Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Detection of new hydrothermal sources using an in situ integrated analyzer for manganese (IISA-Mn)

Hydrothermal anomalies found in the deep sea are a place where unique ecosystems exist, and may become a possible new resource for metallic ore mining. Elements such as iron and manganese are found in high concentration in hydrothermal vents. Therefore it is possible to use such metal ions as a tracer to detect and evaluate new hydrothermal sources. Here we present a miniaturized and integrated microfluidic system for the detection of manganese in deep-sea environment, called IISA-Mn (In Situ Integrated Analyzer for Mn2+). The detection system is based on the chemiluminescence reaction of manganese contained in the seawater sample with a luminol-based reagent, which offers a high sensitivity. This system is composed of a microdevice for mixing and reaction, a pumping unit, several valving units, and a PMT (photomultiplier) detector. The system is able to detect manganese concentration above 100 nM in seawater, and gives a linear response until 1 μM. It is also proven to be able to work continuously during the 8 hours of an actual dive. This system has lead to the discovery of a previously unknown hydrothermal site near Okinawa Islands.
The late impact of surgical skills and training on the subcoronary implantation of the Freestyle stentless bioprosthesis.

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY Recent data have demonstrated an impact of higher postoperative mean pressure gradient (MPG) across the subcoronary Freestyle stentless bioprosthesis on the mid-term quality of life, but not on that of survival. Thus, the question remains that, with a prolonged follow up, would an effect on duration of survival also evolve? METHODS Between 1996 and 2006, a total of 939 patients underwent aortic valve replacement (AVR) for aortic stenosis with the Freestyle stentless bioprosthesis, using the subcoronary technique. A follow up was conducted by mailed questionnaires, and completed by telephone interviews in September 2008. The follow up was 99% complete and totaled 3,468 patient-years (pt-yr); the mean follow up time was 7.7 years (range: 7.3-8.1 years). The maximum follow up was 11.9 years. RESULTS Actuarial survival rates at five and 10 years were 73 +/- 2% and 35 +/- 4%, respectively. The cut-off gradient was identified at a postoperative MPG of 20 mmHg, where a gradient >20 mmHg had a negative impact on survival rate (p = 0.008), as indicated by the greatest fall of deviance in the Akaike information criterion. Risk factors also affecting survival rate included atrial fibrillation, diabetes, higher serum creatinine levels, greater age, left ventricular ejection fraction < or = 40%, liver insufficiency, lower body mass index, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and peripheral arterial disease. Risk factors for MPG >20 mmHg were a smaller valve size, a higher preoperative gradient, individual surgeons and lesser cumulative experience, and early adopters (surgeons) of the subcoronary stentless valve implantation technique. CONCLUSION A higher MPG impedes long-term survival, with the cut-off being at 20 mmHg. A higher MPG was largely influenced by the individual surgeons and their cumulative experience of using the subcoronary technique. Late adopters of the technique profited from the observations of early adopters. The standardization of a surgical technique and the identification of common pitfalls were key to optimizing the surgical outcome after stentless valve implantation.
RETROBULBAR HEMORRHAGE

Retrobulbar hemorrhage is a rare complication of orbital trauma or surgery. Although the process is usually self-limiting, infrequently visual impairment may result. Various methods for relieving the associated intraocular hypertension (caused by the extraocular compression posteriorly) have been suggested. The effectiveness of some remains questionable. To reassess the effectiveness of conservative management of this problem, we reviewed the medical records of all 10 patients who had had retrobulbar hemorrhage at our institution during the past 8 years. Additionally, we did an experimental study on rabbits to evaluate the visual effects of a transient but abnormally high intraorbital pressure. The results are reported.
Data mining methods and models

Apply powerful Data Mining Methods and Models to Leverage your Data for Actionable Results Data Mining Methods and Models provides: * The latest techniques for uncovering hidden nuggets of information * The insight into how the data mining algorithms actually work * The hands-on experience of performing data mining on large data sets Data Mining Methods and Models: * Applies a "white box" methodology, emphasizing an understanding of the model structures underlying the softwareWalks the reader through the various algorithms and provides examples of the operation of the algorithms on actual large data sets, including a detailed case study, "Modeling Response to Direct-Mail Marketing" * Tests the reader's level of understanding of the concepts and methodologies, with over 110 chapter exercises * Demonstrates the Clementine data mining software suite, WEKA open source data mining software, SPSS statistical software, and Minitab statistical software * Includes a companion Web site, www.dataminingconsultant. com, where the data sets used in the book may be downloaded, along with a comprehensive set of data mining resources. Faculty adopters of the book have access to an array of helpful resources, including solutions to all exercises, a PowerPoint(r) presentation of each chapter, sample data mining course projects and accompanying data sets, and multiple-choice chapter quizzes. With its emphasis on learning by doing, this is an excellent textbook for students in business, computer science, and statistics, as well as a problem-solving reference for data analysts and professionals in the field. An Instructor's Manual presenting detailed solutions to all the problems in the book is available onlne.
Risk refinement, reclassification, and treatment thresholds in primary prevention of cardiovascular disease: incremental progress but significant gaps remain.

JAMA Coronary Artery Calcium Score and Risk Classification for Coronary Heart Disease Prediction Tamar S. Polonsky, MD; Robyn L. McClelland, PhD; Neal W. Jorgensen, BS; Diane E. Bild, MD, MPH; Gregory L. Burke, MD, MSc; Alan D. Guerci, MD; Philip Greenland, MD Context: The coronary artery calcium score (CACS) has been shown to predict future coronary heart disease (CHD) events. However, the extent to which adding CACS to traditional CHD risk factors improves classification of risk is unclear. Objective: To determine whether adding CACS to a prediction model based on traditional risk factors improves classification of risk. Design, Setting, and Participants: CACS was measured by computed tomography in 6814 participants from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), a population-based cohort without known cardiovascular disease. Recruitment spanned July 2000 to September 2002; follow-up extended through May 2008. Participants with diabetes were excluded from the primary analysis. Five-year risk estimates for incident CHD were categorized as 0% to less than 3%, 3% to less than 10%, and 10% or more using Cox proportional hazards models. Model 1 used age, sex, tobacco use, systolic blood pressure, antihypertensive medication use, total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and race/ethnicity. Model 2 used these risk factors plus CACS. We calculated the net reclassification improvement and compared the distribution of risk using model 2 vs model 1. Main Outcome Measures: Incident CHD events. Results: During a median of 5.8 years of follow-up among a final cohort of 5878, 209 CHD events occurred, of which 122 were myocardial infarction, death from CHD, or resuscitated cardiac arrest. Model 2 resulted in significant improvements in risk prediction compared with model 1 (net reclassification improvement = 0.25; 95% confidence interval, 0.16-0.34;P Conclusion: In this multi-ethnic cohort, addition of CACS to a prediction model based on traditional risk factors significantly improved the classification of risk and placed more individuals in the most extreme risk categories. JAMA. 2010;303(16):1610-1616.
Qubit-photon interactions in a cavity: Measurement-induced dephasing and number splitting

We theoretically study measurement-induced dephasing of a superconducting qubit in the circuit QED architecture and compare the results to those obtained experimentally by Schuster et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 123602 (2005)]. Strong coupling of the qubit to the resonator leads to a significant ac Stark shift of the qubit transition frequency. As a result, quantum fluctuations in the photon number populating the resonator cause dephasing of the qubit. We find good agreement between the predicted line shape of the qubit spectrum and the experimental results. Furthermore, in the strongly dispersive limit, where the Stark shift per photon is large compared to the cavity decay rate and the qubit linewidth, we predict that the qubit spectrum will be split into multiple peaks, with each peak corresponding to a different number of photons in the cavity.
Are Banks Responsive to Exogenous Shocks to Credit Demand in Rural Economies? District - level Evidence from India

In the existing literature on rural financial markets in emerging economies, there has been much discussion on local bilateral contracts and mutual insurance arrangements, which are inadequate to deal with the typically correlated risks that individuals and households face in the rural sector, and on the costly and inefficient strategies that they adopt to smooth their income or consumption. The discussions rest on the implicit premise that the financial intermediation system in the rural economy is inefficient in insuring the individual agents against idiosyncratic shocks to their income and consumption. However, the premise itself has remained largely unexamined. Using extensive district-level rainfall and bank credit data from India, we investigate whether the commercial banks respond positively to exogenous shocks to credit demand in the rural economy in the wake of droughts. We find that banks increase agricultural credit in drought-affected years compared to years of normal rainfall, but not personal loans or other types of non-agricultural credit. Further, agricultural credit increases in the intensive margin (average loan size per account), but not in the extensive margin (the number of accounts). We also find that private banks increase credit more than public-sector banks. Overall, our findings offer positive evidence on the role of commercial banks in rural financial markets and, in the process, contribute to several existing literatures.
Does the Use of Electroencephalographic Bispectral Index or Auditory Evoked Potential Index Monitoring Facilitate Recovery after Desflurane Anesthesia in the Ambulatory Setting?

BackgroundAnalogous to the Bispectral Index® (BIS®) monitor, the auditory evoked potential monitor provides an electroencephalographic-derived index (AAI), which is alleged to correlate with the central nervous system depressant effects of anesthetic drugs. This clinical study was designed to test the hypothesis that intraoperative cerebral monitoring guided by either the BIS or the AAI value would facilitate recovery from general anesthesia compared with standard clinical monitoring practices alone in the ambulatory setting. MethodsSixty consenting outpatients undergoing gynecologic laparoscopic surgery were randomly assigned to one of three study groups: (1) control (standard practice), (2) BIS guided, or (3) AAI guided. Anesthesia was induced with 1.5–2.5 mg/kg propofol and 1–1.5 &mgr;g/kg fentanyl given intravenously. Desflurane, 3%, in combination with 60% nitrous oxide in oxygen was administered for maintenance of general anesthesia. In the control group, the inspired desflurane concentration was varied based on standard clinical signs. In the BIS- and AAI-guided groups, the inspired desflurane concentrations were titrated to maintain BIS and AAI values in targeted ranges of 50–60 and 15–25, respectively. BIS and AAI values, hemodynamic variables, and the end-tidal desflurane concentration were recorded at 5-min intervals during the maintenance period. The emergence times and recovery times to achieve specific clinical endpoints were recorded at 1- to 10-min intervals. The White fast-track and modified Aldrete recovery scores were assessed on arrival in the PACU, and the quality of recovery score was evaluated at the time of discharge home. ResultsA positive correlation was found between the AAI and BIS values during the maintenance period. The average BIS and AAI values (mean ± SD) during the maintenance period were significantly lower in the control group (BIS, 41 ± 10; AAI, 11 ± 6) compared with the BIS-guided (BIS, 57 ± 14; AAI, 18 ± 11) and AAI-guided (BIS, 55 ± 12; AAI, 20 ± 10) groups. The end-tidal desflurane concentration was significantly reduced in the BIS-guided (2.7 ± 0.9%) and AAI-guided (2.6 ± 0.9%) groups compared with the control group (3.6 ± 1.5%). The awakening (eye-opening) and discharge times were significantly shorter in the BIS-guided (7 ± 3 and 132 ± 39 min, respectively) and AAI-guided (6 ± 2 and 128 ± 39 min, respectively) groups compared with the control group (9 ± 4 and 195 ± 57 min, respectively). More importantly, the median [range] quality of recovery scores was significantly higher in the BIS-guided (18 [17–18]) and AAI-guided (18 [17–18]) groups when compared with the control group (16 [10–18]). ConclusionCompared with standard anesthesia monitoring practice, adjunctive use of auditory evoked potential and BIS monitoring can improve titration of desflurane during general anesthesia, leading to an improved recovery profile after ambulatory surgery.
Neural-Network-Based Fuzzy Logic Control and Decision System

A general neural-network (connectionist) model for fuzzy logic control and decision systems is proposed. This connectionist model, in the form of feedforward multilayer net, combines the idea of fuzzy logic controller and neural-network structure and learning abilities into an integrated neural-network-based fuzzy logic control and decision system. A fuzzy logic control decision network is constructed automatically by learning the training examples itself. By combining both unsupervised (self-organized) and supervised learning schemes, the learning speed converges much faster than the original backpropagation learning algorithm. The connectionist structure avoids the rule-matching time of the inference engine in the traditional fuzzy logic system. Two examples are presented to illustrate the performance and applicability of the proposed model. >
Orexin A modulates neuronal activity of the rodent suprachiasmatic nucleus in vitro

In mammals, as in rats and mice used in the present study, the major internal timekeeping mechanism is located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). It is composed of a complex tissue of multiple, individual oscillator cells that drive numerous physiological and endocrine processes via an electrical and humoral output. Several afferent input systems can interact with the clock mechanism and lead to phase‐resetting actions. The recent discovery of orexin‐containing fibers in the SCN region and the presence of orexin receptors in the SCN prompted us to investigate the possible role of orexin in the SCN. Multielectrode array recordings from dispersed SCN neurons revealed that orexin A dose‐dependently enhanced the extracellularly recorded neuronal activity of many neurons (38%), whereas other neurons were inhibited (28%). The influence of orexin A on neuronal activity in the SCN was confirmed by whole‐cell patch‐clamp recordings from brain slices and dispersed cell cultures. Orexin A caused significant changes in the frequency but not mean amplitude or decay time constant of spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sIPSCs). Low concentrations of orexin evoked an increase of sIPSCs, whereas the highest concentration predominantly caused a decrease of sIPSCs. The effects of orexin A on inhibitory postsynaptic currents were prevented by the orexin 1 receptor antagonist SB 334867 and also reduced in the presence of tetrodotoxin. Long‐term recordings of the discharge rate of SCN neurons revealed that orexin A is able to induce phase shifts in cultured SCN neurons as well as in organotypic brain slices.
Phase II trial of intravesical gemcitabine in bacille Calmette-Guérin-refractory transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder.

PURPOSE The aim of this phase II study was to determine the efficacy of gemcitabine administered as an intravesical agent in patients with bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) -refractory transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients with superficial bladder cancer refractory or intolerant to intravesical BCG therapy and refusing a cystectomy were considered eligible for the trial. Eligible patients received two courses of intravesical gemcitabine twice weekly at a dose of 2,000 mg/100 mL for 3 consecutive weeks, with each course separated by 1 week of rest. Patients were evaluated for response at 8 weeks, then every 3 months to 1 year. RESULTS Thirty eligible patients were included on study. The median follow-up for all the patients was 19 months (range, 0 to 35 months). Of the 30 patients, 15 (50%; 95% CI, 32% to 68%) achieved a complete response (CR). Twelve patients had tumor recurrence with a median recurrence-free survival time of 3.6 months (95% CI, 2.9 to 11.0 months). Two patients maintained a CR at 23 and 29 months, respectively. The 1-year recurrence-free survival rate for patients with a CR was 21% (95% CI, 0% to 43%). Two patients progressed to a higher stage while receiving gemcitabine treatment. The median follow-up for patients who did not have a progression or a cystectomy was 19 months (range, 2 to 35 months). Eleven patients (37%) underwent a cystectomy subsequent to gemcitabine therapy. CONCLUSION Gemcitabine has activity in a high-risk patient population and remains a viable option for some patients who refuse cystectomy.
Quetiapine extended-release versus immediate-release formulation: a positron emission tomography study.

OBJECTIVE The pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile of the immediate-release (IR) formulation of quetiapine is characterized by a rapid peak in plasma level and striatal dopamine D(2) receptor occupancy, followed by a rapid decrease to baseline levels, necessitating the use of twice-daily dosing. An extended-release (XR) formulation of quetiapine is currently being developed to achieve similar efficacy using a once-daily dosing regimen. We compared the central D(2) receptor binding between the IR and XR formulations. METHOD In this open-label, crossover positron emission tomography study using [(11)C]-raclopride, we compared the central D(2) receptor binding potential at expected peak and trough plasma levels using equivalent daily doses of the IR and XR formulations (300, 600, and 800 mg/day) in 12 subjects. Data were collected from April 2002 to May 2003. RESULTS The mean plasma level of quetiapine at trough was significantly lower than that at peak for all dose groups of both formulations except for IR 300 and 800 mg (all p values < .05), while the mean plasma level did not differ significantly between formulations at trough and peak. The mean occupancy at peak was significantly higher than that at trough for all dose groups other than IR 800 mg/day (all p values < .05) and did not differ significantly between formulations at trough and peak. CONCLUSION Once-daily dosing of the XR formulation gives peak and trough plasma levels and central D(2) receptor occupancy comparable to twice-daily dosing of the IR formulation. These data should be considered while determining equivalent doses, as well as switching strategies.
Treatment strategies for refractory diabetic macular edema: switching anti-VEGF treatments, adopting corticosteroid-based treatments, and combination therapy

ABSTRACT Introduction: The pathophysiology of diabetic macular edema (DME) is complex, involving vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and other inflammatory mediators. DME is currently treated first-line with intravitreal anti-VEGF treatments, though some cases are refractory to multiple anti-VEGF treatments. Areas covered: This article examines the evolution of treatment practices for DME, with discussion of the recent studies that guide treatment for refractory cases of DME. A literature search was performed using the following terms: anti-VEGF, DME, aflibercept, bevacizumab, ranibizumab, refractory macular edema, and VEGF. Expert opinion: Focal extrafoveal DME may be treated first-line with laser. In patients with center-involving DME and only mild vision loss, consider starting treatment with bevacizumab, especially when cost is an issue, whereas aflibercept may be considered more strongly in patients with moderate visual loss or worse. There are no standard protocols that define ‘treatment failure,’ but several studies have reported that switching from bevacizumab to either ranibizumab or aflibercept will result in further reduction of CSFT and improvement in BCVA. Further study with prospective randomized trials is warranted to validate these findings. Switching to intravitreal corticosteroids may be of particular benefit to pseudophakic patients. Anti-VEGF combination with sustained-release corticosteroids also appears promising for refractory DME.
Potential of mango (Mangifera indica L.) seed kernel as a feed ingredient for poultry: a review

Mango (Mangifera indica) is an important fruit crop grown in the tropics mostly for its pulp. Mango seed, which represents between 20-60% of the fruit, has limited food or industrial use in most producing countries and is therefore wasted. The kernel contained in the seed (mango seed kernel: MSK) is a good source of carbohydrates (58-80%), contains moderate quantities of proteins (6-13%) and fat (6-16%). The protein of MSK has a good essential amino acid profile and its oil is a good source of stearic and linoleic acids. However, despite these attributes MSK contains a number of anti-nutritional factors (e.g. tannins, phytate, cyanide, antitrypsin, oxalate and saponins) which limit its utilisation in poultry diets. Amongst these factors, tannins are largely responsible for the poor nutritional value of MSK. Several processing methods have been used to reduce the concentration of anti-nutritional factors in MSK and improve its utilisation by poultry. The following paper reviews the composition (nutrients and anti-nutrients) of MSK, recommendations for its use in poultry diets and processing methods to enhance its utilisation by poultry.