Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prospective randomized study to compare between intravenous dexmedetomidine and esmolol for attenuation of hemodynamic response to endotracheal intubation

Background: Esmolol has an established role in attenuation of hemodynamic response to laryngoscopy and endotracheal intubation. We studied the effect of dexmedetomidine compared to that of esmolol in this study. Aim: To study the role of dexmedetomidine in attenuation of hemodynamic response to laryngoscopy and oral endotracheal intubation compared to that of esmolol hydrochloride in patients posted for elective surgery under general anesthesia. Study Design: Prospective randomized study double-dummy blinding method. Materials and Methods: A total of 60 American Society of Anesthesiologists I patients, aged 18–60 years randomly divided into two groups; Group A patients received dexmedetomidine 1 mcg/kg diluted in 50 ml with normal saline and infused over 10 min before induction and also 20 ml of normal saline intravenous (IV) 2 min before endotracheal intubation. Group B patients received 50 ml IV infusion of normal saline over 10 min before induction and IV bolus of esmolol 0.5 mg/kg diluted in 20 ml with normal saline given 2 min before intubation. Standard induction technique followed. Heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were recorded just before induction and after intubation at 1 min, 3 min, and 5 min after intubation. Statistical Analysis: Independent samples t-test and repeated measures of analysis of variance. Results: Dexmedetomidine group showed statistically significant reduction in all the study parameters at all study time intervals following intubation. While esmolol group showed significant attenuation of HR, SBP, and MAP following intubation but failed to produce significant reduction in DBP. Conclusion: Dexmedetomidine is more effective in attenuating the hemodynamic response to oral endotracheal intubation compared to that of esmolol hydrochloride.
Postoperative Adverse Events of Common Surgical Procedures in the Medicare Population

Mortality rates are the most widely used measure in assessing patient outcome from hospitalization. However, they may be an insensitive measure of quality for surgical patients because death is a relatively rare outcome. A random sample of patient data (n = 8126) selected from the Medicare files of seven states was used to identify, through chart abstraction, clinical postoperative complications of surgery that could serve as measures of quality. Four surgical procedures were studied: 1) coronary artery bypass grafting; 2) coronary angioplasty; 3) cholecystectomy; and 4) prostatectomy. Severity at admission was controlled for using severity-of-illness models developed with chart-abstracted data to predict adverse events after these four procedures. 30-day mortality rates ranged from 1.0% to 6.6%, while the prevalence of postoperative adverse events identified from chart review was greater (6.9% to 33.3%). There were significant differences between patients with and without adverse events. For example, coronary artery bypass graft patients with adverse events had prolonged postsurgical lengths of stay (18.5 ± 13.2 vs. 13.2 ± 6.2, P < 0.001) and higher mortality rates (15.2% vs. 2.6%, P < 0.001). The R-square values using clinical indicators at admission to predict the occurrence of any adverse event ranged from 0.05 to 0.13. Clinically meaningful adverse events of surgery can be successfully identified through chart abstraction and appear to be valid measures of postoperative complications among surgical patients. Severity adjustment at admission only modestly predicts the occurrence of these adverse events.
Does mud pack treatment have any chemical effect? A randomized controlled clinical study.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to reveal the efficacy of mud pack treatment in patients with knee osteoarthritis and to find the contribution of chemical factors to the build up of these effects. METHODS Sixty patients were randomly assigned to directly applied mud pack (study) group or to nylon-covered mud pack (control) group. Thirty patients in the study group had mud application 15 times to both knees: heated mud, up to 43 degrees C, was applied to skin directly for 30 minutes. Thirty patients in the control group had the same treatment as the study group except heated mud was applied over an impermeable nylon pack. Primary outcome measures of the study were the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) index, pain intensity on a visual analog scale (VAS), patient's assessment of disease severity index, physician's assessment of disease severity index, and analgesic consumption. The patients were evaluated before and after (end of 15th application) the intervention and followed up for 24 weeks at 4-week intervals. The results were assessed on an intent-to-treat basis. RESULTS As compared to the baseline, significant decreases were observed in WOMAC, pain intensity, disease severity index scores, and analgesic consumption in both groups after the intervention. Observed improvements in the study group were found to be superior to the control during the whole postintervention follow-up, except for analgesic consumption in the third week. A significant number of patients in the study group showed minimal clinically important improvement as compared to the control group. CONCLUSION Mud pack treatment significantly improved the pain and functional status of patients with knee osteoarthritis, whether applied directly or coated with nylon. Direct application was found to be superior, which implies chemical properties of the mud contribute to the build up of therapeutic effect.
A hierarchical recurrent approach to predict scene graphs from a visual‐attention‐oriented perspective

A scene graph provides a powerful intermediate knowledge structure for various visual tasks, including semantic image retrieval, image captioning, and visual question answering. In this paper, the task of predicting a scene graph for an image is formulated as two connected problems, ie, recognizing the relationship triplets, structured as , and constructing the scene graph from the recognized relationship triplets. For relationship triplet recognition, we develop a novel hierarchical recurrent neural network with visual attention mechanism. This model is composed of two attention‐based recurrent neural networks in a hierarchical organization. The first network generates a topic vector for each relationship triplet, whereas the second network predicts each word in that relationship triplet given the topic vector. This approach successfully captures the compositional structure and contextual dependency of an image and the relationship triplets describing its scene. For scene graph construction, an entity localization approach to determine the graph structure is presented with the assistance of available attention information. Then, the procedures for automatically converting the generated relationship triplets into a scene graph are clarified through an algorithm. Extensive experimental results on two widely used data sets verify the feasibility of the proposed approach.
Quantification and Three-Dimensional Imaging of the Insulitis-Induced Destruction of β-Cells in Murine Type 1 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to refine the information regarding the quantitative and spatial dynamics of infiltrating lymphocytes and remaining β-cell volume during the progression of type 1 diabetes in the nonobese diabetic (NOD) mouse model of the disease. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Using an ex vivo technique, optical projection tomography (OPT), we quantified and assessed the three-dimensional spatial development and progression of insulitis and β-cell destruction in pancreata from diabetes-prone NOD and non–diabetes-prone congenic NOD.H-2b mice between 3 and 16 weeks of age. RESULTS Together with results showing the spatial dynamics of the insulitis process, we provide data of β-cell volume distributions down to the level of the individual islets and throughout the pancreas during the development and progression of type 1 diabetes. Our data provide evidence for a compensatory growth potential of the larger insulin+ islets during the later stages of the disease around the time point for development of clinical diabetes. This is in contrast to smaller islets, which appear less resistant to the autoimmune attack. We also provide new information on the spatial dynamics of the insulitis process itself, including its apparently random distribution at onset, the local variations during its further development, and the formation of structures resembling tertiary lymphoid organs at later phases of insulitis progression. CONCLUSIONS Our data provide a powerful tool for phenotypic analysis of genetic and environmental effects on type 1 diabetes etiology as well as for evaluating the potential effect of therapeutic regimes.
Genetic Variability, Genotype × Environment Interaction, Correlation, and GGE Biplot Analysis for Grain Iron and Zinc Concentration and Other Agronomic Traits in RIL Population of Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench)

The low grain iron and zinc densities are well documented problems in food crops, affecting crop nutritional quality especially in cereals. Sorghum is a major source of energy and micronutrients for majority of population in Africa and central India. Understanding genetic variation, genotype × environment interaction and association between these traits is critical for development of improved cultivars with high iron and zinc. A total of 336 sorghum RILs (Recombinant Inbred Lines) were evaluated for grain iron and zinc concentration along with other agronomic traits for 2 years at three locations. The results showed that large variability exists in RIL population for both micronutrients (Iron = 10.8 to 76.4 mg kg−1 and Zinc = 10.2 to 58.7 mg kg−1, across environments) and agronomic traits. Genotype × environment interaction for both micronutrients (iron and zinc) was highly significant. GGE biplots comparison for grain iron and zinc showed greater variation across environments. The results also showed that G × E was substantial for grain iron and zinc, hence wider testing needed for taking care of G × E interaction to breed micronutrient rich sorghum lines. Iron and zinc concentration showed high significant positive correlation (across environment = 0.79; p < 0.01) indicating possibility of simultaneous effective selection for both the traits. The RIL population showed good variability and high heritabilities (>0.60, in individual environments) for Fe and Zn and other traits studied indicating its suitability to map QTL for iron and zinc.
R ep or t T R 99-1 75 6 Unsupervised Statistical Segmentation of Japanese Kanji Strings

Word segmentation is an important issue in Japanese language processing because Japanese is written without space delimiters between words. We propose a simple dictionary-less method to segment Japanese kanji sequences into words based solely on character n-gram counts from an unannotated corpus. The performance was often better than that of rule-based morphological analyzers over a variety of both standard and novel error metrics.
Occurrence of Avian Influenza Virus (H9 subtype) in Broiler and Layer Chickens at Sharkia Governorate

Avian influenza (AI) is a contagious disease caused by type A influenza viruses. In spite of the mild nature of H9N2 low pathogenic AIV, the virus was isolated from frequent disease outbreaks with high mortality in different parts of the world. In this study, forty-two layer and broiler chicken farms (21/each) suspected to be infected with AIV of different breeds and ages during 2012 - 2014 were examined at Sharkia Governorate. The occurrence of AI in chickens using HI assay was 40.47%. Subtyping for H9 and H5 subtypes has been done by specific antisera. The H9 was detected in 30.95% and H5 was 9.52%. However, the occurrence of NDV in chickens was 23.80%. The selected seven AIV isolates representing broiler and layer flocks were confirmed by rRT-PCR using primers and probes specific for Matrix gene, H9 gene, H5 gene and H7 gene. Seven isolates were positive for M. gene indicating AI virus detection, and then 6 out of 7 isolates were positive for H9 gene but negative for H5 and H7 genes. The last isolate was positive for H5 gene, negative for H9 and H7 genes. The phylogenetic analysis for HA gene of the Six H9 AIV isolates showed the placement of the Egyptian viruses within the same lineage of H9N2 viruses that circulated in the region with the parent strain (A/Quail/ Egypt/ 113413v/2011) of G1/97 lineage and other strains that circulating in the Middle East. The circulating H9N2 AIV genetic analysis is pointing to a minor evolution of H9N2 viruses. But at the same time the co-circulation of H5 & H9 subtypes of AIV could be a risk for emergence of new AI viruses. Also, concurrent infection with viral (IBV and NDV) as well as bacterial agents (MG, Salmonella and E. coli ) are considered the main cause behind increased mortality in H9N2 positive flocks.
A randomized prospective trial of bowel preparation for colonoscopy with Fortrans compared with bisacodyl.

BACKGROUND An empty and adequate clean colon is a prerequisite of diagnostic or therapeutic colonoscopy. Our aim is to assess the efficacy and tolerance of bowel preparation for colonoscopy with Fortrans (polyethylene glycols) versus oral bisacodyl. METHODS One hundred and four consecutive patients scheduled for colonoscopy were prospectively enrolled and allocated to Fortrans group or bisacodyl group by block randomization. RESULTS Ninety-four patients were included for final analysis. Forty-five patients underwent preparation with Fortrans. The efficacy and tolerance of colon preparation were similar with both methods (p = 0.102, p = 0.202). The latency before the first bowel movement and total preparation time were shorter with Fortrans than with bisacodyl (p = 0.0001 and 0.001, respectively). Statistically significant differences were noted in changes of body weight, serum levels of sodium and calcium in patients taking bisacodyl (p = 0.049, 0.015, and 0.038, respectively). The taste of Fortrans was rated significantly better than that of bisacodyl (p = 0.002). Patients experienced more abdominal discomfort completing preparation with bisacodyl (p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS Fortrans and bisacodyl are equally effective and well tolerated in preparation for colonoscopy. However, Fortrans preparation takes less time and provides a better taste with less abdominal discomfort and less change in body weight as well as serum levels of sodium and calcium than bisacodyl preparation.
THE BUILDUP OF THE HUBBLE SEQUENCE IN THE COSMOS FIELD

We use ∼8600 COSMOS galaxies at mass scales >5 × 1010 M☉ to study how the morphological mix of massive ellipticals, bulge-dominated disks, intermediate-bulge disks, disk-dominated galaxies, and irregular systems evolves from z = 0.2 to z = 1. The morphological evolution depends strongly on mass. At M > 3 × 1011 M☉, no evolution is detected in the morphological mix: ellipticals dominate since z = 1, and the Hubble sequence has quantitatively settled down by this epoch. At the 1011 M☉ mass scale, little evolution is detected, which can be entirely explained by major mergers. Most of the morphological evolution from z = 1 to z = 0.2 takes place at masses 5 × 1010–1011 M☉, where (1) the fraction of spirals substantially drops and the contribution of early types increases. This increase is mostly produced by the growth of bulge-dominated disks, which vary their contribution from ∼10% at z = 1 to >30% at z = 0.2 (for comparison, the elliptical fraction grows from ∼15% to ∼20%). Thus, at these masses, transformations from late to early types result in diskless elliptical morphologies with a statistical frequency of only 30%–40%. Otherwise, the processes which are responsible for the transformations either retain or produce a non-negligible disk component. (2) The disk-dominated galaxies, which contribute ∼15% to the intermediate-mass galaxy population at z = 1, virtually disappear by z = 0.2. The merger rate since z = 1 is too low to account for the disappearance of these massive disk-dominated systems, which most likely grow a bulge via secular evolution.
Oral Immunization with a Recombinant Malaria Protein Induces Conformational Antibodies and Protects Mice against Lethal Malaria

ABSTRACT The increasing death toll from malaria, due to the decreasing effectiveness of current prophylactic and therapeutic regimens, has sparked a search for alternative methods of control, such as vaccines. Although several single proteins have shown some promise as subunit vaccines against sexual blood stages in experimental systems, it is clear that multicomponent vaccines are required. Many logistic difficulties make such an approach prohibitively expensive. In an effort to try to overcome some of these issues, we examined the possibility of oral immunization as a route for inducing host protective immunity. We report here that oral feeding of a malaria protein induced serum antibody levels similar to those induced by intraperitoneal immunization with Freund's adjuvant. Further, responses to conformational epitopes were induced. In the rodent challenge system, significant levels of protection to lethal challenge with malaria were induced in mice. The protective efficacy was highly correlated with antibody levels, which depended on the antigen dosage and required cholera toxin subunit B as an oral adjuvant. These findings offer new approaches to the development of a malaria vaccine and provide justification for the investigation of transgenic plants as a means of vaccine delivery.
Dementia and assisted living.

PURPOSE This article presents an overview of what is known about dementia services in assisted living settings and suggests areas for future research. DESIGN AND METHODS We undertook a search of Medline, the Journals of Gerontology, and The Gerontologist. We then organized publications dealing with the target subject into 10 topic areas and reviewed them. RESULTS The article describes the demographic characteristics of cognitively impaired residents in assisted living and related residential settings in the United States, the services they receive, and process and structural elements both in specialized dementia units and in integrated assisted living settings. Finally, we review the literature on methodological issues regarding research in this area. IMPLICATIONS It is important to generate research on processes as well as outcomes, such as dignity, individualized and pleasurable experiences, and freedom from pain and discomfort. We make recommendations for both content areas that would benefit from further research as well as methodological approaches that will yield important information in this field.
Co-expression of two perivascular cell markers isolates mesenchymal stem-like cells from human endometrium.

BACKGROUND Human endometrium has immense regenerative capacity, growing ~5 mm in 7 days every month. We have previously identified a small population of colony-forming endometrial stromal cells which we hypothesize are mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). The aim of this study was to determine if the co-expression of two perivascular cell markers, CD146 and platelet-derived growth factor-receptor beta (PDGF-Rbeta), will prospectively isolate endometrial stromal cells which exhibit MSC properties, and determine their location in human endometrium. METHODS Single cell suspensions of human endometrial stromal cells were fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) sorted into CD146(+)PDGF-Rbeta(+) and CD146(-)PDGF-Rbeta(-) populations and analysed for colony-forming ability, in vitro differentiation and expression of typical MSC markers. Full thickness human endometrial sections were co-stained for CD146 and PDGF-Rbeta. RESULTS FACS stromal CD146(+)PDGF-Rbeta(+) stromal cells (1.5% of sorted population) were enriched for colony-forming cells compared with CD146(-)PDGF-Rbeta(-) cells (7.7 +/- 1.7 versus 0.7 +/- 0.2% P <0.0001), and also underwent differentiation into adipogenic, osteogenic, myogenic and chondrogenic lineages. They expressed MSC phenotypic surface markers and were located near blood vessels. CONCLUSION This study shows that human endometrium contains a small population of MSC-like cells that may be responsible for its cyclical growth, and may provide a readily available source of MSC for tissue engineering applications.
Evaluating the strength of functional connectivity during the resting state

Knowledge about the intrinsic functional architecture of the human brain has been greatly expanded by the study of the spontaneous fluctuations observed during the resting-state. Recently, there has been a surge of interest in resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) which has been used to identify large-scale brain networks including the default-mode network (DMN). When these results are thresholded for statistical significance, a considerable amount of gray matter remains uncharacterized. For both potential clinical and basic research purposes, we present a method for evaluating the strength of functional connectivity throughout the entire brain. The value of the method comes from its ability to portray the full picture of functional connection without any prior assumptions on possible membership in any of the major brain networks. After thresholding, a map of the strength of functional connectivity averaged over 30 healthy subjects exhibited striking similarity to the structural connectivity maps of Hagman et al‥ Our comprehensive assessment demonstrates the predominance of the DMN, in agreement with Fransson's voxel-wise frequency analysis. Comparison of lobar ROIs demonstrated that the functional connectivity in parietal areas is significantly higher than in frontal areas (p &#60; 10−6). As a complementary approach to other methods such as ICA, future application of our comprehensive brain analysis includes mapping and characterizing changes in functional connection in both health and disease.
Linear Precoding Gain for Large MIMO Configurations With QAM and Reduced Complexity

In this paper, the problem of designing a linear precoder for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems in conjunction with quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) is addressed. First, a novel and efficient methodology to evaluate the input-output mutual information for a general MIMO system as well as its corresponding gradients is presented, based on the Gauss-Hermite quadrature rule. Then, the method is exploited in a block coordinate gradient ascent optimization process to determine the globally optimal linear precoder with respect to the MIMO input-output mutual information for QAM systems with relatively moderate MIMO channel sizes. The proposed methodology is next applied in conjunction with the complexity-reducing per-group processing technique to both perfect channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter as well as statistical CSI (Statistical CSI) scenarios, with large transmitting and receiving antenna sizes, and for constellation size up to M = 64. We show by the numerical results that the precoders developed offer significantly better performance than the configuration with no precoder as well as the maximum diversity precoder for QAM with constellation sizes M = 16, 32, and 64 and for MIMO channel size up to 100 × 100.