Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antiplatelet agents in perioperative noncardiac surgeries: to maintain or to suspend?

Background When prescribing antiplatelet agents, physicians face the challenge of protecting patients from thromboembolic events without inducing bleeding damage. However, especially in the perioperative period, the use of these medications requires a carefully balanced assessment of their risks and benefits. Objective To conduct a systematic review to check whether the antiplatelet agent is to be maintained or suspended in the perioperative period of noncardiac surgeries. Search strategy A comprehensive literature search using Science Direct, Scopus, MEDLINE-PubMed, and Web of Science was undertaken. Selection criteria Clinical trials of noncardiac surgeries with patients taking regular anti-platelet therapy, published between 2013 and 2018. Results A total of 1,302 studies were initially identified, with only four meeting the inclusion criteria. The selected studies were conducted in different countries such as, including India (2), Serbia (1), and the USA (1). The age group was similar in all studies, from 61 to 75 years. The most frequent surgery was related to tooth extraction and transurethral resection of bladder cancer. There was a group of patients who used single antiplatelet agents and groups who used single therapy and double therapy. Acetylsalicylic acid was the common drug in all studies. Conclusion It was concluded that the clinical trials were classified as good quality and that it was not necessary to suspend antiplatelet therapy prior to surgical procedures such as dental extraction and transurethral resection of bladder cancer. It should be noted that it is necessary to jointly evaluate the type of antiplatelet agent, the thrombotic risk of the patient, and the hemorrhagic risk of the surgical procedure.
The Intrarenal Renin-angiotensin System Is Activated Immediately after Kidney Donation in Kidney Transplant Donors

Objective The intrarenal renin-angiotensin system (RAS) is activated in clinical settings, such as chronic kidney disease (CKD), as well as in CKD animal models, and kidney transplant donors have a greater risk of end-stage renal disease than healthy controls. However, whether or not the intrarenal RAS is activated immediately after kidney donation in kidney transplant donors is unclear, and the mechanism underlying intrarenal RAS activation is unknown. Methods We investigated 10 kidney transplant donors (4 men and 6 women, 58.6±9.0 years of age). Their blood pressure (BP), estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), plasma angiotensinogen (AGT) and plasma angiotensin II (AngII) levels (which reflect circulating RAS activation), urinary albumin excretion, and urinary AGT excretion (which reflects intrarenal RAS activation) were evaluated before kidney donation (-1.2±0.40 days) and after kidney donation (7.5±1.7 days). Results The renal function after kidney donation was significantly lower than before donation. There were no significant differences in the BP during 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring, plasma AngII levels, or urinary albumin excretion after kidney donation. In contrast, the levels of plasma AGT and urinary AGT excretion were significantly increased after kidney donation. The urinary AGT excretion after kidney donation did not show a significant relationship with the systolic BP, plasma AGT, plasma AngII, or urinary albumin excretion. In addition, the percentage change in urinary AGT excretion after kidney donation was not associated with the percentage change in other clinical parameters. Conclusion The intrarenal RAS is activated in kidney transplant donors immediately after kidney donation, independent of the systemic BP and filtration of increased plasma AGT, due to augmented inflammation.
An Analysis of Attention Mechanisms: The Case of Word Sense Disambiguation in Neural Machine Translation

Recent work has shown that the encoder-decoder attention mechanisms in neural machine translation (NMT) are different from the word alignment in statistical machine translation. In this paper, we focus on analyzing encoder-decoder attention mechanisms, in the case of word sense disambiguation (WSD) in NMT models. We hypothesize that attention mechanisms pay more attention to context tokens when translating ambiguous words. We explore the attention distribution patterns when translating ambiguous nouns. Counterintuitively, we find that attention mechanisms are likely to distribute more attention to the ambiguous noun itself rather than context tokens, in comparison to other nouns. We conclude that attention is not the main mechanism used by NMT models to incorporate contextual information for WSD. The experimental results suggest that NMT models learn to encode contextual information necessary for WSD in the encoder hidden states. For the attention mechanism in Transformer models, we reveal that the first few layers gradually learn to “align” source and target tokens and the last few layers learn to extract features from the related but unaligned context tokens.
Improving Super-Resolution Reconstruction with Regularized Extreme Learning Machine Networks

The primary objective of Super-Resolution reconstruction methods is, given an input low resolution image, to estimate a high resolution image, with more pixels, without losing high frequency components, as what happens in simple interpolation methods. To this end, we propose the learning of multiple Regularized Extreme Learning Machines networks, using patches of a dataset composed by low and high resolution images. Each patch in the training database is associated to a cluster, based on gradient information presented in the patches, and a network is trained for each cluster. The proposed method generates similar or better super-resolution reconstruction results than similar state of the art algorithms, based on PSNR and SSIM metrics, while using a training dataset more than two orders of magnitude smaller, showing the learning power of the proposed method.
Lift Me Up by Looking Down: Social Comparison Effects of Narratives

Stories are a powerful means to change recipients’ views on themselves by being transported into the story world and by identifying with story characters. Previous studies showed that recipients temporarily change in line with a story and its characters (assimilation). Conversely, assimilation might be less likely when recipients are less identified with story protagonists or less transported into a story by comparing themselves with a story character. This may lead to changes, which are opposite to a story and its characters (contrast). In two experiments, we manipulated transportation and experience taking via two written reviews (Experiment 1; N = 164) and by varying the perspective of the story’s narrator (Experiment 2; N = 79) of a short story about a negligent student. Recipients’ self-ratings in comparison to others, motives, and problem-solving behavior served as dependent variables. However, neither the review nor the perspective manipulation affected transportation or experience taking while reading the story. Against our expectations, highly transported recipients (in Study 1) and recipients with high experience taking (in Study 2) showed more persistency working on an anagram-solving task, even when controlling for trait conscientiousness. Our findings are critically discussed in light of previous research.
Grinding as Solvent-Free Green Chemistry Approach for Cyclodextrin Inclusion Complex Preparation in the Solid State

Among the different techniques proposed for preparing cyclodextrin inclusion complex in the solid state, mechanochemical activation by grinding appears as a fast, highly efficient, convenient, versatile, sustainable, and eco-friendly solvent-free method. This review is intended to give a systematic overview of the currently available data in this field, highlighting both the advantages as well as the shortcomings of such an approach. The possible mechanisms involved in the inclusion complex formation in the solid state, by grinding, have been illustrated. For each type of applied milling device, the respective process variables have been examined and discussed, together with the characteristics of the obtained products, also in relation with the physicochemical characteristics of both the drug and cyclodextrin subjected to grinding. The critical process parameters were evidenced in order to provide a useful guide for a rational selection of the most suitable conditions for an efficient inclusion complex preparation by grinding, with the final purpose of promoting a wider use of this effective solvent-free cyclodextrin inclusion complex preparation method in the solid state.
No Regional Disparities in Sofosbuvir Plus Ribavirin Therapy for HCV Genotype 2 Infection in Tochigi Prefecture and Its Vicinity

Objective Regional disparities were observed in the outcomes of interferon (IFN)-based therapy for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in a Japanese nationwide study. However, whether or not these regional disparities are observed in the outcomes of direct-acting antiviral drugs, including sofosbuvir (SOF) plus ribavirin (RBV) therapy, remains unclear. Methods We conducted a multicenter study to assess the efficacy of SOF plus RBV therapy for HCV genotype 2 infection in Tochigi Prefecture and its vicinity, in which IFN-based therapy yielded a low sustained virologic response (SVR) rate. In addition, we divided Tochigi Prefecture into six regions to examine regional disparities in the SVR. Patients We enrolled patients with chronic HCV genotype 2 infection. Results Of the 583 patients enrolled, 569 (97.6%) completed the treatment, and 566 (97.1%) also complied with post-treatment follow-up for 12 weeks. The overall SVR12 rate was 96.1% by per protocol and 93.7% by intention-to-treat analyses. No marked differences were observed in the SVR12 between subjects ≥65 and <65 years of age. Although large gaps were observed in the characteristics of patients and accessibility to medical resources, there was no significant difference in the SVR12 rate among the six regions in Tochigi Prefecture. Conclusion SOF plus RBV therapy was effective for HCV genotype 2 infection in an area where IFN-based therapy had previously shown unsatisfactory results. In addition, no regional disparities in the SVR12 were observed in Tochigi Prefecture.
Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Antimicrobial Drug Use, United States, 2014–2015

Using a US nationwide survey, we measured disparities in antimicrobial drug acquisition by race/ethnicity for 2014–2015. White persons reported twice as many antimicrobial drug prescription fills per capita as persons of other race/ethnicities. Characterizing antimicrobial drug use by demographic might improve antimicrobial drug stewardship and help address antimicrobial drug resistance.
A Transmission-Based Dielectric Property Probe for Clinical Applications

We have developed a transmission-based, open-ended coaxial dielectric probe that can be used in clinical situations and overcomes many of the limitations related to the typical reflection-based dielectric probes. The approach utilizes the low profile, open-ended coaxial cables enabling clinicians to still probe relatively compact spaces. The sensing depth can be extended to as large as 1.5 to 2 cm compared with the more typical range of 0.3 mm for conventional probes and is dramatically less affected by measurement technique variability including poor sample contact and cable bending. As a precursor to an actual clinical implementation, we study the technique in a range of homogeneous liquids with substantially varying dielectric properties. The initial results demonstrate good agreement between the transmission-based probe and commercial, reflection-based probes and pave the way for more substantial clinical implementation.
Efficient Convolutions for Real-Time Semantic Segmentation of 3D Point Clouds

In this work, we propose a novel voxel representation which allows for efficient, real-time processing of point clouds with deep neural networks. Our approach takes a 2D representation of a simple occupancy grid and produces fine-grained 3D segmentation. We show that our approach outperforms the state-of-the art while being an order of magnitude faster. We can perform segmentation of large outdoor scenes of size 160m x 80m in as little as 30ms. In indoor scenarios, we can segment full rooms in less than 15ms. This is crucial for robotics applications which require real-time inference for safety critical tasks.
MiR‐34b/c‐5p and the neurokinin‐1 receptor regulate breast cancer cell proliferation and apoptosis

MiR‐34 is a tumour suppressor in breast cancer. Neurokinin‐1 receptor (NK1R), which is the predicted target of the miR‐34 family, is overexpressed in many cancers. This study investigated the correlation and clinical significance of miR‐34 and NK1R in breast cancer.
FastND: Accelerating Directional Neighbor Discovery for 60-GHz Millimeter-Wave Wireless Networks

Neighbor discovery (ND) is a critical primitive for 60-GHz wireless networks with highly directional radios. Prior work has attempted to improve the ND efficiency but overlooks the unique properties of 60-GHz phased-array antennas and spatial channel profile. In this paper, we first conduct a systematic study of the ND problem using a reconfigurable 60-GHz radio. Combined with an analytical model, we find that environmental characteristics and client mobility substantially affect 60-GHz ND latency, and due to inherent spatial channel sparsity of 60-GHz channels, even short-distance links can experience intolerable latency. To solve these new challenges, we propose a mechanism called FastND that accelerates ND by actively learning the spatial channel profile. FastND leverages steerability of 60-GHz phased-array antennas and accumulates channel information by overhearing beacon preambles along different beam directions. Using a compressive sensing framework, together with a strategical beam selection mechanism, FastND can infer the strongest spatial angle to listen to, thereby increasing the likelihood to quickly decode beacons and achieve ND. Our testbed experiments and ray-tracing tests demonstrate that FastND can reduce 802.11ad ND latency to 1/10–1/2, with different levels of mobility, human blockage, environmental sparsity, and non-line-of-sight links.
Antimicrobial Homoisoflavonoids from the Rhizomes of Polygonatum verticillatum

Three homoisoflavonoids, including a new compound, 5,7‐dihydroxy‐3‐(4‐methoxybenzyl)‐8‐methyl chroman‐4‐one (1), together with two known compounds, 5,7‐dihydroxy‐3‐(2‐hydroxy‐4‐methoxybenzyl)‐8‐methylchroman‐4‐one (2) and 5,7‐dihydroxy‐3‐(2‐hydroxy‐4‐methoxybenzyl)‐chroman‐4‐one (3), were isolated from the rhizomes of Polygonatum verticillatum (L.) All. (P. verticillatum). Isolated compounds were characterized on the basis of UV, FT‐IR, ESI‐MS, and 1D‐, 2D‐NMR data. Further, different extract fractions and pure compounds from Polygonatum verticillatum were screened for their antimicrobial potential. Among three pure compounds, compound 2 was found most potent with good zone of microbial growth inhibition as compared to the standards.
LABA/LAMA fixed-dose combinations in patients with COPD: a systematic review

Objectives The aim of this study was to assess the current evidence for long-acting β2-agonist (LABA)/long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA) fixed-dose combinations (FDCs) in the treatment of COPD. Materials and methods A systematic literature search of randomized controlled trials published in English up to September 2017 of LABA/LAMA FDCs vs LABA or LAMA or LABA/inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) FDCs in COPD patients was performed using PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Outcomes including forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), Transition Dyspnea Index (TDI) scores, St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) scores, exacerbations, exercise tolerance (endurance time [ET]), inspiratory capacity (IC), and rescue medication use were evaluated. Results In total, 27 studies were included in the review. LABA/LAMA FDCs significantly improved lung function (FEV1) at 12 weeks compared with LABA or LAMA or LABA/ICS. These effects were maintained over time. Significant improvements with LABA/LAMA FDCs vs each evaluated comparator were also observed in TDI and SGRQ scores, even if significant differences between different LABA/LAMA FDCs were detected. Only the LABA/LAMA FDC indacaterol/glycopyrronium has shown superiority vs LAMA and LABA/ICS for reducing exacerbation rates, while olodaterol/tiotropium and indacaterol/glycopyrronium have been shown to improve ET and IC vs the active comparators. Rescue medication use was significantly reduced by LABA/LAMA FDCs vs the evaluated comparators. LABA/LAMA FDCs were safe, with no increase in the risk of adverse events with LABA/LAMA FDCs vs the monocomponents. Conclusion Evidence supporting the efficacy of LABA/LAMA FDCs for COPD is heterogeneous, particularly for TDI and SGRQ scores, exacerbation rates, ET, and IC. So far, indacaterol/glycopyrronium is the LABA/LAMA FDC that has the strongest evidence for superiority vs LABA, LAMA, and LABA/ICS FDCs across the evaluated outcomes. LABA/LAMA FDCs were safe; however, more data should be collected in a real-world setting to confirm their safety.
Exercise as an intervention for patients with end-stage liver disease

Background: Various etiologies of chronic liver disease often result in cirrhosis. Beside obvious liver-related complications, cirrhosis also leads to loss of muscle mass and decreased exercise capacity. In this study, our aim was to conduct a systematic review of literature to investigate the efficacy of exercise interventions in patients with cirrhosis. Method: PubMed was used to perform the literature search. The mesh terms used were the following: (liver (and) cirrhosis (and) exercise or (exercise therapy)). The following terms were excluded: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The search was limited to the English language and human research. The initial search was conducted on December 6, 2016 and re-reviewed May 2017. Results: Seven studies met selection criteria. Training interventions ranged between 4 and 14 weeks in duration with an exercise frequency of 3 to 5 days per week. Most studies demonstrated an increase in maximal oxygen consumption using gas exchange techniques. Two of 3 studies demonstrated increased distance covered in the 6-minute walk test. One study showed a clinically significant decrease in hepatic venous pressure gradient, while another showed a transient increase only during exercise. There were no adverse effects of the exercise program reported. Conclusions: Exercise in selected patients with cirrhosis can have potential benefit in endurance and functional outcome measures without adverse effect from exercise.
Verifying concurrent software using movers in CSPEC

Writing concurrent systems software is error-prone, because multiple processes or threads can interleave in many ways, and it is easy to forget about a subtle corner case. This paper introduces CSPEC, a framework for formal verification of concurrent software, which ensures that no corner cases are missed. The key challenge is to reduce the number of interleavings that developers must consider. CSPEC uses mover types to re-order commutative operations so that usually it’s enough to reason about only sequential executions rather than all possible interleavings. CSPEC also makes proofs easier by making them modular using layers, and by providing a library of reusable proof patterns. To evaluate CSPEC, we implemented and proved the correctness of CMAIL, a simple concurrent Maildir-like mail server that speaks SMTP and POP3. The results demonstrate that CSPEC’s movers and patterns allow reasoning about sophisticated concurrency styles in CMAIL.
Structure and Function of the Armored Keel in Piranhas, Pacus, and their Allies

The serrasalmids: piranhas, pacus, and their relatives, are ubiquitous Neotropical fishes with diverse diets, ecologies, and behaviors. Serrasalmids have a bony, serrated keel which lines the underbellies of these fishes, the structure for which the family is named. We examined the diversity and structure of the keel in piranhas and allies using micro‐computed tomography scanning in over 30 species of serrasalmids, a third of the species richness for the family, and for 95 total characiform specimens. The keel is highly diverse across serrasalmids, with serrae shape dictating the overall form of the keel. Serrae shape varies considerably among different species and even within keels themselves. The keel morphology can be divided into distinct anterior and posterior regions, as separated by the pelvic fins. Compared to other characiform fishes, serrasalmid skeletons are frequently damaged. Gouging perforations and signs of healing (serrae fusion) are common on the keel. We propose the keel is a defensive structure based on the high incidence of injury (>50%) in our dataset. This is the highest incidence of damage ever recorded in the skeletons of bony fishes. The loss of the anterior keel region in rheophilic taxa suggests competing performance demands and selective pressures on this structure. Competition and aggression among conspecifics or confamilials is a frequently invoked phenomenon for explaining animal weaponry and armor in terrestrial vertebrates. The keel in serrasalmids and other instances of armor in fishes could be complementary study systems for examining competitive rivalry in vertebrates. Anat Rec, 2018. © 2018 American Association for Anatomy.
Proamyloidogenic effects of membrane type 1 matrix metalloproteinase involve MMP‐2 and BACE‐1 activities, and the modulation of APP trafficking

We previously demonstrated that membrane type 1 (MT1) matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) was up‐regulated in the hippocampus of the model of transgenic mice bearing 5 familial mutations on human amyloid precursor protein (APP) and presenilin 1 of Alzheimer disease (AD), and that the proteinase increased the levels of amyloid β peptide (Aβ) and its APP C‐terminal fragment of 99 aa in a heterologous cell system. Here we provide further evidence that MT1‐MMP interacts with APP and promotes amyloidogenesis in a proteolytic‐dependent manner in Swedish APP‐expressing human embryonic kidney 293 (HEKswe) cells. MT1‐MMP–mediated processing of APP releases a soluble APP fragment, sAPP95. This process partly requires the activation of endogenous MMP‐2 but is independent of β‐site APP cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE‐1) or α‐secretase activities. In contrast, MT1‐MMP–mediated increase of Aβ levels involved BACE‐1 activity and was inhibited by tissue inhibitor of MMP‐2, a natural inhibitor of both MT1‐MMP and MMP‐2. Interestingly, near abolishment of basal Aβ production upon BACE‐1 inhibition was rescued by MT1‐MMP, indicating that the latter could mimic β‐secretase–like activity. Moreover, MT1‐MMP promoted APP/Aβ localization in endosomes, where Aβ production mainly occurs. These data unveil new mechanistic insights to support the proamyloidogenic role of MT1‐MMP based on APP processing and trafficking, and reinforce the idea that this proteinase may become a new potential therapeutic target in AD. —Paumier, J.‐M. , Py, N. A. , González, L. G. , Bernard, A. , Stephan, D. , Louis, L. , Checler, F. , Khrestchatisky, M. , Baranger, K. , Rivera, S. Proamyloidogenic effects of membrane type 1 matrix metalloproteinase involve MMP‐2 and BACE‐1 activities, and the modulation of APP trafficking. FASEB J. 33, 2910–2927 (2019). www.fasebj. org