Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Arterial Remodeling: Mechanisms and Clinical Implications

The presentation of coronary atherosclerosis can be gradual, because of progressive flow-limiting stenosis and exertional angina, or dramatic, with plaque rupture and thrombosis causing unstable angina, myocardial infarction, or sudden death. The importance of arterial remodeling, or persistent change in vessel size, has recently become apparent in both situations. Arterial remodeling, not plaque size, has been identified as the primary determinant of lumen size in the presence of stable lesions. Similarly, luminal stenosis in transplant vasculopathy and with restenosis after angioplasty occur mainly because of inward remodeling rather than plaque growth. However, recent evidence also suggests that adequate outward remodeling may be associated with an increased risk of plaque rupture, the underlying cause of acute coronary syndromes and sudden cardiac death. The term “arterial remodeling” has previously been used to describe any change in vessel wall structure. More recently, however, it has been used specifically to refer to a change in vessel size (or cross-sectional area within the external elastic lamina), and it is on this entity that this review is focused. Inward remodeling denotes a reduction in vessel size. Outward remodeling denotes an increase in vessel size. Various other terms are used in the literature (the Table⇓). When outward remodeling is present but insufficient to prevent luminal stenosis, it is referred to as inadequate outward remodeling. View this table: Table 1. Terminology of Arterial Remodeling It has been known for more than a century1 that blood vessels enlarge to accommodate increasing flow to the organ downstream (eg, during natural growth or in left ventricular hypertrophy). Widespread interest in this phenomenon was stimulated by observations that radial enlargement of vessels (outward remodeling) can compensate for progressive growth of atherosclerotic plaques, thus postponing the development of flow-limiting stenosis.2 3 These pathological findings were subsequently supported by in vivo intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) studies that …
Siderophile element characteristics of acapulcoite–lodranites and winonaites: Implications for the early differentiation processes of their parent bodies

We have studied magnetic fractions of five acapulcoites, three lodranites, and two winonaites to investigate chemical compositions of their precursor materials and metallic partial melting processes occurring on their parent bodies. One winonaite metal is similar in composition to low Au, low Ni IAB iron subgroup, indicating genetic relationship between them. Magnetic fractions of chondrule‐bearing acapulcoite and winonaite have intermediate chemical compositions of metals between H chondrites and EL chondrites. This fact indicates that the precursor materials of acapulcoite–lodranites and winonaites were similar to H and/or EL chondrites in chemical compositions. Magnetic fractions in acapulcoite–lodranites have a large variety of chemical compositions. Most of them show enrichments of W, Re, Ir, Pt, Mo, and Rh, and one of them shows clear depletion in Re and Ir relative to those of chondrule‐bearing acapulcoite. Chemical compositional variations among acapulcoite–lodranite metals cannot be explained by a single Fe‐Ni‐S partial melting event, but a two‐step partial melting model can explain it.
On Bit-Wise Decoders for Coded Modulation

Coded modulation is a technique that emerged as a response to the growing demand for high data rates. It was devised to achieve high spectral efficiency with high reliability, potentially approaching Shannon’s capacity. The main idea of coded modulation consists in combining error-correcting coding with higher-order modulation. For fast fading channels, the use of binary codes with a bit-wise interleaver between the encoder and the modulator together with a bit-wise decoder was proposed in order to increase the code diversity. This coded modulation technique is called bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) and, due to its flexibility of design and good performance, it gained popularity in various wireless communication systems, e.g., WiFi, LTE, etc. The key component of a BICM scheme is a demapper that, based on the channel observations, calculates L-values (also known as log-likelihood ratios) for the coded bits. In this thesis, we take a closer look at different properties of L-values and their implications when analyzing the performance of bit-wise decoders for coded modulation systems. First, the demapper is studied in terms of uncoded bit-error rate (BER) over the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel, i.e., when hard decisions on the bits are made directly at the output of the demapper. A new expression for the BER is formulated for arbitrary one-dimensional constellations. Next, two demapping strategies are considered: when the demapper calculates exact L-values and when L-values are calculated using the so-called max-log approximation. Closed-form expressions for the BER for 4-ary and 8-ary pulse amplitude modulation constellations with some of the most popular binary labelings are found. The numerical results show that there is no difference between the two strategies in terms of BER for any signal-to-noise ratio of practical interest. We then study the performance of coded systems when the demapper uses the max-log approximation to calculate L-values. We consider a 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation constellation labeled with a Gray code over the AWGN channel, as well as flat fading channels. At the receiver, a bit-wise decoder is used for decoding, which finds the maximum correlation between L-values and coded bits. This decoder performs the maximum likelihood decoding for the binary-input AWGN channel, however, it is suboptimal when higher-order modulation is considered. We show that the asymptotic loss in terms of pairwise error probability of such a decoder compared to the maximum likelihood decoder is bounded by 1.25 dB for any flat fading channel (including the AWGN channel as a special case). The analysis also shows that for the AWGN channel, the asymptotic loss is zero for a wide range of linear binary codes.
Correlations of Neuronal and Microvascular Densities in Murine Cortex Revealed by Direct Counting and Colocalization of Nuclei and Vessels

It is well known that the density of neurons varies within the adult brain. In neocortex, this includes variations in neuronal density between different lamina as well as between different regions. Yet the concomitant variation of the microvessels is largely uncharted. Here, we present automated histological, imaging, and analysis tools to simultaneously map the locations of all neuronal and non-neuronal nuclei and the centerlines and diameters of all blood vessels within thick slabs of neocortex from mice. Based on total inventory measurements of different cortical regions (∼107 cells vectorized across brains), these methods revealed: (1) In three dimensions, the mean distance of the center of neuronal somata to the closest microvessel was 15 μm. (2) Volume samples within lamina of a given region show that the density of microvessels does not match the strong laminar variation in neuronal density. This holds for both agranular and granular cortex. (3) Volume samples in successive radii from the midline to the ventral-lateral edge, where each volume summed the number of cells and microvessels from the pia to the white matter, show a significant correlation between neuronal and microvessel densities. These data show that while neuronal and vascular densities do not track each other on the 100 μm scale of cortical lamina, they do track each other on the 1–10 mm scale of the cortical mantle. The absence of a disproportionate density of blood vessels in granular lamina is argued to be consistent with the initial locus of functional brain imaging signals.
Quantitative Study of Mast Cells in Experimentally Induced Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

Introduction: Mast cells are involved in a number of biological responses to exocrine and endocrine stimuli, by releasing growth factors and certain cytokines. The aim of this study was to evaluate their number and distribution in experimentally induced benign prostatic hyperplasia in rats. Materials and Methods: Adult Wistar rats (100 days old) were given citral transdermally for 1 month. Morphological characteristics and mast cell concentration were studied in proximal and distal zones after staining with hematoxylin-eosin and Giemsa, respectively. Results: Citral induced mild benign prostatic hyperplasia. Mast cell numbers were increased significantly in both the proximal (2.97 ± 0.52 vs. 1.4 ± 0.17, p = 0.004) and distal zone (2.8 ± 0.68 vs. 1.16 ± 0.11, p = 0.011). Conclusion: Transdermal citral application resulted in a significant increase of mast cell numbers in the stroma of the rat ventral prostate. Furthermore, these mast cells were larger, contained a significant number of intracytoplasmic granules and degranulated. This finding suggests a role for mast cells in the pathogenesis of benign prostatic hyperplasia.
The Antecedents of Customer Self-Disclosure to Online Virtual Advisors

This study proposes and tests a model of the antecedents to customer self-disclosure to an online virtual advisor during the requirements elicitation stage of a skin care product. In such a context, a customer is required to provide personal information for the advisor to identify a suitable skin care product. Consistent with the view of self-disclosure as a form of social exchange, we propose that a customer’s intention to self-disclose is affected by the extent to which she believes the disclosures will enable her to obtain a better product, and her perceived information misuse risk. Furthermore, we posit that the customer’s perception of the advisor’s responsiveness acts both as an antecedent to her disclosure intentions, as well as her perceived benefits and costs. The results of an experimental investigation support the theoretical model.
Efficacy of pamidronate in complex regional pain syndrome type I.

OBJECTIVES Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), formerly known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), is a painful, disabling disorder for which treatment is difficult. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of pamidronate in a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial. METHODS Patients referred to our regional multidisciplinary pain management center who fulfilled the International Association for the Study of Pain criteria for CRPS Type I were enrolled in the study over a 2-year period. Patients were administered, intravenously, either pamidronate, 60 mg as a single dose, or normal saline. Patients' pain scores, global assessment of disease severity scores, and functional assessment (SF-36) scores were documented at baseline and at 1 and 3 months. RESULTS Twenty-seven patients (18 female, 9 male; average age 45 years) were recruited, of whom 14 received pamidronate and 13 received placebo. Overall improvements in pain score, patient's global assessment of disease severity score, and physical function (SF-36) score were noted in the pamidronate group at 3 months, and improvements in role physical (SF-36) score were noted at 1 and 3 months. There was variability in pamidronate response among individuals. CONCLUSIONS Pamidronate may be a useful treatment option in the management of patients with CRPS Type I. Although treatment response was variable, the majority of patients improved. Early administration in tandem with other treatment measures is recommended.
Unsaturated and Saturated Permeabilities of Fiber Reinforcement: Critics and Suggestions

In general, permeability measurement results show a strong scattering according to the measurement method, the type of test fluid and the fluid injection condition, even though permeability is regarded as a unique property of porous medium. In particular, the discrepancy between the unsaturated and saturated permeabilities for the same fabric has been widely reported. In the literature, relative permeability has been adopted to model the unsaturated flow. This approach has some limits in the modeling of double-scale porosity medium. We address this issue of permeability measurement by rigorously examining the mass conservation condition. Finally, we identify that the pressure gradient is non-linear with positive curvature in the unsaturated flow and a misinterpretation of pressure gradient is the main reason for the difference between the saturated and unsaturated permeabilities of the same fiber reinforcement. We propose to use a fixed value of permeability and to modify the mass conservation equation if there are air voids which are entrapped inside the fiber tow. Finally, we also suggest some guidelines and future perspectives to obtain more consistent permeability measurement results.
Comparison of Pelvic Phased-Array versus Endorectal Coil Magnetic Resonance Imaging at 3 Tesla for Local Staging of Prostate Cancer

Purpose Several studies have demonstrated the superiority of endorectal coil magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) over pelvic phased-array coil MRI at 1.5 Tesla for local staging of prostate cancer. However, few have studied which evaluation is more accurate at 3 Tesla MRI. In this study, we compared the accuracy of local staging of prostate cancer using pelvic phased-array coil or endorectal coil MRI at 3 Tesla. Materials and Methods Between January 2005 and May 2010, 151 patients underwent radical prostatectomy. All patients were evaluated with either pelvic phased-array coil or endorectal coil prostate MRI prior to surgery (63 endorectal coils and 88 pelvic phased-array coils). Tumor stage based on MRI was compared with pathologic stage. We calculated the specificity, sensitivity and accuracy of each group in the evaluation of extracapsular extension and seminal vesicle invasion. Results Both endorectal coil and pelvic phased-array coil MRI achieved high specificity, low sensitivity and moderate accuracy for the detection of extracapsular extension and seminal vesicle invasion. There were statistically no differences in specificity, sensitivity and accuracy between the two groups. Conclusion Overall staging accuracy, sensitivity and specificity were not significantly different between endorectal coil and pelvic phased-array coil MRI.
Repair of heteroduplex plasmid DNA after transformation into Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Purified heteroduplex plasmid DNAs containing 8- or 12-base-pair insertion mismatches or AC or CT substitution mismatches were used to transform Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Two insertion mismatches, separated by 943 base pairs, were repaired independently of each other at least 55% of the time. This suggested that repair tracts were frequently shorter than 1 kilobase. The two insertion mismatches were repaired with different efficiencies. Comparison of the repair efficiency of one mismatched site with or without an adjacent mismatch suggests that mismatches promote their own repair and can influence the repair of neighboring mismatches. When two different plasmids containing single-insertion mismatches were transformed into S. cerevisiae cells, a slight preference towards insertion was detected among repair products of one of the two plasmids, while no repair preference was detected among transformants with the second plasmid.
Acute Effects of Different Formats of Small-Sided and Conditioned Handball Games on Heart Rate Responses in Female Students During PE Classes

The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of different formats (2-a-side, 3- a-side and 4-a-side) on heart rate responses of female students during small-sided and conditioned handball games. The heart rate responses were measured using heart rate monitors during physical education classes. Eight female students participated in the study (15 ± 0.0 years). The one-way ANOVA showed statistical differences with moderate effect between the three different formats (F(2, 1674) = 86.538; p-value ˂ 0.001; ඃ烟 ! = 0.094; Power = 1.0). The results showed that smaller formats (2-a-side and 3-a-side) increased the heart rate responses of female students during small-sided and conditioned handball games during physical education (PE) classes. The results also suggested that 2-a-side games can be used for anaerobic workouts and the 3-a-side and 4-a-side games can be better used to reach lactate-threshold and for aerobic workouts of high intensity.
A Lower Bound on the Differential Entropy of Log-Concave Random Vectors with Applications

We derive a lower bound on the differential entropy of a log-concave random variable X in terms of the p-th absolute moment of X. The new bound leads to a reverse entropy power inequality with an explicit constant, and to new bounds on the rate-distortion function and the channel capacity. Specifically, we study the rate-distortion function for log-concave sources and distortion measure d(x,x^)=|x−x^|r, with r≥1, and we establish that the difference between the rate-distortion function and the Shannon lower bound is at most log(πe)≈1.5 bits, independently of r and the target distortion d. For mean-square error distortion, the difference is at most log(πe2)≈1 bit, regardless of d. We also provide bounds on the capacity of memoryless additive noise channels when the noise is log-concave. We show that the difference between the capacity of such channels and the capacity of the Gaussian channel with the same noise power is at most log(πe2)≈1 bit. Our results generalize to the case of a random vector X with possibly dependent coordinates. Our proof technique leverages tools from convex geometry.
Dissociation within the Frontoparietal Network in Verbal Working Memory: A Parametric Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Concomitant increase in activity within the mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (MDLFC) and the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is observed in most functional neuroimaging studies of working memory (Collette et al., 1999; Gerton et al., 2004; Sun et al., 2005; Postle et al., 2006; Champod and Petrides, 2007; Emery et al., 2008). Despite broad consensus on the importance of these two brain regions in working memory, their unique contribution, especially that of the PPC, remains a matter of heated debate (Paulesu et al., 1993; Smith and Jonides, 1998; Postle et al., 1999; Berryhill and Olson, 2008). The main objective of the present parametric event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging study was to examine the hypothesis that the cortex in the intraparietal sulcus region in the PPC is involved in the manipulation (i.e., rearrangement) of verbal information in working memory and to dissociate the involvement of this brain region from that of the MDLFC in working memory processes. The results demonstrated a linear increase in activity within the MDLFC during the manipulation and monitoring of a linearly increasing number of words in working memory. In sharp contrast, there was a linear increase in activity within the PPC during the manipulation but not the monitoring of a linearly increasing number of words. This study provides the first parametric dissociation of activation in these two cortical regions indicating a crucial role of the PPC in the manipulation of information in working memory, with the MDLFC playing a major role in monitoring this information.
Approaches to cross-cultural design: two case studies with UX web-surveys

Cross-cultural design has become an area in HCI that needs more research in order to be able to respond to the demands of globalization and emerging markets. Agile ways of gathering local user data are needed to help designers to create better products and services and minimize the risk of failing in the target market areas. The aim of this paper is to introduce approaches related to cross-cultural design focusing on the advantages and challenges of web-surveys in international UX evaluation. Web-surveys allow quickly reaching remotely a vast amount of users in different corners of the world. We looked at two case studies where web-surveys were used to collect UX data about online services in different countries. We found that UX web-surveys were fast to implement and very suitable for a cross-cultural user sample that has access to Internet. We argue that UX web-surveys have potential to gather user data even from larger areas than now, as ubiquitous technology products and services are getting accessible for wider user groups.
Scattering and Doppler analysis for electrically large nonlinear sea surfaces: a field-based semi-deterministic model

ABSTRACT This paper presents a semi-deterministic facet model based on the combination of the two-scale theory and the small slope approximation (SSA). Based on the model, normalized radar cross section (NRCS) and the Doppler spectra from electrically large nonlinear ocean scenes are analysed at moderate and large incidence angles. The analytic scattering amplitude of small-scale capillary waves based on the local configuration angles is conducted. Different from the conventional two-scale model (TSM), the model is a field-based rather than RCS-based model, which considerably widens its potential applications. In order to take into account the influence of nonlinear hydrodynamics on echo characteristics, the choppy wave model (CWM) is adopted to simulate nonlinear surfaces. Several examples of bistatic NRCS and Doppler spectra are given with comparison and analysis, which validate the rationality of the model at moderate and large incidence angles. In addition, the running time and memory consumption comparisons can indicate the model is more efficient than the SSA.
Roles of the small GTPases RhoA and Rac1 in cell behavior

The Rho-family GTPases are proving to have a variety of biological functions apart from their well known effects on the cytoskeleton. Recent work indicates their involvement in signaling between the adhesion receptors integrin and syndecan, effects on the recruitment of beta-catenin to the nucleus, and potential roles in the nucleus as well as the cytoplasm.
Urbanisation and cognitive ageing: an investigation of geographical variations in the cognitive health of older adults in Ireland

21 Chapter 1 Introduction . 23 Chapter 2 – Literature Review . 35 Abstract . 35. 35 Introduction . 36 Environment and Cognition: Historical Perspective . 42 Prevalence of Dementia in Rural vs. Urban Areas . 47 Direct Associations between Environmental Characteristics and Cognition . 50 Environmental restorative properties, visual/auditory complexity and attention . 50 Environmental layout, level of clutter and spatial cognition . 54 Environmental noise and multisensory stimulation in relation to memory and attention . 56 Mediating Factors . 58 Environmental factors associated with socioeconomic status . 58 URBANISATION AND COGNITIVE AGEING 6 Environmental factors associated with lifestyle: physical activity and social engagement . 60 Potential Cognitive Mechanisms Underlying the Association between Physical Environment and Cognition . 63 Future Directions . 67 Chapter 3 – Operationalisation of Environmental Complexity . 71 Abstract . 71. 7
Reasoning about the Relations between Relations

Relations can hold between relations, as in assertions such as: Cordelia loves Lear more than Goneril does. Naïve reasoners can make inferences that depend on these higher order relations, which are vital for science and mathematics, but no existing theory explains such inferences. The present paper presents a theory based on mental models of the situations under description, and it reports four experiments corroborating the theory. Experiment 1a showed that the difficulty of such inferences from two premises depends on the integration of the information from the premises into a single model. The same result held in Experiment 1b, even when individuals were not permitted to make written workings. Experiment 2 required the participants to think aloud, and their protocols revealed that they developed three main strategies. Experiment 3 biased the development of these strategies, showing that individuals assemble them “bottom up” from various tactical steps.