Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bacterial and salivary biomarkers predict the gingival inflammatory profile.

BACKGROUND The aim of this human investigation is to explore the relationship of gingivitis with salivary biomarkers, periodontal pathogens, and interleukin (IL)-1 polymorphism after a transient inflammatory burden. METHODS Thirty healthy human participants were randomized by IL-1 genotype status to control for potential influences of this particular single nucleotide polymorphism on the inflammatory profile. Oral hygiene practices ceased for 21 days to induce gingivitis (induction), after which home care was reinstated until 35 days (resolution). Clinical parameters included plaque (PI) and gingival (GI) indices and papillary bleeding score (PBS). Levels and proportions of 40 subgingival bacteria were determined using checkerboard DNA-DNA hybridization. Saliva was analyzed using a multiplex protein array for 30 biomarkers associated with host defense, inflammation, tissue destruction, and angiogenesis. RESULTS Mean PI, GI, and PBS values were significantly increased during induction and decreased during resolution as measured at 35 days (P <0.01), although no differences were observed between IL-1 groups. Participants were stratified as either "high" or "low" responders based on inflammatory response (high: GI >1.5; low: GI ≤1.5). Baseline levels of salivary IL-6 and IL-8 demonstrated the highest ability to discriminate between high and low responders (area under the curve [AUC] of 0.81 and 0.72, respectively). Salivary biomarkers, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), and bacterial biofilm were combined to generate receiver operating characteristic curves. High levels of IL-6 and MMP-1 at baseline demonstrated the strongest ability to predict high responders (AUC of 0.89; odds ratio of 17.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.7 to 171.7). CONCLUSION In this proof-of-concept investigation, we identified specific biomarker and microbial signatures that are associated with gingival inflammation (ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT00980525).
Closed-Form Solution for Efficient ZVS Modulation of DAB Converters

A directly employable closed-form analytical solution for the calculation of an efficient, full-operating-range zero voltage switching (ZVS) modulation scheme for bidirectional dual active bridge (DAB) dc–dc converters is presented. Contrary to the analytical ZVS modulation schemes previously proposed in literature, the amount of charge that is required to charge the nonlinear parasitic output capacitances of the switches during commutation is incorporated, ensuring complete commutation of the bridge legs and ZVS of the switching devices. Besides quasi-lossless ZVS, the resulting modulation scheme leads to near-minimum high-frequency circulating currents and thus, minimum conduction losses under the condition of ZVS and for given values of the inductances and transformer turns ratio. Although modifiable for other implementations, the method is demonstrated for a full-bridge full-bridge DAB as a core part of a single-phase, single-stage, bidirectional, isolated ac–dc converter. The resulting modulation scheme is compared with a ZVS modulation scheme calculated using a previously published numerical approach, proving its effectiveness. Experimental results obtained from a state-of-the-art, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{3.7}\; \text{kW}$</tex-math></inline-formula> converter prototype which interfaces a <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{400}\; \text{V}$</tex-math></inline-formula> battery with the <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{230}\;\text{V}$</tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{50}\;\text{Hz}$</tex-math></inline-formula> utility grid are given to validate the theoretical analysis and practical feasibility of the proposed strategy.
Statin Inhibits the Expression of Secretory Phospholipase A2 and Subsequent Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 in Human Endothelial Cells

Abstract: Phospholipase A2 (PLA2) changes the phosphatidylcholine contained in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) to lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC), which has various proatherogenic properties. We reported that tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF&agr;) enhanced the expression of group V PLA2 (sPLA2-V) in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), and the LPC content in LDL and the monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) expression were augmented when TNF&agr;-stimulated HUVECs were incubated with LDL. Here, we observed that an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, pitavastatin, at the concentration of >1 &mgr;M administered 12 hours before TNF&agr; stimulation suppressed the enhancement of sPLA2-V mRNA and protein. Pitavastatin also prevented the enhancement of the LPC content in LDL and the expression of MCP-1 mRNA when TNF&agr;-stimulated HUVECs were incubated with LDL. The administration of geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate restored the expression of sPLA2-V mRNA and protein. The administration of the Rho kinase inhibitor Y-27632 and the transfection of small interfering RNA (siRNA) against sPLA2-V before TNF&agr; stimulation both diminished the TNF&agr;-induced sPLA2-V mRNA expression. Therefore, Y-27632 and siRNA against sPLA2-V also prevented the enhancement of MCP-1 mRNA expression when TNF&agr;-stimulated HUVECs were incubated with LDL. Pitavastatin's inhibitory effect on the expression of sPLA2-V induced by TNF&agr; may be useful to prevent the proatherogenic modification of LDL.
Variational approaches for motion and structure from monocular video

Motion and structure estimation are elementary problems of computer vision. These are active areas of research, even though the first methods were proposed several decades ago. We develop new approaches for motion and structure estimation for autonomous driving. An autonomous vehicle requires an accurate model of its environment, wrong decisions made by an autonomous car can have severe consequences. We assume the monocular setup, where only a single camera is mounted on the car. Outdoor traffic sequences are challenging for optical flow estimation. The high speed of the car causes large displacements in the optical flow field, the lighting conditions are unstable and there can be strong distortions due to reflections and difficult weather conditions. We propose new discrete methods, which determine optical flow as optimal configuration of probabilistic graphical models. The first approach selects sparse locations in the reference frame, and matches them across the second image. The best correspondences, which match constraints from a multiple view configuration, are considered motion vectors in a graphical model. In a second approach, we solve for dense optical flow by approximating the original infeasible graphical model with a sequence of reduced models. The monocular configuration poses challenges to the estimation of scene structure, camera positions and scene parameters need to be estimated jointly. The geometry of multiple views creates blind spots in the images, and adds a scale ambiguity, which both to not exist in a setup with multiple cameras. We propose two methods for structure estimation. The first approach determines the energy optimal camera track, given optical flow and depth observations. A further approach estimates camera motion and a piecewise planar scene description jointly from a single optical flow field. The scene description contains depth and plane normal information. We evaluate our approaches for motion and structure estimation on different real world and rendered datasets. In addition to evaluation on publicly available evaluation data, we evaluate on a new rendered dataset with ground truth plane normals.
Genetic analysis of human breast cancer: A synthesis of contributions to Gaw IV

A variety of reports on the genetic epidemiology of breast cancer appeared prior to GAW IV, including segregation and linkage results which are not always in agreement. Additionally, various viewpoints regarding sampling, ascertainment and modelling have been raised during the history of the study of the genetic epidemiology of breast cancer. Since these analyses have been performed on different data sets by different investigators there had previously been no method of coming to general conclusions concerning the epidemiology of this disease.
Identification of Streptococcus faecalis and Streptococcus faecium and susceptibility studies with newly developed antimicrobial agents

Identification and susceptibility studies were performed on 301 blood and urine Streptococcus faecalis and Streptococcus faecium isolates. Strep Trio-Tubes S4, S5, and S3 (Carr-Scarborough Microbiologicals, Inc.) were compared with conventional methods for accuracy and rapidity. Of 282 isolates identified as S. faecalis, 98% were identified by species in 4 h with Trio-Tubes; the same percentage of isolates analyzed by conventional methods were identified in 24 h. All 14 S. faecium isolates (approximately 5% of the total number of isolates) were identified by Trio-Tubes in 24 h. In vitro MIC susceptibility testing of the isolates was performed by the Dynatech 2000 microdilution technique (Dynatech Laboratories, Inc.). Several newly developed antimicrobial agents, including imipenem (a carbapenem) and some of the quinolone drugs, i.e., CI-934, ciprofloxacin, A-56619, A-56620, amifloxacin, norfloxacin, and enoxacin, were tested, as were ampicillin, erythromycin, and vancomycin. Both ampicillin and vancomycin showed good activity against S. faecalis, with MICs for 90% of isolates tested (MIC90S) of 1 and 2 micrograms/ml, respectively; with S. faecium, ampicillin exhibited an MIC90 of 16 micrograms/ml and vancomycin exhibited an MIC90 of 2 micrograms/ml. Of the newer antimicrobial agents, imipenem and CI-934 exhibited the greatest activity against S. faecalis strains, with MIC90S of 2 and 0.5 micrograms/ml, respectively. MBCs against the isolates were determined with CI-934, with 90% of S. faecalis strains showing MBCs of 1 microgram/ml or less.
Endotracheal Aspirate and Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid Analysis: Interchangeable Diagnostic Modalities in Suspected Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia?

ABSTRACT Authoritative guidelines state that the diagnosis of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) can be established using either endotracheal aspirate (ETA) or bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) analysis, thereby suggesting that their results are considered to be in accordance. Therefore, the results of ETA Gram staining and semiquantitative cultures were compared to the results from a paired ETA-BALF analysis. Different thresholds for the positivity of ETAs were assessed. This was a prospective study of all patients who underwent bronchoalveolar lavage for suspected VAP in a 27-bed university intensive care unit during an 8-year period. VAP was diagnosed when ≥2% of the BALF cells contained intracellular organisms and/or when BALF quantitative culture revealed ≥104 CFU/ml of potentially pathogenic microorganisms. ETA Gram staining and semiquantitative cultures were compared to the results from paired BALF analysis by Cohen's kappa coefficients. VAP was suspected in 311 patients and diagnosed in 122 (39%) patients. In 288 (93%) patients, the results from the ETA analysis were available for comparison. Depending on the threshold used and the diagnostic modality, VAP incidences varied from 15% to 68%. For the diagnosis of VAP, the most accurate threshold for positivity of ETA semiquantitative cultures was moderate or heavy growth, whereas the optimal threshold for BALF Gram staining was ≥1 microorganisms per high power field. The Cohen's kappa coefficients were 0.22, 0.31, and 0.60 for ETA and paired BALF Gram stains, cultures, and BALF Gram stains, respectively. Since the ETA and BALF Gram stains and cultures agreed only fairly, they are probably not interchangeable for diagnosing VAP.
Measurement and visualization of file-to-wall contact during ultrasonically activated irrigation in simulated canals.

AIM (i) To quantify in a simulated root canal model the file-to-wall contact during ultrasonic activation of an irrigant and to evaluate the effect of root canal size, file insertion depth, ultrasonic power, root canal level and previous training, (ii) To investigate the effect of file-to-wall contact on file oscillation. METHODOLOGY File-to-wall contact was measured during ultrasonic activation of the irrigant performed by 15 trained and 15 untrained participants in two metal root canal models. Results were analyzed by two 5-way mixed-design anovas. The level of significance was set at P < 0.05. Additionally, high-speed visualizations, laser-vibrometer measurements and numerical simulations of the file oscillation were conducted. RESULTS File-to-wall contact occurred in all cases during 20% of the activation time. Contact time was significantly shorter at high power (P < 0.001), when the file was positioned away from working length (P < 0.001), in the larger root canal (P < 0.001) and from coronal towards apical third of the root canal (P < 0.002), in most of the cases studied. Previous training did not show a consistent significant effect. File oscillation was affected by contact during 94% of the activation time. During wall contact, the file bounced back and forth against the wall at audible frequencies (ca. 5 kHz), but still performed the original 30 kHz oscillations. Travelling waves were identified on the file. The file oscillation was not dampened completely due to the contact and hydrodynamic cavitation was detected. CONCLUSION Considerable file-to-wall contact occur-red during irrigant activation. Therefore, the term 'Passive Ultrasonic Irrigation' should be amended to 'Ultrasonically Activated Irrigation'.
Polymeric Materials as Artificial Muscles: An Overview

Purpose The accurate selection of materials and the fine tuning of their properties represent a fundamental aspect in the realization of new active systems able to produce actuating forces, such as artificial muscles. In this regard, exciting opportunities for the design of new advanced systems are offered by materials belonging to the emerging class of functional polymers: exploiting their actuation response, specific devices can be realized. Along this direction, materials showing either shape-memory effect (SME) or shape-change effect (SCE) have been the subject of extensive studies aimed at designing of actuators as artificial muscles. Here, we concisely review active polymers in terms of properties and main applications in artificial muscle design. Structure The main aspects related to material properties in both shape-memory polymers (SMPs) and electroactive polymers (EAPs) are reviewed, based on recent scientific literature. SME in thermally activated SMPs is presented by preliminarily providing a definition that encompasses the new theories regarding their fundamental properties. EAPs are briefly presented, describing the working mechanisms and highlighting the main properties and drawbacks, in view of their application as actuators. For both classes of materials, some key examples of effective application in artificial muscles are offered. Outlook The potential in polymer architecture design for the fabrication of actively moving systems is described to give a perspective on the main achievements and new research activities.
Determinants of knowledge management system adoption in health care

Abstract The demand for efficient knowledge management (KM) in health care is increasing because the complexity and scale of the knowledge generated from medical research and clinical practices have resulted in challenges of information overload and medical quality. These critical issues can be improved through the adoption of knowledge management systems (KMS). However, the adoption of technological innovations in health care demands an enhanced understanding of the lagged technology adoption status in the health care sector. This study uses empirical methods to investigate the determinants of KMS adoption on the basis of a national survey. Results suggest that KMS adoption is affected by organizational characteristics, KM enablers, and KMS characteristics. We emphasize that KMS adoption in health care is considerably complex because it largely depends on KM enablers and organizational characteristics and not solely on system characteristics. The implications of the findings for research and practice are outlined in this work.
Phase I trial of a murine antibody to MUC1 in patients with metastatic cancer: evidence for the activation of humoral and cellular antitumor immunity.

BACKGROUND BrevaRex mAb-AR20.5 is a murine anti-MUC1 monoclonal antibody generated to induce MUC1 antigen-specific immune responses through the formation of immune complexes with circulating MUC1 and/or MUC1-expressing tumor cells that may target these immune complexes (IC) to receptors on dendritic cells (DCs). PATIENTS AND METHODS A phase I study focusing on safety and immunology evaluated 1, 2 and 4-mg doses. Seventeen patients with MUC1-positive cancers received intravenous infusions of the antibody over 30 min on weeks 1, 3, 5, 9, 13 and 17 of treatment. RESULTS mAb-AR20.5 was well-tolerated, not associated with dose-limiting toxicity, and did not induce hypersensitivity reactions. Overall, five of 15 evaluable patients developed human anti-mouse antibodies (HAMA), five developed anti-idiotypic antibodies (Ab2) and seven developed anti-MUC1 antibodies. Immune responses were most prominent in the 2-mg dose cohort for all parameters tested, and treatment-emergent MUC1-specific T-cell responses were detected in five of 10 evaluable patients treated with mAb-AR20.5. CONCLUSIONS The injection of a murine antibody to MUC1 induces MUC1-specific immune responses in advanced cancer patients. Anti-MUC1 antibody increases correlated with decrease or stabilization of CA15.3 levels (P=0.03). The 2-mg dose of mAb-AR20.5 showed strongest biological activity, and will be evaluated in future efficacy trials.
“CADASIL coma”: an underdiagnosed acute encephalopathy

The main clinical features of CADASIL (cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leucoencephalopathy) are stroke, dementia, and migraine. A reversible acute encephalopathy was the principal presentation in six of 70 patients in a British prevalence study. The episodes lasted seven to 14 days, presenting with fever, acute confusion, coma, and fits; there was full recovery but in two cases identical episodes recurred some years later. All patients had a previous history of migraine with aura and were originally misdiagnosed as viral encephalitis. CADASIL should be considered in acute unexplained encephalopathies. MRI white matter changes, previous migraine with aura, and a family history of stroke and dementia may be useful pointers to the diagnosis.
Approximate byzantine consensus in faulty asynchronous networks

In this paper, a novel fault-tolerant algorithm for achieving approximate Byzantine consensus in asynchronous networks is proposed. It is shown that the topological condition required for the success of the algorithm is more relaxed than the previous results. We prove that the synchronicity of the network does not affect this condition and the algorithm succeeds in synchronous networks as well. The same fact is concluded in networks with delay on communication paths. Finally, we extend the results to networks with time-varying underlying graph.
Energy-Aware Self-Stabilizing Distributed Clustering Protocol for Ad Hoc Networks: the case of WSNs

In this paper, we present an Energy-Aware Self-Stabilizing Distributed Clustering protocol based on message-passing model for Ad Hoc networks. The latter does not require any initialization. Starting from an arbitrary configuration, the network converges to a stable state in a finite time. Our contribution is twofold. We firstly give the formal proof that the stabilization is reached after at most n+2 transitions and requires at most (n * log(2n+k+3) memory space, where n is the number of network nodes and k represents the maximum hops number in the clusters. Furthermore, using the OMNeT++ simulator, we perform an evaluation of our approach. Secondly, we propose an adaptation of our solution in the context of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) with energy constraint. We notably show that our protocol can be easily used for constructing clusters according to multiple criteria in the election of cluster-heads, such as nodes’ identity, residual energy or degree. We give a comparison under the different election metrics by evaluating their communication cost and energy consumption. Simulation results show that in terms of number of exchanged messages and energy consumption, it is better to use the Highest-ID metric for electing CHs.
Physiological characteristics of elite snowboarders.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to profile the physiological qualities of elite snowboarders and quantified the relationships with snowboarding performance. METHODS Ten alpine (ALP, mean±SD age: 25.6±4.4 yrs; body mass 78.1±12.1; height 178.4±9.8 cm; sum of 7 skinfolds 74.8±19.4 mm; body fat 13.8±3.7%) and ten snowboard cross (SBX, mean±SD age: 23.5±4.3 yrs; body mass 77.2±9.2; height 181.0±4.9 cm; sum of 7 skinfolds 70.1±21.1 mm; body fat 11.9±3.5%) elite male athletes undertook aerobic power (cycle ergometer maximum oxygen uptake), muscular isometric strength (maximal isometric voluntary contraction, MVC), and muscle-power (vertical jumps), as well as ALP (parallel giant slalom [PGS] and parallel slalom [PSL]) and SBX simulated competitions. Associations between measurements were assessed by correlation analysis. RESULTS Absolute (ALP 383.1±38.0 W, P<0.01; SBX 339.7±41.3 W, P<0.05) and relative (ALP, 4.6±0.5 W·kg-1, P<0.01; SBX 4.5±0.3 W·kg-1, P<0.05) power output, power at the first (ALP 196.0±53.7 W, P<0.01; SBX 192.8±24.3, P<0.01) and second (ALP 285.4±60.6 W, P<0.01; SBX 280.4±20.3 W, P<0.01) ventilatory threshold, MVC (ALP 731.9±181.9 N·m-1, P<0.001; SBX 680.1±76.8 N·m-1, P<0.001) and leg stiffness (ALP 31.4±4.8 N·m-1·kg-1, P<0.01; SBX 25.4±3.0 N·m-1·kg-1, P<0.01) were highly correlated with PGS (r=-0.88 to -0.97), PSL (r=-0.84 to -0.94), and SBX (r=-0.89 to -0.93) performance times. CONCLUSIONS To meet the demands of snowboarding competition, elite snowboarders require highly developed muscular strength and power. This study provides criteria for the selection of appropriate physiological variables for the longitudinal monitoring of relevant parameters in snowboarding.
Radiation of dipoles at the interface of anisotropic low permittivity media

The radiation patterns of a dipole at the interface of a general anisotropic medium and air is calculated using the Lorentz reciprocity method. It is shown that by using a homogenous Epsilon Near Zero (ENZ) material, one can obtain interesting shaped radiation patterns in air which were previously attainable only inside a dielectric of high permittivity. In such cases the radiation in air is much stronger than in the ENZ media. Anisotropic ENZs which can be more readily attained in practice, are shown to also yield similar radiation patterns realized in air.
Intranasally administered insulin intended for prevention of type 1 diabetes—a safety study in healthy adults

Intranasally applied insulin is one of the antigen‐specific therapies currently tested in clinical type 1 diabetes prevention trials, for example, in the Type 1 Diabetes Prediction and Prevention Study (DIPP). The possibility that the therapy may cause hypoglycaemia or local irritation and the poorly known immunological safety of mucosal application of the antigen in healthy subjects prompted this study.