Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of dual-time-constant and fast-acting automatic gain control (AGC) systems in cochlear implants

Cochlear implants usually employ an automatic gain control (AGC) system as a first stage of processing. AGC1 was a fast-acting (syllabic) compressor. AGC2 was a dual-time-constant system; it usually performed as a slow-acting compressor, but incorporated an additional fast-acting system to provide protection from sudden increases in sound level. Six experienced cochlear-implant users were tested in a counterbalanced order, receiving one-month of experience with a given AGC type before switching to the other type. Performance was evaluated shortly after provision of a given AGC type and after one-month of experience with that AGC type. Questionnaires, mainly relating to listening in quiet situations, did not reveal significant differences between the two AGC types. However, fixed-level and roving-level tests of sentence identification in noise both revealed significantly better performance for AGC2. It is suggested that the poorer performance for AGC1 occurred because AGC1 introduced cross-modulation between the target speech and background noise, which made perceptual separation of the target and background more difficult.
Flow chamber‐based assays to measure thrombus formation in vitro: requirements for standardization

M. ROEST ,* A . RE IN INGER , J . J . Z W A GI NG A , M. R . K ING ,§ J . W. M. H EEMSKERK– and THE B IORHEOLOGY SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE SSC OF THE ISTH *Department of Clinical Chemistry and Haematology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands; Department of Transfusion Medicine and Hemostaseology, University Clinic Munich, Munich, Germany; Department of Immunohematology and Bloodtransfusion, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands; §Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA; and –Department of Biochemistry, Maastricht University, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Maastricht, the Netherlands
IL-23 Is Critical in the Induction but Not in the Effector Phase of Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a T cell-mediated inflammatory disease of the CNS, is a rodent model of human multiple sclerosis. IL-23 is one of the critical cytokines in EAE development and is currently believed to be involved in the maintenance of encephalitogenic responses during the tissue damage effector phase of the disease. In this study, we show that encephalitogenic T cells from myelin oligodendrocyte glycopeptide (MOG)-immunized wild-type (WT) mice caused indistinguishable disease when adoptively transferred to WT or IL-23-deficient (p19 knockout (KO)) recipient mice, demonstrating that once encephalitogenic cells have been generated, EAE can develop in the complete absence of IL-23. Furthermore, IL-12/23 double-deficient (p35/p19 double KO) recipient mice developed EAE that was indistinguishable from WT recipients, indicating that IL-12 did not compensate for IL-23 deficiency during the effector phase of EAE. In contrast, MOG-specific T cells from p19KO mice induced EAE with delayed onset and much lower severity when transferred to WT recipient mice as compared with the EAE that was induced by cells from WT controls. MOG-specific T cells from p19KO mice were highly deficient in the production of IFN-γ, IL-17A, and TNF, indicating that IL-23 plays a critical role in development of encephalitogenic T cells and facilitates the development of T cells toward both Th1 and Th17 pathways.
The Morbidity and Mortality Conference in Gastroenterology and Hepatology: An Important Cornerstone of Patient Safety and Optimal Care.

The morbidity and mortality (M&M) conference has evolved considerably in recent years. M&M was originally developed by surgeons and anesthesiologists to investigate negative “end results. ” M&Ms were intended to be an open discussion promote and enhance patient safety, and to be engaged in projects to improve systems of care, decrease health care disparities and improve patient outcomes. Incorporation of these varied objectives and principles has led to a variety of innovations in M&M conferences that have been reported widely in general and emergency medicine, oncology, surgery, pediatrics, and obstetrics. The result is an evolution of the traditional M&M into a comprehensive and dynamic Quality and Patient Outcomes (QPO) conference, which fosters QI, patient safety, and medical education. The combination of high-volume diverse procedures, inpatient and outpatient clinical practice, and integration of hepatology and luminal gastroenterology each
IL-12 Can Target Human Lung Adenocarcinoma Cells and Normal Bronchial Epithelial Cells Surrounding Tumor Lesions

Background Non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a leading cause of cancer death. We have shown previously that IL-12rb2 KO mice develop spontaneously lung adenocarcinomas or bronchioalveolar carcinomas. Aim of the study was to investigate i) IL-12Rβ2 expression in human primary lung adenocarcinomas and in their counterparts, i.e. normal bronchial epithelial cells (NBEC), ii) the direct anti-tumor activity of IL-12 on lung adenocarcinoma cells in vitro and vivo, and the mechanisms involved, and iii) IL-12 activity on NBEC. Methodology/Principal Findings Stage I lung adenocarcinomas showed significantly (P = 0.012) higher frequency of IL-12Rβ2 expressing samples than stage II/III tumors. IL-12 treatment of IL-12R+ neoplastic cells isolated from primary adenocarcinoma (n = 6) inhibited angiogenesis in vitro through down-regulation of different pro-angiogenic genes (e.g. IL-6, VEGF-C, VEGF-D, and laminin-5), as assessed by chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay and PCR array. In order to perform in vivo studies, the Calu6 NSCLC cell line was transfected with the IL-12RB2 containing plasmid (Calu6/β2). Similar to that observed in primary tumors, IL-12 treatment of Calu6/β2+ cells inhibited angiogenesis in vitro. Tumors formed by Calu6/β2 cells in SCID/NOD mice, inoculated subcutaneously or orthotopically, were significantly smaller following IL-12 vs PBS treatment due to inhibition of angiogenesis, and of IL-6 and VEGF-C production. Explanted tumors were studied by histology, immuno-histochemistry and PCR array. NBEC cells were isolated and cultured from lung specimens of non neoplastic origin. NBEC expressed IL-12R and released constitutively tumor promoting cytokines (e.g. IL-6 and CCL2). Treatment of NBEC with IL-12 down-regulated production of these cytokines. Conclusions This study demonstrates that IL-12 inhibits directly the growth of human lung adenocarcinoma and targets the adjacent NBEC. These novel anti-tumor activities of IL-12 add to the well known immune-modulatory properties of the cytokine and may provide a rational basis for the development of a clinical trial.
Multiple signature analysis for the detection of bearing currents and the assessment of the resulting bearing wear

This paper deals with the early detection and monitoring of possible bearing damage of variable-speed, converter-fed electric motors. After a brief description about the issue of bearing currents in converter-fed drives, the main subject will be outlined with the focus on practical experience. A measurement systemology is used for this purpose, where the electrical measurement of bearing current events as well as the mechanical measurement of the vibration status of the bearing is taken into account. A comparison between different vibration measurement methods leads to a systemology, which allows to detect possible changes in the motor bearing in a very early state of operation.
mTOR Pathway and mTOR Inhibitors in Head and Neck Cancer

Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common type of Cancer worldwide. Since conventional treatment regimens are nonselective and are associated with systemic toxicities, intense investigations focus on molecular targeted therapy with high selectivity and low adverse effects. mTOR signaling pathway has been found to be activated in head and neck cancer, making it attractive for targeted therapy. In addition, expression levels of mTOR and downstream targets eIF4E, 4EBP1, S6K1, and S6 are potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for head and neck cancer. mTOR inhibitors, such as rapamycin and its derivatives temsirolimus and everolimus, exhibit inhibitory effects on head and neck cancer in both in vitro cell line model and in vivo xenograft model. A large number of clinical trials have been initiated to evaluate the therapeutic effects of mTOR inhibitors on patients with head and neck cancer. mTOR inhibitor has potential as a single therapeutic agent or in combination with radiation, chemotherapeutic agents, or other targeted therapeutic agents to obtain synergistic repression on head and neck cancer.
Improving parallel-disk buffer management using randomized writeback

We address the problems of I/O scheduling and buffer management for general reference strings in a parallel I/O system. Using the standard parallel disk model with D disks and a shared I/O buffer of size M, we study the performance of online algorithms that use bounded global M-block lookahead. We introduce the concept of write-back whereby blocks are dynamically relocated between disks during the course of the computation. Write-back allows the layout to be altered to suit different access patterns in different parts of the reference string. We show that any bounded-lookahead online algorithm that uses purely deterministic policies must have a competitive ratio of /spl Omega/ (D). We show how to improve the performance by using randomization, and present a novel algorithm, RAND-WB, using a randomized write-back scheme. RAND-WB has a competitive ratio of /spl theta/(/spl radic/D), which is the best achievable by any online algorithm with only global M-block lookahead. If the initial layout of data on the disks is uniformly random, RAND-WB has a competitive ratio of /spl theta/(log D).
Mid-term results in the treatment of varicose veins with N-butyl cyanoacrylate

Aim To present mid-term results of patients with varicose veins treated with N-butyl cyanoacrylate (VariClose®), a nontumescent endovenous ablation technique. Patients and method Endovenous ablation was performed on 180 patients with saphenous vein incompetence between May and October 2014. One hundred sixty-eight subjects capable of being followed-up for 30 months were included. Patients’ pre- and postoperative data were recorded. Results Procedures were performed on the great saphenous vein in 159 patients and on the small saphenous vein in nine patients. Saphenous vein diameters ranged between 5.5 mm and 14 mm. Full ablation was achieved in all patients following the procedure. No complications were encountered. Patients were monitored for 30 months. Ablation rates were 100% at the 3rd month, 98.3% at the 6th month, 96.6% at 1 year, and 94.1% at 30 months. Mean venous clinical severity score was 10.2 before procedures, decreasing to 3.9 at 3 months, 4.2 at 6 months, 2.9 at 12 months, and 2.7 at 30 months (p = 0.000). Conclusion Due to its high success rate, absence of complications, no tumescent anesthesia requirement and high patient satisfaction, endovenous ablation with N-butyl cyanoacrylate is a good method. However, long-term follow-up results are now needed.
Some consequences of the axiom of definable determinateness.

Introduction. -With each sut set A of the set "w of functions from X to W we associate the following game: Players I and II successively choose natural numbers with I starting, and if the resulting infinite sequence is in A, then I wins; otherwise II wins. The set A is determinate' iff either I or II has a winning strategy. It can be shown in Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory with the axiom of choice (ZFC) that nondeterminate sets exist;l however, no definable set has been proved in ZFC to be nondeterminate.2 Recently, Blackwell3 found an elegant proof of the reduction principle for the class of coanalytic (= U,')4 sets based on the (known) determinateness of open (= Iol) sets. In this note we show that the hypothesis of determinateness for projective (= 2;, for some k) sets yields consequences about the projective hierarchy on 'o and the analytical (= 2,' for some k) hierarchies on cW and 'W: in particular, the separation and reduction problems at all levels of these hierarchies are settled and hierarchies are constructed for the classes Ak' (all k > 0) and Ak' (all odd k). One of the oldest puzzles in the theory of definability has been the strange "flip-flop" behavior of separation principles in the projective hieratchy-since 1935 they have been known to hold for Ho, 0111, and H12' sets and to fail for oe,1 I111, and Z2' sets.5 In 1962, one of us (J. W. A.) found a clue to the hidden forces responsible for this behavior in the discovery of a proof of the strong separation theorem for Z11 sets6 which was a "vectorization" of the corresponding theorem for Hol sets; he proposed' that this vectorization be extended to 121 and 1131 sets as a method of "smoking out" a new axiom of set theory.8 Blackwell's proof suggested to him a way of developing the vectorization technique to carry the first separation principle from s-l (where true) to tI+ki1, for all k.9 Upon inspection of this argument, the sought-for axiom was apparent. When one of us (Y. N. M.) saw this work, he recognized that the determinateness of projective sets implies the prewellordering theorem below (for k > 0), which then settles separation, reduction, and several other definability questions at all levels of the hierarchies. D. A. Martin, also inspired by Blackwell's proof, independently found several of the results below, including the separation and reduction theorems.10 Steinhauss" has urged for several years the adoption as an axiom of set theory of "the axiom of determinateness," according to which all subsets of '0w are determinate. But since this axiom contradicts the axiom of choice, it has not found wide support. We would propose instead the axiom of definable determinateness, according to which every subset of 'w ordinal definable from elements of Wa is determinate. For several reasons, including its spontaneous emergence as
Insights into machine lip reading

Computer lip-reading is one of the great signal processing challenges. Not only is the signal noisy, it is variable. However it is almost unknown to compare the performance with human lip-readers. Partly this is because of the paucity of human lip-readers and partly because most automatic systems only handle data that are trivial and therefore not representative of human speech. Here we generate a multiview dataset using connected words that can be analysed by an automatic system, based on linear predictive trackers and active appearance models, and human lip-readers. The automatic system we devise has a viseme accuracy of ≈ 46% which is comparable to poor professional human lip-readers. However, unlike human lip-readers our system is good at guessing its fallibility.
Rheumatic fever in a high incidence population: the importance of monoarthritis and low grade fever

AIMS To describe the clinical features of rheumatic fever and to assess the Jones criteria in a population and setting similar to that in many developing countries. METHODS The charts of 555 cases of confirmed acute rheumatic fever in 367 patients (97% Aboriginal) and more than 200 possible rheumatic fever cases from the tropical “Top End” of Australia's Northern Territory were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS Most clinical features were similar to classic descriptions. However, monoarthritis occurred in 17% of confirmed non-chorea cases and 35% of unconfirmed cases, including up to 27 in whom the diagnosis was missed because monoarthritis is not a major manifestation. Only 71% and 25% of confirmed non-chorea cases would have had fever using cut off values of 38°C and 39°C, respectively. In 17% of confirmed non-chorea cases, anti-DNase B titres were raised but antistreptolysin O titres were normal. Although features of recurrences tended to correlate with initial episodes, there were numerous exceptions. CONCLUSIONS Monoarthritis and low grade fever are important manifestations of rheumatic fever in this population. Streptococcal serology results may support a possible role for pyoderma in rheumatic fever pathogenesis. When recurrences of rheumatic fever are common, the absence of carditis at the first episode does not reliably predict the absence of carditis with recurrences.
Gender‐dependent ATPA‐induced changes in long‐term potentiation in the rat lateral amygdala

There is increasing evidence that kainate receptors contribute to both postsynaptic and presynaptic signaling not only in the hippocampus but also in the amygdala. The present study demonstrates that low concentrations of the specific kainate GLUK5 receptor agonist, ATPA, depressed baseline activity in the lateral nucleus of the rat amygdala (LA), induced by stimulation of external capsule fibers or by intranuclear stimulation in horizontal brain slices. ATPA reduced high‐frequency‐induced long‐term potentiation (LTP) in males while it enhanced LTP in females during certain phases of the estrus cycle. In untreated slices from females, LA‐LTP differed depending on the phase of the estrus cycle. In addition, we show for the first time that the p38 mitogen‐activated protein (MAP) kinase inhibitor, SKF 86002, reduced LA‐LTP. In males, the effects of ATPA and SKF 86002 were not additive. To the contrary, in females, the exposure to ATPA in control plus SKF 86002 increases LTP relative to control plus SKF 86002 alone. Thus, we demonstrate that the effectiveness of GLUK5 stimulation on plasticity changes in the amygdala is gender‐dependent and that the MAP kinase pathway might be involved in males. Schubert, M. , Drephal, C. , Albrecht, D. Gender‐dependent ATPA‐induced changes in long‐term potentiation in the rat lateral amygdala. FASEB J. 22, 1268–1274 (2008)
DAIET: a system for data aggregation inside the network

Many data center applications nowadays rely on distributed computation models like MapReduce and Bulk Synchronous Parallel (BSP) for data-intensive computation at scale [4]. These models scale by leveraging the partition/aggregate pattern where data and computations are distributed across many worker servers, each performing part of the computation. A communication phase is needed each time workers need to synchronize the computation and, at last, to produce the final output. In these applications, the network communication costs can be one of the dominant scalability bottlenecks especially in case of multi-stage or iterative computations [1].
Predictive model for pit growth on underground pipes

Abstract It is difficult to understand the process of underground corrosion, but the progress of pitting depth can be predicted after finding out a statistical law describing many samples of pitting depth. Several statistical models for pitting depth have been proposed recently. These models were applied to data sets of pitting depth on cast iron pipes and their fitness and contents of the data sets were examined. The corrosion rate of a cast iron pipe depends on the corrosiveness of soils. Thus, the corrosion rate was explained by establishing the relationship between pitting depth and environmental factors. The relationship was explored through regression analysis with pitting depth as a dependent variable and environmental factors as independent variables. Pitting depth is expressed as a power of time t: η = γtα (γ and α are constants). The following statistical model has been proposed based on the above relationship. It is supposed that the observed value y of pitting depth η is expressed as a log-nor.
Hypoxia-inducible factor-mediated induction of WISP-2 contributes to attenuated progression of breast cancer

Hypoxia and the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) signaling pathway trigger the expression of several genes involved in cancer progression and resistance to therapy. Transcriptionally active HIF-1 and HIF-2 regulate overlapping sets of target genes, and only few HIF-2 specific target genes are known so far. Here we investigated oxygen-regulated expression of Wnt-1 induced signaling protein 2 (WISP-2), which has been reported to attenuate the progression of breast cancer. WISP-2 was hypoxically induced in low-invasive luminal-like breast cancer cell lines at both the messenger RNA and protein levels, mainly in a HIF-2α-dependent manner. HIF-2-driven regulation of the WISP2 promoter in breast cancer cells is almost entirely mediated by two phylogenetically and only partially conserved functional hypoxia response elements located in a microsatellite region upstream of the transcriptional start site. High WISP-2 tumor levels were associated with increased HIF-2α, decreased tumor macrophage density, and a better prognosis. Silencing WISP-2 increased anchorage-independent colony formation and recovery from scratches in confluent cell layers of normally low-invasive MCF-7 cancer cells. Interestingly, these changes in cancer cell aggressiveness could be phenocopied by HIF-2α silencing, suggesting that direct HIF-2-mediated transcriptional induction of WISP-2 gene expression might at least partially explain the association of high HIF-2α tumor levels with prolonged overall survival of patients with breast cancer.
Ductal closure using the Amplatzer duct occluder type two: experience in Port Elizabeth hospital complex, South Africa

Objective To report outcomes in percutaneous ductal closure using the Amplatzer duct occluder type two (ADO II). Methods Records of patients admitted for percutaneous closure of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) were reviewed. Results From May 2009 to July 2012, 36 patients were assigned to closure using the ADO II. There were 21 females and 15 males. The median age was 16.5 (2–233) months; median weight, 8 (3.94–39.2) kg; and median height, 75 (55–166) cm. The mean pulmonary artery pressure was 24.4 (± 10.4) mmHg, the pulmonary blood flow:systemic blood flow (Qp:Qs) ratio was 2.25 (± 1.97), and mean pulmonary resistance (Rp) was 1.87 (± 1.28) Wood units. The mean ductal size was 2.74 (± 1.3) mm. In 30 patients the device was delivered through the pulmonary artery. Thirty-three patients achieved complete closure by discharge (day one). Conclusion The ADO II is capable of closing a wide range of ducts in carefully selected patients. Our findings are comparable with other studies regarding ductal closure rates.