by systolic blood pressure and interventricular mechanical delay (IVMD). Patients with increasing systolic blood pressure appear to receive reduced benefit from CRT (HR 1.02, 95% CI 1.00-1.03), whereas those patients with more severe IVMD appear to benefit more from treatment (HR 0.99, 95% CI 0.98-1.00). CONCLUSION Patients with echocardiographic evidence of more severe cardiac dyssynchrony and low systolic blood pressure obtain greater benefit from CRT, although benefits were substantial across the range of subjects included in the trial.
Landmark-Based Methods for Temporal Alignment of Human Motions

Considerable current research is focusing on the subject of "Wellbeing and aging", which covers a wide range of solutions to help encourage elderly people to engage on routine physical exercise. In particular, elderly communities in nursing homes are usually involved in activities on rehabilitation, daily exercises and health tracking. In order to implement an automated system for elderly exercise monitoring, human motion analysis should be efficiently performed in an affordable way, and delivered in a way that the users understand. In this paper, a general framework for comparison of fitness performances in the context of basic stand-up physical activities is presented. The Microsoft Kinect device is used for motion capture. A method for key body pose prediction on human activities based on multi-class C4.5, SVM, Naive Bayes and AdaBoost classifiers is first introduced, followed by a cluster analysis to refine the obtained results. The performances achieved with the different techniques and parameters are then analyzed and the best configuration compares favorably against the DTW and HACA algorithms.
Frame-Semantic Parsing with Softmax-Margin Segmental RNNs and a Syntactic Scaffold

We present a new, efficient frame-semantic parser that labels semantic arguments to FrameNet predicates. Built using an extension to the segmental RNN that emphasizes recall, our basic system achieves competitive performance without any calls to a syntactic parser. We then introduce a method that uses phrase-syntactic annotations from the Penn Treebank during training only, through a multitask objective; no parsing is required at training or test time. This "syntactic scaffold" offers a cheaper alternative to traditional syntactic pipelining, and achieves state-of-the-art performance.
Speciation durations and Pleistocene effects on vertebrate phylogeography

An approach applied previously to avian biotas is extended in this paper to other vertebrate classes to evaluate Pleistocene phylogeographic effects and to estimate temporal spans of the speciation process (speciation durations) from mitochondrial (mt) DNA data on extant taxa. Provisional molecular clocks are used to date population separations and to bracket estimates of speciation durations between minimum and maximum values inferred from genetic distances between, respectively, extant pairs of intraspecific phylogroups and sister species. Comparisons of genetic–distance trends across the vertebrate classes reveal the following: (i) speciation durations normally entail at least two million years on average; (ii) for mammals and birds, Pleistocene conditions played an important role in initiating phylogeographic differentiation among now–extant conspecific populations as well as in further sculpting pre–existing phylogeographic variety into many of today's sister species; and (iii) for herpetofauna and fishes, inferred Pleistocene biogeographic influences on present–day taxa differ depending on alternative but currently plausible mtDNA rate calibrations.
Real-time disk scheduling in a mixed-media file system

This paper presents our real-time disk scheduler called the /spl Delta/L scheduler, which optimizes unscheduled best-effort disk requests by giving priority to best-effort disk requests while meeting real-time request deadlines. Our scheduler tries to execute real-time disk requests as much as possible in the background. Only when real-time request deadlines are endangered, our scheduler gives priority to real-time disk requests. The /spl Delta/L disk scheduler is part of our mixed-media file system called Clockwise. An essential part of our work are extensive and detailed raw disk performance measurements. These raw performance measurements are used by the /spl Delta/L disk scheduler for its real-time schedulability analysis and to decide whether scheduling a best-effort request before a real-time request violates real-time constraints. Further, the raw performance measurements are used by a Clockwise off-line simulator where a number of different disk schedulers are compared. We compare the /spl Delta/L scheduler with a prioritizing Latest Start Time (LST) scheduler and non-prioritizing EDF scheduler. The /spl Delta/L scheduler is comparable to LST in achieving low latencies for best-effort request under light to moderate real-time loads and better in achieving low latencies for best-effort requests for extreme real-time loads. The simulator is calibrated to an actual Clockwise.
Sequential analysis of chemically induced hepatoma development in rats by two dimensional electrophoresis.

Using the Solt-Farber hepatocarcinogenesis model, a large population of preneoplastic and neoplastic nodules were induced in male Fischer 344 rats. Total cellular polypeptides from normal liver and individual preneoplastic and neoplastic nodules were analyzed for both qualitative and quantitative changes using computer assisted high resolution two-dimensional electrophoresis. Approximately 800-1000 cytosolic and 1200-1400 membrane associated polypeptides were readily separated and detected using an ultrasensitive silver stain. The polypeptide patterns were remarkably similar for each tissue and only four qualitative polypeptide differences were noted. One cytosolic polypeptide, 6.8/57 (designated pl/Mr X 10(-3), and three membrane associated polypeptides, 6.25/41, 6.75/24, and 6.05/21, were expressed in both preneoplastic and neoplastic nodules but not in normal liver. No qualitative polypeptide differences were detected among the individual preneoplastic or individual neoplastic nodules or between preneoplastic and neoplastic nodules. Numerous quantitative changes in both known markers for hepatocarcinogenesis and in as yet unidentified polypeptides were noted. In particular, the Ya subunit of glutathione S-transferase B, the Yb subunit of glutathione S-transferase A, as well as the three isoelectric point variants of the Yp subunit of glutathione S-transferase P were increased 2-, 4-, and 7-fold, respectively, in preneoplastic and neoplastic nodules. Whereas DT-diaphorase was increased 2-3-fold in hyperplastic nodules as compared to normal liver, no differences in the expression of albumin were noted. Although no differences were observed in the expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase in preneoplastic and neoplastic nodules, polypeptide b (6.9/54) was shifted slightly toward the basic region in normal liver. alpha-Fetoprotein was not detected in either preneoplastic or neoplastic nodules. In addition to these changes in known markers, comparison of 500-800 cytosolic and 750-1000 membrane associated polypeptides showed that roughly 4-10% of the polypeptides were undergoing quantitative changes of at least 4-fold during these stages of hepatocarcinogenesis. Thirty (10 cytosolic and 20 membrane) polypeptides were significantly down-regulated while 22 (7 cytosolic and 15 membrane) polypeptides were up-regulated in both preneoplastic and neoplastic nodules. In all cases the direction and magnitude of change were the same in both preneoplastic and neoplastic nodules with the exception of three polypeptides. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Obesity‐related hypertension: Pathogenesis, cardiovascular risk, and treatment—A position paper of the The Obesity Society and the American Society of Hypertension

In light of the worldwide epidemic of obesity, and in recognition of hypertension as a major factor in the cardiovascular morbidity and mortality associated with obesity, The Obesity Society and The American Society of Hypertension agreed to jointly sponsor a position paper on obesity‐related hypertension to be published jointly in the journals of each society. The purpose is to inform the members of both societies, as well as practicing clinicians, with a timely review of the association between obesity and high blood pressure, the risk that this association entails, and the options for rational, evidenced‐based treatment. The position paper is divided into six sections plus a summary as follows: pathophysiology, epidemiology and cardiovascular risk, the metabolic syndrome, lifestyle management in prevention and treatment, pharmacologic treatment of hypertension in the obese, and the medical and surgical treatment of obesity in obese hypertensive patients. Obesity (2012)
Novel processing aids for extrusion of polyethylene

Commercially available thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) based on block copolymers of diisocyanates and polyols (i.e., TPUEs) were used to delay sharkskin and stick‐slip instabilities in the extrusion of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE). When TPUE is added in a small mass fraction to LLDPE, it deposits at the die surface during extrusion and may postpone the onset of sharkskin instability to a 12–20 times higher rate of extrusion. Substantial delay of sharkskin was also achieved under conditions without slip of molten PE inside the die coated by TPUEs. Efficiency to delay the instabilities depends on elasticity of TPUE at processing temperature. The TPUEs could be a cost‐effective substitution of fluorinated polymers such as processing aid, lubricant and release agent in the processing of polyethylene by extrusion, blow molding, and injection molding. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL. , 11:127–131, 2005. © 2005 Society of Plastics Engineers
F1000 highlights

CONTEXT Obesity has been implicated as a risk factor for pancreatic cancer. OBJECTIVE To demonstrate the association of excess body weight across an age cohort and the risk, age of onset, and overall survival of patients with pancreatic cancer. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A case-control study of 841 patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma and 754 healthy individuals frequency matched by age, race, and sex. The study was conducted at a university cancer center in the United States from 2004 to 2008. Height and body weight histories were collected by personal interview starting at ages 14 to 19 years and over 10-year intervals progressing to the year prior to recruitment in the study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The associations between patients' body mass index (BMI) and risk of pancreatic cancer, age at onset, and overall survival were examined by unconditional logistic regression, linear regression, and Cox proportional hazard regression models, respectively. RESULTS Individuals who were overweight (a BMI of 25-29.9) from the ages of 14 to 39 years (highest odds ratio [OR], 1.67; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.20-2.34) or obese (a BMI > or = 30) from the ages of 20 to 49 years (highest OR, 2.58; 95% CI, 1.70-3.90) had an associated increased risk of pancreatic cancer, independent of diabetes status. The association was stronger in men (adjusted OR, 1.80; 95% CI, 1.45-2.23) by mean BMI from the ages of 14 to 59 years than in women (adjusted OR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.02-1.70) and in ever smokers (adjusted OR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.37-2.22) than in never smokers (adjusted OR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.16-1.84). The population-attributable risk percentage of pancreatic cancer based on the mean BMI from the ages of 14 to 59 years was 10.3% for never smokers and 21.3% for ever smokers. Individuals who were overweight or obese from the ages of 20 to 49 years had an earlier onset of pancreatic cancer by 2 to 6 years (median age of onset was 64 years for patients with normal weight, 61 years for overweight patients [P = .02], and 59 years for obese patients [P < .001]). Compared with those with normal body weight and after adjusting for all clinical factors, individuals who were overweight or obese from the ages of 30 to 79 years or in the year prior to recruitment had reduced overall survival of pancreatic cancer regardless of disease stage and tumor resection status (overweight patients: hazard ratio, 1.26 [95% CI, 0.94-1.69], P = .04; obese patients: hazard ratio, 1.86 [95% CI, 1.35-2.56], P < .001). CONCLUSIONS Overweight or obesity during early adulthood was associated with a greater risk of pancreatic cancer and a younger age of disease onset. Obesity at an older age was associated with a lower overall survival in patients with pancreatic cancer.
On the Improvement of AA2024 Wear Properties through the Deposition of a Cold-Sprayed Titanium Coating

This paper deals with the study of the enhancement of the tribological properties of AA2024 through the deposition of a titanium coating. In particular two different coatings were studied: (1) untreated titanium coating; and (2) post-deposition laser-treated titanium coating. Titanium grade 2 powders were deposited onto an aluminium alloy AA2024-T3 sheet through the cold gas dynamic spray process. The selective laser post treatment was carried out by using a 220 W diode laser to further enhance the wear properties of the coating. Tribo-tests were executed to analyse the tribological behaviour of materials in contact with an alternative moving counterpart under a controlled normal load. Four different samples were tested to assess the effectiveness of the treatments: untreated aluminium sheets, titanium grade 2 sheets, as-sprayed titanium powders and the laser-treated coating layer. The results obtained proved the effectiveness of the coating in improving the tribological behaviour of the AA2024. In particular the laser-treated coating showed the best results in terms of both the friction coefficient and mass lost. The laser treatment promotes a change of the wear mechanism, switching from a severe adhesive wear, resulting in galling, to an abrasive wear mechanism.
Retrospective study using MRI to measure depths of acupuncture points in neck and shoulder region

Objectives There are safety issues associated with acupuncture treatment. Previous studies regarding needling depth of acupuncture points revealed inconsistent results due to vague depth definition, acupuncture point localisation and measuring tools. The objective of this study is to find and compare the differences of the mean depths of 11 acupuncture points in the neck and shoulder region between subjects, with variables including gender and body mass index (BMI). Setting This study was conducted at a single medical center in Taiwan. Participants Three hundred and ninety-four participants were included in this study. Participants were grouped according to gender and BMI. Acupuncture points were localised by WHO standard and measured by MRI. Outcome measures The distance from the needle insertion point (surface of the skin) to any tissues that would cause possible/severe complications. Results Mean depths of 11 points were obtained in groups of different BMI and gender. Mean depths of all participants regardless of BMI and gender are as follows, in centimetres: GB21=5.6, SI14=5.2, SI15=8.8, GV15=4.9, GV16=4.6, GB20=5.0, ST9=1.6, SI16=1.8, SI17=2.4, TE16=3.1, LI18=1.3. Participants with higher BMI had greater measured depths in both gender groups. Male participants had larger mean depths than female participants regardless of BMI except in SI17 and LI18. When taking BMI into consideration, depths in male participants are greater than in female participants in most of the points except the following: GB21, TE16 in obesity group; ST9 in underweight and obesity group; SI16 in ideal body weight, overweight and obesity group; SI17, LI18 in each group. Conclusions Participants with higher BMI had greater measured depths and males tended to have greater depths in most of the points. Clinical practitioners are recommended to consider this information to prevent complications when applying acupuncture treatment to their patients.
A Generalized Quantum Slepian–Wolf

In this paper, we consider a quantum generalization of the task considered by Slepian and Wolf regarding distributed source compression. In our task, Alice, Bob, Charlie, and Reference share a joint pure state. Alice and Bob wish to send a part of their respective systems to Charlie without collaborating with each other. We give achievability bounds for this task in the one-shot setting and provide the asymptotic and independent identically distributed analysis in the case when there is no side information with Charlie. Our result implies the result of Abeyesinghe et al., who studied a special case of this problem. As another special case wherein Bob holds trivial registers, we recover the result of Devetak and Yard regarding quantum state redistribution.
Effects of sciatic nerve transection on ultrastructure, NADPH-diaphorase reaction and serotonin-, tyrosine hydroxylase-, c-Fos-, glucose transporter 1- and 3-like immunoreactivities in frog dorsal root ganglion

Frogs have been used as an alternative model to study pain mechanisms. Since we did not find any reports on the effects of sciatic nerve transection (SNT) on the ultrastructure and pattern of metabolic substances in frog dorsal root ganglion (DRG) cells, in the present study, 18 adult male frogs (Rana catesbeiana) were divided into three experimental groups: naive (frogs not subjected to surgical manipulation), sham (frogs in which all surgical procedures to expose the sciatic nerve were used except transection of the nerve), and SNT (frogs in which the sciatic nerve was exposed and transected). After 3 days, the bilateral DRG of the sciatic nerve was collected and used for transmission electron microscopy. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect reactivity for glucose transporter (Glut) types 1 and 3, tyrosine hydroxylase, serotonin and c-Fos, as well as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate diaphorase (NADPH-diaphorase). SNT induced more mitochondria with vacuolation in neurons, satellite glial cells (SGCs) with more cytoplasmic extensions emerging from cell bodies, as well as more ribosomes, rough endoplasmic reticulum, intermediate filaments and mitochondria. c-Fos immunoreactivity was found in neuronal nuclei. More neurons and SGCs surrounded by tyrosine hydroxylase-like immunoreactivity were found. No change occurred in serotonin- and Glut1- and Glut3-like immunoreactivity. NADPH-diaphorase occurred in more neurons and SGCs. No sign of SGC proliferation was observed. Since the changes of frog DRG in response to nerve injury are similar to those of mammals, frogs should be a valid experimental model for the study of the effects of SNT, a condition that still has many unanswered questions.
Complexity reduction by convex cone detection for unmixing hyperspectral images of bacterial biosensors

We address the problem of complexity reduction in hyperspectral image unmixing. When the hyperspectral images are highly resoluted, we propose to select a limited number of pixels, therefore reducing dramatically the size of the data. Then, the related mixtures are used as inputs to a positive source separation algorithm. Our pixel selection procedure is based on a convex cone analysis of the data mixtures; indeed, positive mixtures of sources are embedded in a convex cone whose boundary contains complete available information regarding the sources. We search for the least number of mixtures embedding the convex cone and then store the corresponding pixel indices as the selected pixels. We apply this method to the analysis of hyperspectral images of bacterial cells obtained on a confocal microscope. The bacterial cells, acting as whole-cell biosensors, display great potential as living transducers in sensing applications.
CT‐angiography prior to diep flap breast reconstruction: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Preoperative CT‐angiography (CTA) has shown to reduce operative time in deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap breast reconstruction compared to Doppler ultrasonography (US). Although decreased flap loss has been suggested, statistical significant reduction remains indeterminate. The purpose of this review is to evaluate flap loss after preoperative CTA and Doppler US in DIEP‐flap breast reconstruction.
Dynamic pricing for impatient bidders

We study the following problem related to pricing over time. Assume there is a collection of bidders, each of whom is interested in buying a copy of an item of which there is an unlimited supply. Every bidder is associated with a time interval over which the bidder will consider buying a copy of the item, and a maximum value the bidder is willing to pay for the item. On every time unit the seller sets a price for the item. The seller's goal is to set the prices so as to maximize revenue from the sale of copies of items over the time period. In the first model considered we assume that all bidders are impatient, that is, bidders buy the item at the first time unit within their bid interval that they can afford the price. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that considers this model. In the offline setting we assume that the seller knows the bids of all the bidders in advance. In the online setting we assume that at each time unit the seller only knows the values of the bids that have arrived before or at that time unit. We give a polynomial time offline algorithm and prove upper and lower bounds on the competitiveness of deterministic and randomized online algorithms, compared with the optimal offline solution. The gap between the upper and lower bounds is quadratic. We also consider the envy free model in which bidders are sold the item at the minimum price during their bid interval, as long as it is not over their limit value. We prove tight bounds on the competitiveness of deterministic online algorithms for this model, and upper and lower bounds on the competitiveness of randomized algorithms with quadratic gap. The lower bounds for the randomized case in both models uses a novel general technique.