Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Subfundamental Cycle Switching Frequency Variation Based on Output Current Ripple Analysis of a Three-Level Inverter

The output current ripple of an inverter shows different variations for sub-fundamental operating cycle and over few fundamental cycles. This paper investigates subfundamental cycle peak-peak current ripple variation of a three-level three-phase inverter over the entire operating modulation index range for the three-level continuous and discontinuous pulsewidth modulation strategies. Furthermore, based on the analytical current ripple variation, a strategy is presented to change the switching frequency within a fundamental cycle while maintaining the peak-peak current ripple similar to the conventional fixed switching frequency strategies. The strategy has been implemented and experimentally validated on a permanent-magnet synchronous motor drive. The results demonstrate that the proposed strategy reduces inverter switching instances and associated losses around 10–30%.
Survey of the stocking of poison antidotes in Alabama hospitals.

BACKGROUND We wanted to estimate the current antidote supply in Alabama hospitals, establish if certain antidotes were stocked more than others, and identify certain parameters (eg, treatment level of care, licensed bed size, or county population) as predictors for the current antidote supply. METHODS We faxed surveys to treatment level I/II hospitals and a random sample of treatment level III hospitals. Antidote supply was reported for digoxin immune Fab, pyridoxine, ethanol, pralidoxime, antivenin (Crotalidae), deferoxamine, cyanide, naloxone, and fomepizole. RESULTS Of treatment level I/II and level III hospitals surveyed, 28 (100%) and 20 (71.4%) responded, respectively. None (0%) of the hospitals surveyed had adequate stocking for all nine antidotes. The results illustrate the common practice of understocking poison antidotes. CONCLUSIONS Hospitals must reevaluate their current antidote inventories for meeting the needs of acutely poisoned patients. Policy containing specific guidelines must be developed and uniformly adopted as standard of practice.
Calibre persistent artery of the lip: an underdiagnosed entity?

Voth first used the term “calibre persistent artery” in 1962 to describe abnormal vessels in the stomach wall.1 This term was applied to a primary arterial branch providing blood to the stomach wall, which ascended without further reduction of calibre into the submucosa. Similar lesions have been described in the jejunum and both can result in fatal gastrointestinal haemorrhage.2,3 In the stomach and jejunum, these lesions have also attracted different names including “exulceratio simplex Dieulafoy”, cirsoid aneurysm, and submucosal arterial malformation,4,5 but all describe an aberrant superficial artery in the submucosa. Calibre persistent artery specifically of the lip was first described by Miko et al in 1980. The group described arteries with a diameter larger than normal, near a mucosal or external surface, which were similar to the lesions described in the gastrointestinal tract.6,7 There have been only two other reports of this entity on the lips.7,8 There have been five cases reported in total, predominantly occurring on the lower lip of elderly men, and presenting clinically as squamous cell carcinoma.6–8 Histologically, all five of the previously reported cases were ulcerated, inflamed lesions with aberrant vessels in the ulceration. We present three further cases …
Probabilistic Markov model to assess the cost-effectiveness of bronchodilator therapy in COPD patients in different countries.

OBJECTIVES The development of a probabilistic Markov model with a time horizon of 1 year to compare the cost-effectiveness of three bronchodilators: 1) the new long-acting anticholinergic tiotropium; 2) the short-acting anticholinergic ipratropium; and 3) the long-acting beta 2-agonist salmeterol, for the treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in different countries. In this article we compare The Netherlands and Canada. METHODS The Markov model was structured along disease severity states and exacerbations. Transition probabilities between disease states and exacerbation probabilities were derived from patient-level data from six randomized controlled trials assessing the efficacy and safety of tiotropium. Resource utilization during exacerbations and maintenance treatment for The Netherlands were derived from two clinical trials, whereas for Canada these data were obtained from a countrywide observational study that used similar inclusion criteria as the trials. Second-order Monte Carlo simulations were undertaken in which values were randomly drawn from distributions of these parameters. Outcomes of the model are yearly treatment costs, exacerbations, and quality-adjusted life months. RESULTS The mean difference in the number of exacerbations was 0.17 (95% uncertainty interval: -0.02-0.37) in favor of tiotropium when compared with salmeterol and the difference between salmeterol and ipratropium was 0.12 (-0.17-0.44) in favor of salmeterol. The number of quality-adjusted life months did not substantially differ between treatment groups and varied from 8.42 (SE 0.41) in the tiotropium group to 8.17 (0.46) in the salmeterol group and 8.11 (0.50) in the ipratropium group. In The Netherlands, costs in the tiotropium group were 42 Euros (-484-353) lower than in the salmeterol group, whereas costs in the salmeterol group were 128 Euros (-795-457) lower than in the ipratropium group. In Canada, costs were consistently lower than in The Netherlands and nearly the same in all treatment groups. Differences between the two countries were primarily a result of a higher length of hospital stay in case of an exacerbation in The Netherlands. The cost-effectiveness acceptability frontier of exacerbations showed that tiotropium was associated with the maximum expected net benefit for all values of the ceiling ratio above 0 Euros (The Netherlands) and 10 Euros (Canada) in the base case analysis. CONCLUSIONS This probabilistic model-based economic evaluation demonstrates how clinical trial data can be combined and integrated with country-specific information about resource utilization and unit cost to assess the cost-effectiveness of bronchodilators in COPD patients. Quality-adjusted life months did not substantially differ between treatment groups. In terms of exacerbations, tiotropium was associated with maximum expected net benefit for plausible values of the ceiling ratio. In sensitivity analyses, this outcome was most sensitive to changes in exacerbation rates.
Radon progeny exposure and lung cancer risk among non-smoking uranium miners.

Studies of miners provide the basis for public health efforts to reduce residential radon progeny exposure. Because the preponderance of households do not have members who smoke indoors, studies of non-smoking miners contribute essential data for risk assessments for residential radon progeny exposure. We studied a cohort of 2,209 never-smokers who were underground uranium miners employed in the western U.S. from 1956 to the early 1990's and who participated in a screening program for lung cancer conducted by Saccomanno and colleagues. After determining the vital status and cause of death in the cohort, we conducted a nested case-control study of 55 lung cancer deaths in males and 3 age-matched controls for each case. The relative risk of lung cancer was 29.2 (95% CI 5.1, 167.2) for miners with greater than 1,450 WLM compared with those exposed to less than 80 WLM. Temporal factors affected risk, including average dose rate, which was inversely associated with lung cancer risk, and the length of time since last exposure, which was directly associated with decreased risk. As in studies of non-smokers and smokers combined, the exposure response relationship in never-smokers was consistent with a decreased slope at higher WLM, which resulted, in part, from an inverse dose rate effect.
Effect of Sucrose and Maltodextrin on the Physical Properties and Survival of Air‐Dried Lactobacillus bulgaricus: An in Situ Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy Study

The effect of sucrose, maltodextrin and skim milk on survival of L. bulgaricus after drying was studied. Survival could be improved from 0.01% for cells that were dried in the absence of protectants to 7.8% for cells dried in a mixture of sucrose and maltodextrin. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to study the effect of the protectants on the overall protein secondary structure and thermophysical properties of the dried cells. Sucrose, maltodextrin and skim milk were found to have minor effects on the membrane phase behavior and the overall protein secondary structure of the dried cells. FTIR was also used to show that the air‐dried cell/protectant solutions formed a glassy state at ambient temperature. 1‐Palmitoyl 2‐oleoyl phosphatidyl choline (POPC) was used in order to determine if sucrose and maltodextrin have the ability to interact with phospholipids during drying. In addition, the glass transition temperature and strength of hydrogen bonds in the glassy state were studied using this model system. Studies using poly‐l‐lysine were done in order to determine if sucrose and maltodextrin are able to stabilize protein structure during drying. As expected, sucrose depressed the membrane phase transition temperature (Tm) of POPC in the dried state and prevented conformational changes of poly‐l‐lysine during drying. Maltodextrin, however, did not depress the Tm of dried POPC and was less effective in preventing conformational changes of poly‐l‐lysine during drying. We suggest that when cells are dried in the presence of sucrose and maltodextrin, sucrose functions by directly interacting with biomolecules, whereas maltodextrin functions as an osmotically inactive bulking compound causing spacing of the cells and strengthening of the glassy matrix.
Risk factors of pneumothorax and bleeding: multivariate analysis of 660 CT-guided coaxial cutting needle lung biopsies.

BACKGROUND The results of studies identifying the risk factors for pneumothorax and bleeding in CT-guided coaxial lung needle biopsies were inconsistent and some were even contradictory. All reported series were small with patient populations averaging about 200. STUDY OBJECTIVES To determine the risk factors for pneumothorax and bleeding after CT-guided coaxial cutting needle biopsy of lung lesions. DESIGN Retrospective analysis. METHODS We reviewed 660 biopsy procedures. The risk factors for pneumothorax and bleeding were determined by multivariate analysis of variables related to patient demographics, lung lesions, biopsy procedures, and the individual radiologist. RESULTS The main complications were pneumothorax (23%; 155 of 660 procedures), chest tube insertion (1%; 9 of 660 procedures), and hemoptysis (4%; 26 of 660 procedures), with no patient mortality. The highest pneumothorax rate correlated with a lesion size of </= 2 cm, a lesion depth of 0.1 to 2 cm, and less experienced radiologists. The highest bleeding risk correlated with a lesion size </= 2 cm, a lesion depth of >/= 2.1 cm, and the absence of pleural effusion. CONCLUSIONS The risk factors for highest pneumothorax rate are lesion size </= 2 cm, a subpleural lesion depth of 0.1 to 2.0 cm, and a less experienced radiologist. The risk factors for highest bleeding rate are lesion size </= 2 cm, lesion depth >/= 2.1 cm, and lung lesions not associated with a pleural effusion.
Single-Dose Oral Tolerance Test with Alternative Compounds for the Management of Adverse Reactions to Drugs

Background: Adverse reactions to drugs are common in the clinical practice. Many outpatients are frequently referred to allergists in order to determine which drugs they can safely take in the future. Objective: We set up an oral single-dose tolerance test procedure to find out for each patient one or more alternative drugs that can be taken when needed. Methods: 452 outpatients (130 male, 322 female) with well-documented reactions (urticaria/angioedema, respiratory symptoms, laryngeal edema, anaphylaxis, exfoliative skin diseases) underwent the challenge. All tests were preceded by a single-blind placebo: if a reaction occurred, a second placebo was administered. Otherwise, a single dose (1/10 of the therapeutic one) of an alternative drug was given blindly and the patient was then observed for 6 h. The drugs used were different in structure from those suspected of having caused the adverse reaction. The patients were followed up at 4- to 6-month intervals, in order to detect any reaction that may have occurred with the tested drugs. Results: 98 patients (89 women) had untoward reactions after the first placebo and 34 out of them reacted to the second placebo, too. During challenges the reaction rate ranged between 4.6 and 9.0%; these reactions were easily managed and none of them was severe. We followed up 407 patients: 87.2% of them were able to use one or more of the suggested drugs without reactions, 9.3% did not take the drugs and only 3.5% reported reactions to the previously tested drugs. Conclusion: The challenge procedure proved to be a simple tool for managing patients with adverse reactions to drugs. Its safety and reliability were validated by a long-term follow-up.
Proteomic and Physiological Response of Spring Barley Leaves to Cold Stress

Cold is one of the most significant abiotic stresses that restrict crop growth and productivity worldwide. In order to investigate how spring barley (Aths cultivar) adapts to short-term cold stress, the present study attempted to explore proteomic, physiological, and biochemical changes that occur in leaves. Barley seedlings were exposed to low temperature (4°C) for 48 hours, and third leaves were harvested and compared with plants grown in normal conditions (25°C). In coldstressed plants, results indicated a significant increase in hydrogen peroxide content, associated with a highly significant rise of lipid peroxidation (as demonstrated by MDA measurements) and catalase activity; the latter represents one of the oxidative stress resistance strategies adopted to promote cell survival. Cold stress also caused a significant reduction in chlorophyll b (chlb) content with a parallel increase in the chla/chlb ratio, which is probably related to defense mechanisms against cold-induced production of reactive oxygen species. On the contrary, other physiological and biochemical traits [namely, the membrane stability index (MSI), peroxidase activity, electron leakage, carotenoid and chla content] showed no statistically significant differences. The proteomic analysis revealed fifteen statistically significant cold-modulated spots, seven of which were successfully identified by LC-MS/MS. These responsive proteins are related to the Calvin cycle, photosynthetic electron transport, light reactions, and signal transduction. An increase in abundance of proteins involved in the regulation of the chloroplast system probably reflects plant acclimation to cold, thus confirming that cold stress severely affects photosynthesis in spring barley.
Stress and changing lifestyles in the Pacific: Physiological stress responses of Samoans in rural and urban settings

The lifestyles and social environments of Pacific Islanders have changed profoundly as a result of local development and migration to urban, cosmopolitan centers. These changes have often been accompanied by an increase in chronic diseases, alcoholism, and suicide. As a result, the health effects of psychological and physiological stress have become an increasing concern in Pacific Island nations and in countries with significant Pacific migrant communities. Several studies in the Samoan Studies Project have examined catecholamine excretion rates in order to understand how the behavioral, psychological, and environmental changes of modernization affect the physiological stress responses of young Samoan adults. The results of studies in rural and urban Western Samoa, American Samoa, and Honolulu, Hawaii show that several complex factors associated with urban, more cosmopolitan lifestyles tend to increase stress hormone levels. Specifically, lifestyle differences in physical activity, diet, and social interaction have significant independent and interactive contributions. These behavioral factors can lead to a high degree of day‐to‐day variability in catecholamine excretion. The implications of these findings for future research designs are discussed. However, the data suggest that it is a complex interaction of lifestyle factors, not any specific single factor, that determines the physiological stress responses of Samoans in different environments. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Conservation of Salmonella typhimurium virulence plasmid maintenance regions among Salmonella serovars as a basis for plasmid curing

The association of large plasmids with virulence in invasive Salmonella serovars has led to a number of studies designed to uncover the role of these plasmids in virulence. This study addresses two aspects of virulence-associated plasmids. The first is the distribution of the replication and maintenance regions among the plasmids of different Salmonella serovars, and the second is the use of the conserved virulence plasmid par region to provide a rapid method for eliminating the virulence plasmids specifically. Colony blots revealed that the par and repB regions of the S. typhimurium virulence plasmid hybridized with 80% of the isolates of S. choleraesuis, S. dublin, S. enteritidis, S. gallinarum, S. pullorum, and S. typhimurium, while the repC region was not detected in any of the isolates of S. dublin, S. gallinarum, or S. pullorum. None of these maintenance regions was found in any of the 30 additional serovars tested. The large plasmids of those serovars that hybridized with par were labeled with a Kmr insert within parA via P22HTint or P1L4 transduction, which destabilized the plasmids and allowed the rapid isolation of plasmid-free derivatives for all of the serovars, except for S. dublin, which exhibited weak homology with par.
Scattering theory for the Schrödinger-improved Boussinesq system in two space dimensions

In this paper, the scattering theory for the Schrodinger-improved Boussinesq system in two space dimensions is studied. The local Cauchy problem at infinite initial time of this system for given final data is considered, and the existence of a unique asymptotically free solution to this system is proved when the Schrodinger data is suitably small.
Direct and Acute Cardiotoxic Effects of Ultrafine Air Pollutants in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats and Wistar—Kyoto Rats

It is hypothesized that preexisting cardiovascular disease could affect the susceptibility to direct and acute cardiotoxic effects of ultrafine air pollutants. Ultrafine particles (UFP) isolated from 12.5 mg of diesel particulate matter (National Institute of Standards and Technology) were infused into isolated Langendorffperfused hearts obtained from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive control Wistar— Kyoto rats (WKY). Perfusion for 30 minutes with UFP reduced cardiac function in both groups—but to a greater extent in WKY. In SHR, developed pressure was reduced by 24.1 ± 4.4% of baseline and maximal dP/dt was reduced by 19.8 ± 4.9%; in WKY, developed pressure was reduced by 43.5 ± 7.3% and maximal dP/dt by 41.8 ± 8.2% (P < .05 for maximal dP/dt in SHR vs WKY). Coronary flow was decreased by 30.3% versus 53.7% in SHR versus WKY ( P < .05). The results of this study suggest that although UFP depress myocardial contractile response and coronary flow in both SHR and WKY the underlying hypertension does not necessarily worsen the response.
The Causal Effect of Bankruptcy Law on the Cost of Finance

We exploit the staggered nature of the Italian bankruptcy law reform of 2005-2006 to disentangle the distinct causal impact of both reorganization and liquidation procedures in bankruptcy on firms' cost of loan financing. Using a unique loan-level dataset covering the universe of firm funding contracts we present two major findings: first, that the introduction of a reorganization procedure increased the interest rates on loan financing; second, that the reform that accelerated the liquidation procedure not only decreased firms' cost of finance but also relaxed credit constraints.
Mecanismos de regulación de la glucolisis en neuronas y su función en supervivencia celular

Tesis Doctoral presentada por la licenciada en Farmacia y Bioquimica Dna. Patricia Rodriguez Rodriguez para optar al Titulo de Doctor Europaeus, realizada en el Departamento de Bioquimica y Biologia Molecular y en el Instituto de Biologia Funcional y Genomica de la Universidad de Salamanca.
Actor-Critic - Type Learning Algorithms for Markov Decision Processes

Algorithms for learning the optimal policy of a Markov decision process (MDP) based on simulated transitions are formulated and analyzed. These are variants of the well-known "actor-critic" (or "adaptive critic") algorithm in the artificial intelligence literature. Distributed asynchronous implementations are considered. The analysis involves two time scale stochastic approximations.
Lessons Learned: The Effect of Prior Technology Use On Web-Based Interventions

This study examined the role of regular prior technology use in treatment response to an online family problem-solving (OFPS) intervention and an Internet resource intervention (IRI) for pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI). Participants were 150 individuals in 40 families of children with TBI randomly assigned to OFPS intervention or an IRI. All families received free computers and Internet access to TBI resources. OFPS families received Web-based sessions and therapist-guided synchronous videoconferences focusing on problem solving, communication skills, and behavior management. All participants completed measures of depression, anxiety, and computer usage. OFPS participants rated treatment satisfaction, therapeutic alliance, and Web site and technology comfort. With the OFPS intervention, depression and anxiety improved significantly more among technology using parents (n = 14) than nontechnology users (n = 6). Technology users reported increasing comfort with technology over time, and this change was predictive of depression at followup. Satisfaction and ease-of-use ratings did not differ by technology usage. Lack of regular prior home computer usage and nonadherence were predictive of anxiety at followup. The IRI was not globally effective. However, controlling for prior depression, age, and technology at work, there was a significant effect of technology at home for depression. Families with technology experience at home (n = 11) reported significantly greater improvements in depression than families without prior technology experience at home (n = 8). Although Web-based OFPS was effective in improving caregiver functioning, individuals with limited computer experience may benefit less from an online intervention due to increased nonadherence.