Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Basal—Prandial Insulin Delivery in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus via the V-Go™: A Novel Continuous Subcutaneous Infusion Device

Background: The V-Go™ is a once-daily disposable device that allows coverage of basal and prandial insulin requirements over a period of 24 hours. The aim of this proof-of-concept study was to evaluate the clinical functionality, safety, and pharmacodynamics of the V-Go delivering insulin aspart and redistributing a single basal dose of insulin glargine as a constant basal infusion supplemented with prandial insulin in subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods: In six subjects receiving once-daily subcutaneous (SC) injections of insulin glargine (≥15 U/day) with or without concomitant oral antidiabetic drugs, glargine was discontinued following a 3-day baseline phase. The V-Go was then applied to the lower abdomen of the subjects once daily for 7 days (days 1–3 inpatient, days 4–7 outpatient). Each V-Go provided a continuous 24-hour preset basal infusion rate of insulin aspart (0.6 U/h) and up to three daily prandial doses at mealtimes. Capillary blood glucose concentrations were measured at 11 time points per day during the baseline and inpatient phases and at 4 time points per day during the outpatient phase. Additionally, glucose profiles were measured continuously on all days. Results: The V-Go was well tolerated and operated as anticipated. The mean ± SEM prestudy daily dose of SC insulin glargine was 33.3 ± 13.8 U; the mean daily total insulin aspart dose infused with the V-Go was 31.5 ± 7.5 and 32.3 ± 7.8 U for the inpatient and outpatient periods, respectively. Fasting blood glucose values were similar to those observed at baseline throughout the study, with nonsignificant (NS) reductions in readings collected during the outpatient phase before lunch (−35 ± 27 mg/dl) and before dinner (−38 ± 25 mg/dl). The 2-hour postprandial glucose trended lower from 231 to 195 mg/dl (NS) at breakfast, 234 to 166 mg/dl (NS) at lunch, and 222 to 171 mg/dl (NS) at dinner. Bedtime blood glucose decreased (mean change from baseline −52 ± 21 mg/dl; P = 0.0313), as did nighttime (3:00 AM) measurements (−20 ± 9 mg/dl; P = 0.0313). Overall glycemic control tended to improve, as shown by continuous glucose monitoring changing from 173 to 157 mg/dl (P = 0.063, NS) and 156 mg/dl (P = 0.219) during inpatient and outpatient periods, respectively. Glycemic variability assessed by the M value similarly tended to decrease from 33 ± 9 to 25 ± 4 (NS) and 21 ± 4 (NS) for inpatient and outpatient periods, respectively. Conclusions: These first data suggest that use of the V-Go is an attractive alternative to SC insulin injection therapy because metabolic control appears to be maintained or even improved without increasing daily insulin doses.
HandSeg: A Dataset for Hand Segmentation from Depth Images

We introduce a large-scale RGBD hand segmentation dataset, with detailed and automatically generated high-quality ground-truth annotations. Existing real-world datasets are limited in quantity due to the difficulty in manually annotating ground-truth labels. By leveraging a pair of brightly colored gloves and an RGBD camera, we propose an acquisition pipeline that eases the task of annotating very large datasets with minimal human intervention. We then quantify the importance of a large annotated dataset in this domain, and compare the performance of existing datasets in the training of deep-learning architectures. Finally, we propose a novel architecture employing strided convolution/deconvolutions in place of max-pooling and unpooling layers. Our variant outperforms baseline architectures while remaining computationally efficient at inference time. Source and datasets will be made publicly available.
Potential dimensions of consumers' affective responses to perfume bottle form

A well-done package enables a product to stand out from competitive brand packages and its form design is capable of creating the initial impression which generates associations regarding product images or consumers' responses to a product. This phenomenon is conspicuous in the packages of bottled products, such as perfume, beverage, shower gel and shampoo, bottled cosmetic and so forth. To create a satisfactory perfume bottle form before its product is launched onto the market, it is essential to grasp the consumers' responses to the perfume bottle form and to further explore the corresponding potential dimensions so as to provide designers with useful insights. An investigation is conducted for measuring the potential dimensions of consumers' affective responses to the perfume bottle form, and the reliability and validity of investigation data are carefully examined in the current study. Then, the exploratory factor analysis is applied to analyze the investigation data obtained from 174 representative subjects. Finally, the five potential dimensions including “aesthetic evaluation”, “novelty and peculiarity”, “fashion and trend”, “personality suitability”, and “emotional association” are extracted for describing the perception of perfume bottle form in this study.
Expression of p53, p21WAF1/CIP1, p16INK4A and Ki-67 proteins in serous ovarian tumors.

AIM The analysis of p53, p21(WAF1/CIP1), p16(INK4A) and Ki-67 expression in serous ovarian carcinomas of different grade. MATERIALS AND METHODS In total, 43 ovarian adenocarcinomas and 8 non-altered ovarian epithelial tissues were immunohistochemically investigated for expression of Ki-67, p53, p21(WAF1/CIP1) and p16(INK4A). RESULTS It has been shown that expression of Ki-67, p53, p21(WAF1/CIP1) and p16(INK4A) in non-altered ovarian epithelial tissue is absent. Serous ovarian carcinomas are characterized by high proliferative activity (PI Ki-67 = 30.0 +/- 0.3%), p53 and p16(INK4A) overexpression (LI is 40.3 +/- 0.3% and 31.1 +/- 0.6% respectively) and low expression of p21(WAF1/CIP1) (LI = 6.8 +/- 0.3%). The association between expression of these markers and ovarian tumor grade was defined: the maximal level of Ki-67, p53 and p16/(INK4A) and minimal of p21(WAF1/CIP1) expression were observed in G3 tumors. So, low p21(WAF1/CIP1) expression (LI < 7.0%) combined with p16(INK4A) overexpression is considered to be the factor for a poor prognosis in serous ovarian cancer. CONCLUSIONS The present study has indicated that biomolecular markers of cell proliferation along with traditional clinical and morphologic characteristics can be used for differential diagnostics of ovarian tumors.
Electron microscopic study of novel threadlike structures on the surfaces of mammalian organs

The ultrastructures of novel threadlike structures (NTSs) and corpuscles on the surfaces of internal organs of rats were investigated using electron microscopy. The samples were studied in situ by using a stereomicroscope and were taken for further morphological analysis. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images revealed a bundle structure of threadlike tissue, which was composed of several 10‐μm‐thick subducts. The surfaces of the corpuscles were rather coarse and fenestrated. The corpuscles had cucumber‐like shapes with an average length of about 2 mm and a thickness of about 400 μm. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images disclosed disordered collagen fibers, which formed the extracellular matrix of the threadlike tissue, and immune‐function cells, like macrophages, mast cells, and eosinophils. Sinuses of various diameters, which were thought to be cross‐sections of the lumens of the subducts, were observed in the TEM, cryo‐SEM and focused‐ion‐beam SEM images. These SEM images were obtained for the first time to reveal the detailed structure of the NTSs that were only recently discovered. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Systemic Inflammation Mortality Risk Assessment Contingency Table for Severe Sepsis*

Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that a C-reactive protein and ferritin-based systemic inflammation contingency table can track mortality risk in pediatric severe sepsis. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Tertiary PICU. Patients: Children with 100 separate admission episodes of severe sepsis were enrolled. Interventions: Blood samples were attained on day 2 of sepsis and bi-weekly for biomarker batch analysis. A 2 × 2 contingency table using C-reactive protein and ferritin thresholds was developed. Measurements and Main Results: A C-reactive protein of 4.08 mg/dL and a ferritin of 1,980 ng/mL were found to be optimal cutoffs for outcome prediction at first sampling (n = 100) using the Youden index. PICU mortality was increased in the “high-risk” C-reactive protein greater than or equal to 4.08 mg/dL and ferritin greater than or equal to 1,980 ng/mL category (6/13 [46.15%]) compared with the “intermediate-risk” C-reactive protein greater than or equal to 4.08 mg/dL and ferritin less than 1,980 ng/mL or C-reactive protein less than 4.08 mg/dL and ferritin greater than or equal to 1,980 ng/mL categories (2/43 [4.65%]), and the “low-risk” C-reactive protein less than 4.08 mg/dL and ferritin less than 1,980 ng/mL category (0/44 [0%]) (odds ratio, 36.43 [95% CI, 6.16–215.21]). The high-risk category was also associated with the development of immunoparalysis (odds ratio, 4.47 [95% CI, 1.34–14.96]) and macrophage activation syndrome (odds ratio, 24.20 [95% CI, 5.50–106.54]). Sixty-three children underwent sequential blood sampling; those who were initially in the low-risk category (n = 24) and those who subsequently migrated (n = 19) to the low-risk category all survived, whereas those who remained in the “at-risk” categories had increased mortality (7/20 [35%]; p < 0.05). Conclusions: A C-reactive protein- and ferritin-based contingency table effectively assessed mortality risk. Reduction in systemic inflammation below a combined threshold C-reactive protein of 4.08 mg/dL and ferritin of 1,980 ng/mL appeared to be a desired response in children with severe sepsis.
Linking surface hydrology to flow regimes and patterns of velocity variability on Devon Ice Cap, Nunavut

Supraglacial meltwater reaching a glacier bed can increase ice surface velocities via hydraulic jacking and enhanced basal sliding. However, the relationships between the structure of supraglacial drainage systems, sink-point distributions, glacier flow processes and the magnitude of interannual velocity variability are poorly understood. To explore the hypothesis that spatial variations in the rate and mechanisms of glacier flow are linked to variations in supraglacial drainage system structure and sink-point distribution across an ice cap, we mapped supraglacial drainage systems on Devon Ice Cap from Landsat-7 ETM+ imagery. Spatial patterns of surface velocity and interannual velocity variability were determined using gradient correlation applied to Landsat-7 ETM+ images. Velocity variability is greater in areas close to sink-point locations, presumably because hydrologically forced basal sliding and/or bed deformation are enhanced in such areas. The distribution and characteristics of supraglacial drainage systems may play an important role in determining the distribution of regions of basal sliding, highlighting the need for knowledge of the supraglacial drainage system structure and sink-point distribution to inform efforts to model the dynamic response of Arctic ice caps to future climate warming.
Plasma osteopontin as a biomarker test in predicting liver fibrosis in Genotype 4 Chronic Hepatitis C infected patients

Management of chronic Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection can be achieved by antiviral therapy based on staging of liver fibrosis. Liver biopsy is considered the reference standard in liver disease assessment, but it is an invasive procedure. Non invasive accurate tests are largely needed. Osteopontin is an important component of Extra Cellular Matrix (ECM) which promotes liver fibrosis. The relation between Osteopontin (OPN) level and hepatic fibrosis in chronic HCV infection has not been widely investigated. This study aimed to evaluate the role of plasma OPN in predicting hepatic fibrosis in chronic HCV infected patients. Forty chronic HCV patients and forty controls were included in this study. METAVIR score was used to stage liver fibrosis. Plasma OPN levels were determined using ELISA. There was a high significant difference between the patient group and controls as regards plasma OPN being 59.25±34.935 ng/ml versus 16.5±6.0914 ng/ml respectively; P<0.001. Regarding Osteopontin value, a high significant difference between insignificant and significant fibrosis was observed (34.5±12.34909 ng/ml vs 84±32.60027 ng/ml, respectively; p<0.001). A cut off value of 22.5 ng/ml was a possible cut off value to discriminate fibrosis from non-fibrosis giving a sensitivity of 90% and specificity of 95%. The cut off value of <50 ng/ml was a possible cut off value to discriminate insignificant hepatic fibrosis (F<2) from significant hepatic fibrosis (F≥2) giving 90% sensitivity and specificity. A cut off value of >60 ng/ml was a possible cut off value to discriminate advanced fibrosis (F3) from non advanced fibrosis (F1, F2) giving a sensitivity of 100.0% and a specificity of 47.2%. Plasma OPN can be used as a reliable test to predict fibrotic from non-fibrotic liver, and insignificant hepatic fibrosis from significant hepatic fibrosis.
Global Chromatin Structure of 45,000 Base Pairs of Chromosome III in a- and α-Cell Yeast and during Mating-Type Switching

ABSTRACT Directionality of yeast mating-type switching has been attributed to differences in chromatin structure for the left arm of chromosome III. We have mapped the structure of ∼45 kbp of the left arm of chromosome III in a and α cells in logarithmically growing cultures and in a cells during switching. Distinctive features of chromatin structure were the occurrence of DNase I-hypersensitive sites in the promoter region of nearly every gene and some replication origins and the presence of extended regions of positioned nucleosomes in ∼25% of the open reading frames. Other than the recombination enhancer, chromatin structures were identical in the two cell types. Changes in chromatin structure during switching were confined to the recombination enhancer. This unbiased analysis of an extended region of chromatin reveals that significant features of organized chromatin exist for the entire region, and these features are largely static with respect to mating type and mating-type switching. Our analysis also shows that primary chromatin structure does not cause the documented differences in recombinational frequency of the left arm of chromosome III in yeast a and α cells.
Postoperative Dysphagia in Anterior Cervical Spine Surgery

Study Design. Systematic review. Objective. To determine the incidence and prevalence and identify effective recommendations to minimize the incidence and prevalence of postoperative dysphagia after anterior cervical surgery. Summary of Background Data. The reported incidence and prevalence of postoperative dysphagia and risk factors associated with its development varies widely in the literature. Methods. A systematic review of the English-language literature was undertaken for articles published between January 1990 and December 2008. Electronic databases and reference lists of key articles were searched to identify published studies examining the incidence and prevalence of dysphagia after anterior cervical spine surgery. Two independent reviewers assessed the strength of literature using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria, assessing quality, quantity, and consistency of results. Disagreements were resolved by consensus. Results. A total of 126 articles were initially screened, and 17 ultimately met the predetermined inclusion criteria. The rates of dysphagia found in the literature varied widely. Rates declined after surgery, but plateau at 1 year at a range of 13% to 21%. Risk factors identified were multilevel surgery and female sex. Specific preventive measures were not identified. Conclusion. A better understanding of dysphagia will require the development of better outcome measures.
Inflammatory genes and psychological factors predict induced shoulder pain phenotype.

PURPOSE The pain experience has multiple influences, but little is known about how specific biological and psychological factors interact to influence pain responses. The current study investigated the combined influences of genetic (pro-inflammatory) and psychological factors on several preclinical shoulder pain phenotypes. METHODS An exercise-induced shoulder injury model was used, and a priori selected genetic (IL1B, TNF/LTA region, and IL6 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP)) and psychological (anxiety, depression symptoms, pain catastrophizing, fear of pain, and kinesiophobia) factors were included as the predictors of interest. The phenotypes were pain intensity (5-d average and peak reported on numerical rating scale), upper extremity disability (5-d average and peak reported on the Quick Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand instrument), and duration of shoulder pain (d). RESULTS After controlling for age, sex, and race, the genetic and psychological predictors were entered separately as main effects and interaction terms in regression models for each pain phenotype. Results from the recruited cohort (n = 190) indicated strong statistical evidence for the interactions between 1) TNF/LTA SNP rs2229094 and depression symptoms for average pain intensity and duration and 2) IL1B two SNP diplotype and kinesiophobia for average shoulder pain intensity. Moderate statistical evidence for prediction of additional shoulder pain phenotypes included interactions of kinesiophobia, fear of pain, or depressive symptoms with TNF/LTA rs2229094 and IL1B. CONCLUSIONS These findings support the combined predictive ability of specific genetic and psychological factors for shoulder pain phenotypes by revealing novel combinations that may merit further investigation in clinical cohorts to determine their involvement in the transition from acute to chronic pain conditions.
Serum cytokine levels do not correlate with disease activity and severity assessed by brain MRI in multiple sclerosis

Objective – Chronic and acute dysregulation of the cytokine network has been described in multiple sclerosis (MS). Inflammatory lesions in the central nervous system of MS patients can be assessed by brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This study has been performed to investigate whether changes of cytokines correlate with morphological changes as determined by MRI. Materials and methods – We included 46 patients with relapsing–remitting MS in the study. The serum concentrations of tumor necrosis factor‐β (TNF‐β), TNF receptor‐1 (TNFR‐1; 55 kDa) and TNFR‐2 (75 kDa), interleukin‐4 (IL‐4), interleukin‐10 (IL‐10) and interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ) were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay in all patients. Each parameter was correlated with clinical findings and brain MRI parameters. We measured both the number (lesion load) and cumulated area (disease burden) of all lesions on brain MRI. In addition, the number and cumulated area of those lesions showing signs of activity [Gadolinium (Gd)‐enhancement, perifocal edema] were determined. Results – A non‐significant trend (P < 0.05) was found only for the correlation of serum IFN‐γ levels and the number of active MRI lesions showing both Gd‐enhancement and perifocal edema in the subgroup of patients (n=21) with active lesions. When corrected for multiple comparisons, this correlation was not significant anymore, as it was above the corrected P‐value of 0.001. We could not observe any further correlation of cytokine levels and MRI parameters. However, TNF‐β serum levels were significantly (P < 0.05) elevated in the patient subgroups with higher number of lesions and disease burden, respectively. Conclusion – Our data show that the determination of serum levels of the investigated cytokines and cytokine receptors is not useful as a tool to determine subclinical disease activity and severity as assessed by brain MRI.
Freeman Chain Code Contour Processing For Handwritten Isolated Arabic Characters Recognition Assistance Prof .

The Arabic characters are being used in various languages. Recognition of handwritten characters of Arabic alphabet set is an important area of research. The work on recognition of Handwritten Isolated Arabic Characters (HIAC) is still an open research problem and it has numerous applications. Machine reading of optically scanned text is usually called optical Character recognition (OCR). In this paper we present an OCR for Handwritten Isolated Arabic Characters. Basic Characters are recognized by Freeman chain code. The proposed method obtains the contour of the character and then generates a Freeman Chain Code for contoured character. The obtained Freeman chain code is unique for handwritten isolated characters. The present method is based on template matching to recognize handwritten printed isolated Arabic characters. It was trained and validated on 200 images (consisting of 7400 Arabic characters written by 18 writers). Our experimentation observed the overall recognition rate is 95%. It is carried out in order to improve the rate and the performance of an Arabic handwritten word recognition system. The proposed system has been implemented and tested on Matlab R2008b environment
Some geometric aggregation operators based on intuitionistic fuzzy sets

The weighted geometric (WG) operator and the ordered weighted geometric (OWG) operator are two common aggregation operators in the field of information fusion. But these two aggregation operators are usually used in situations where the given arguments are expressed as crisp numbers or linguistic values. In this paper, we develop some new geometric aggregation operators, such as the intuitionistic fuzzy weighted geometric (IFWG) operator, the intuitionistic fuzzy ordered weighted geometric (IFOWG) operator, and the intuitionistic fuzzy hybrid geometric (IFHG) operator, which extend the WG and OWG operators to accommodate the environment in which the given arguments are intuitionistic fuzzy sets which are characterized by a membership function and a non-membership function. Some numerical examples are given to illustrate the developed operators. Finally, we give an application of the IFHG operator to multiple attribute decision making based on intuitionistic fuzzy sets.