Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of Pulmonary Vasodilator Therapy with Endothelin-Receptor Antagonist in Eisenmenger Syndrome

Objective: To assess the effect of treatment with endothelin-receptor anatagonists on patients with Eisenmenger syndrome, by monitoring oxygen saturation, exercise capacity and echocardiography. Methods: A total of 14 pediatric patients diagnosed with Eisenmenger syndrome were evaluated clinically by systemic pulse-oximetry, 6-minute walk test and by echocardiography at the beginning of pulmonary vasodilator treatment with endothelin-receptor antagonist, at 3 and 6 months after treatment initiation. Results: NYHA functional class, systemic arterial blood saturation and distance walked in 6 minutes improved after 3 and 6 months of pulmonary vasodilator treatment. In our study we observed that Tei index right ventricle has improved after 3 months of therapy. We found no statistically significant changes in other ecocardiographic parameters of pulmonary hypertension evaluation. Conclusions: Endothelin-receptor antagonist improved exercise capacity and hemodynamics, without compromising peripheral oxygen saturation.
Visual tracking over multiple temporal scales

Visual tracking is the task of repeatedly inferring the state (position, motion, etc.) of the desired target in an image sequence. It is an important scientific problem as humans can visually track targets in a broad range of settings. However, visual tracking algorithms struggle to robustly follow a target in unconstrained scenarios. Among the many challenges faced by visual trackers, two important ones are occlusions and abrupt motion variations. Occlusions take place when (an)other object(s) obscures the camera's view of the tracked target. A target may exhibit abrupt variations in apparent motion due to its own unexpected movement, camera movement, and low frame rate image acquisition. Each of these issues can cause a tracker to lose its target. This thesis introduces the idea of learning and propagation of tracking information over multiple temporal scales to overcome occlusions and abrupt motion variations. A temporal scale is a specific sequence of moments in time Models (describing appearance and/or motion of the target) can be learned from the target tracking history over multiple temporal scales and applied over multiple temporal scales in the future. With the rise of multiple motion model tracking frameworks, there is a need for a broad range of search methods and ways of selecting between the available motion models. The potential benefits of learning over multiple temporal scales are first assessed by studying both motion and appearance variations in the ground-truth data associated with several image sequences. A visual tracker operating over multiple temporal scales is then proposed that is capable of handling occlusions and abrupt motion variations. Experiments are performed to compare the performance of the tracker with competing methods, and to analyze the impact on performance of various elements of the proposed approach. Results reveal a simple, yet general framework for dealing with occlusions and abrupt motion variations. In refining the proposed framework, a search method is generalized for multiple competing hypotheses in visual tracking, and a new motion model selection criterion is proposed.
Non Photorealistic Techniques with Focus and Context Volume Rendering

Volume rendering is a challenging problem due to the difficulty of rendering such complex information in a manner which is easy for a user to understand. Focus and context volume visualisation attempts to solve this issue by allowing the user to specify a focus area in the data which is displayed with a high level of detail while the surrounding data is sufficiently abstracted to retain context. Non-photorealistic rendering techniques are regarded as powerful tools in manipulating view perception. These techniques are often used abstract a scene by removing unnecessary detail, while highlighting important information. In fields such as medicine and science, NPR has been used by artists in the production of technical illustrations. For this reason, the field of volume rendering (VR) is heavily invested in NPR techniques, especially for visualisation of medical data sets. This dissertation explores the use on NPR techniques in focus and context volume rendering. It describes the implementation of a volume rendering framework which renders compelling focus and context images with the use of colour abstraction, texture abstraction and silhouette extraction. Two focus and context interfaces are implemented, which combine focus and context regions. An effective style for focus and context rendering is identified and evaluated visually and with the use of an automatic salience metric.
Replication data for: Reconciling Results on Racial Differences in Police Shootings

Police use of force – particularly lethal force – is one of the most divisive issues of the twenty-first century. When an officer discharges a weapon, it’s a life changing event. A single bullet – which weighs about . 02 pounds and is 10mm long – can end a life, erase a pension, or change the image of those who are sworn to serve and protect. To understand the nexus of race, criminal justice, and police brutality, academics and journalists have begun to amass impressive datasets on Officer-Involved-Shootings (OIS). The Washington Post (2015) provided important stylized facts about individuals killed at the hands of police officers in one calendar year. Police fatally shoot nearly 1,000 individuals a year in the U.S. As the report argues, the incidents that have ignited protests – white police officers killing unarmed black men – represent less than four percent of fatal police shootings. The Guardian (2015) collected similar data in their much publicized series, The Counted, and tallied 1,134 deaths of Americans at the hands of police in 2015. And, similar to The Post’s database, The Guardian emphasizes that although black males aged 15-34 make up 2 percent of the population they comprise 15 percent of all deaths logged in 2015 – five times the comparison number for whites. One in every sixty-five – or 1.5 percent – deaths of a black man in the US is a killing by police. Roughly twenty-five percent of blacks that were killed were unarmed, eight percentage points higher than whites (Guardian, 2015). More recently, VICE News collected data on OIS from 47 of the 50 largest police departments in the U.S (VICE, 2017). The major difference between the VICE
THE MID-INFRARED HIGH-IONIZATION LINES FROM ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI AND STAR-FORMING GALAXIES

We used Spitzer/Infrared Spectrograph spectroscopic data on 426 galaxies including quasars, Seyferts, LINERs, and H ii galaxies to investigate the relationship among the mid-IR emission lines. There is a tight linear correlation between the [Ne v]14.3 μm and 24.3 μm (97.1 eV) and the [O iv]25.9 μm (54.9 eV) high-ionization emission lines. The correlation also holds for these high-ionization emission lines and the [Ne iii]15.56 μm (41 eV) emission line, although only for active galaxies. We used these correlations to calculate the [Ne iii] excess due to star formation in Seyfert galaxies. We also estimated the [O iv] luminosity due to star formation in active galaxies and determined that it dominates the [O iv] emission only if the contribution of the active nucleus to the total luminosity is below 5%. We find that the active galactic nucleus dominates the [O iv] emission in most Seyfert galaxies, whereas star formation adequately explains the observed [O iv] emission in optically classified H ii galaxies. Finally, we computed photoionization models to determine the physical conditions of the narrow-line region where these high-ionization lines originate. The estimated ionization parameter range is −2.8 < log U < −2.5 and the total hydrogen column density range is 20 < log nH (cm−2) < 21.
Aspartate aminotransferase activity in gingival crevicular fluid during orthodontic treatment. A controlled short-term longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND During orthodontic tooth movement, the early response of periodontal tissues to mechanical stress involves an acute inflammatory response, with a sequence characterized by periods of activation, resorption, reversal, and formation in both tension and compression sites. This study used a longitudinal design to examine aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activity in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) in order to assess whether AST in GCF has potential as a possible diagnostic aid to monitor tooth movement and tissue response during orthodontic treatment. METHODS Eighteen patients (mean age, 16.1 years) participated in the study. An upper first molar from each patient undergoing treatment for distal movement served as the test tooth (TT), with its contralateral (CC) and antagonist (AC) first molars used as controls. The CC was included in the orthodontic appliance, but was not subjected to the orthodontic force; the AC was free from any orthodontic appliance. The GCF around the experimental teeth was collected from both mesial and distal tooth sites immediately before appliance activation, 1 hour after, and weekly over the following 4 weeks. Clinical gingival condition was evaluated at baseline and at the end of the experimental period. AST activity was determined spectrophotometrically at 30 degrees C, and the results were expressed as total AST activity (mU/sample). RESULTS Throughout the experiment, AST levels were significantly elevated in all sites from the TT and CC groups compared to the AC group where, conversely, AST activity remained at the baseline level. However, enzyme levels in the TT group were significantly greater than in the CCs at tension sites on day 14, and in compression sites on days 7 and 14. Moreover, AST activity from the TT group was significantly greater in compression sites than in tension sites on day 7; this was not observed for the CCs. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that AST levels in GCF reflect the biological activity which occurs in the periodontium during controlled occlusal trauma and, therefore, should be further evaluated as a diagnostic tool for monitoring correct orthodontic tooth movement in clinical practice.
Physical Activity as Protective Factor against Dementia: A Prospective Population-Based Study (NEDICES)

Abstract The aim of this study was to analyze whether physical activity (PA) is a protective factor for the incidence of dementia after 3 years of follow-up. The Neurological Disorders in Central Spain (NEDICES) is a prospective population-based survey of older adults (age 65 years and older) that comprised 5278 census-based participants at baseline (1994–1995). A broad questionnaire was used to assess participants’ sociodemographic characteristics, health status, and lifestyle. Subsequently, a modified version of Rosow-Breslau questionnaire was applied to classify individuals’ baseline PA into groups (i.e., sedentary, light, moderate, and high). Cox regression models adjusted for several covariates (age, sex, education, previous stroke, alcohol consumption, hypertension, health related variables) were carried out to estimate the association between the PA groups and risk of dementia at the 3-year follow-up (1997–1998). A total of 134 incident dementia cases were identified among 3105 individuals (56.6% female; mean age=73.15±6.26) after 3 years. Hazard ratios (HRs) of the light, moderate, and high PA groups (vs. sedentary group) were 0.40 (95% confidence interval {CI} [0.26, 0.62]; p<.001), 0.32 (95% CI [0.20, 0.54]; p<.001) and 0.23 (95% CI [0.13, 0.40]; p<.001), respectively. Even after controlling for covariates and the exclusion of doubtful dementia cases, HRs remained significant. However, a supplementary analysis showed that the dose-effect hypothesis did not reach statistical significance. PA is a protective factor of incident dementia in this population-based cohort. (JINS, 2015, 21, 861–867)
Fluconazole vs. amphotericin B for the treatment of neonatal fungal septicemia: a prospective randomized trial.

OBJECTIVE Fungal septicemia is a devastating disease in the neonate, especially in the low birth weight preterm infant who is especially vulnerable to disseminated fungal sepsis. The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy, safety and overall convenience of fluconazole vs. amphotericin B for the treatment of disseminated fungal sepsis in neonates. DESIGN A prospective, randomized, collaborative study conducted at two South African neonatal units. SUBJECTS Twenty-four infants with proven fungal septicemia were treated from June, 1992, to June, 1993. Twelve received fluconazole, 11 received amphotericin B and 1 was excluded. Assessment of hepatic, renal and hematologic functions were performed before, during and after treatment. The two groups were comparable at the time of enrollment into the study. RESULTS Infants receiving amphotericin B had significantly higher values of total and direct bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase values at the end of treatment, while the fluconazole group showed a significant increase in the platelet count. The cumulative total numbers of days receiving intravenous therapy for the administration of antifungal drugs were 57 for the fluconazole group and 162 for the amphotericin group; no central lines were needed in the fluconazole group, whereas 3 babies given amphotericin B had central catheters for a cumulative total of 27 days. The case fatality rate was 33% in the fluconazole group and 45% in the amphotericin B group; there was still proof of fungal septicemia at the time of death in 1 patient given amphotericin B and 2 given fluconazole. CONCLUSION Fluconazole showed fewer side effects than amphotericin B and was more convenient to use.
The P236L Delavirdine-Resistant Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Mutant Is Replication Defective and Demonstrates Alterations in both RNA 5′-End- and DNA 3′-End-Directed RNase H Activities

ABSTRACT The nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitor (NNRTI) delavirdine (DLV) selects in vitro for the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RT mutation P236L, which confers high-level resistance to DLV but not other NNRTIs. Unexpectedly, P236L has developed infrequently in HIV-1 isolates obtained from patients receiving DLV; K103N is the predominant resistance mutation observed in that setting. We characterized the replication fitness of viruses derived from pNL4-3 containing P236L or K103N in both H9 and primary human peripheral blood mononuclear cell cultures infected in parallel with the two mutants. In the absence of DLV, p24 production by wild-type virus occurred more rapidly and to higher levels than with either mutant; P236L consistently demonstrated a two- to threefold decrease in p24 relative to K103N. At low levels of DLV, growth of wild-type virus was severely inhibited, and K103N replicated two- to threefold more efficiently than P236L. At high concentrations of DLV, P236L replication and K103N replication were both inhibited. Recombinant RTs containing K103N or P236L were analyzed for DNA polymerization on heteropolymeric RNA templates and RNase H degradation of RNA-DNA hybrids. Neither mutant demonstrated defects in polymerization. K103N demonstrated normal RNA 5′-end-directed RNase H cleavage and slowed DNA 3′-end-directed RNase H cleavage compared to wild-type RT. P236L demonstrated slowing of both DNA 3′-end- and RNA 5′-end-directed RNase H cleavage, consistent with its reduced replication efficiency relative to K103N. These data suggest that NNRTI resistance mutations can lead to reductions in the efficiency of RNase H cleavage, which may contribute to a reduction in the replication fitness of HIV-1.
International Competition and Industrial Evolution: Evidence from the Impact of Chinese Competition on Mexican Maquiladoras

Effects of the competition between two South locations (Mexico and China) in a Northern market (US) are analyzed. By employing a plant-level data set that covers the universe of Mexican export processing plants (maquiladoras) from 1990 to 2006 and relying on an instrumental variable strategy that exploits exogenous intensification of Chinese imports in the world in conjunction with the WTO accession of China, the empirical analysis reveals a substantial effect of intensified Chinese competition on maquiladoras. In particular, competition from China has a negative and significant impact on employment and plant growth, both through the intensive and the extensive margin. As the negative impact is stronger on the most unskilled labor intensive sectors, it triggers significant sectoral reallocation. Suggestive evidence on industrial upgrading among maquiladoras in response to competition with China is also provided. Overall the results provide additional insight into the way low-wage competition shapes the evolution of industries.
Management of primary and secondary central nervous system vasculitis

Purpose of reviewThis article summarizes the current evidence on the management of primary and secondary central nervous system (CNS) vasculitis. Recent findingsTwo recent retrospective cohort studies have described the treatment and outcomes of patients with adult primary central nervous system vasculitis (PCNSV). Although the majority of the patients (>60%) responded to therapy with glucocorticoids alone or in conjunction with cyclophosphamide (CYC) and tended to improve during the follow-up period, an overall increased mortality was observed. The treatment response and the outcomes appeared primarily related to the size of the vessels involved in the inflammatory process. The involvement of small cortical/leptomeningeal vessels was associated with a more benign course, whereas the involvement of larger/proximal cerebral vessels was related to a less favorable prognosis and identified cases that should be treated more aggressively. Glucocorticoids combined with CYC are the mainstay of therapy for secondary CNS vasculitis. Observational studies have documented the efficacy of rituximab as induction therapy in patients with antineutrophil cytoplasm antibody-associated vasculitis (AAV) and CNS disease, while the role of antitumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents is more controversial. Case series have demonstrated the efficacy of anti-TNF agents in patients with neuro-Behçet's disease. Tocilizumab may also be effective in this condition. SummaryRecognition of findings at diagnosis that predict the course or outcomes of PCNSV may serve as guide for therapy. Biological agents may provide benefit to difficult-to-treat patients with CNS involvement secondary to AAV and Behçet's disease.
Price Transmission in Afghanistan ’ s Wheat Markets

Variability in wheat prices in recent years in Afghanistan has highlighted the need for the country to consider policies to stabilize its wheat markets. Reliance on international markets did not stabilize domestic wheat prices during the 2007-08 food crisis. Policy responses to stabilize the domestic wheat market are conditioned on the degree of market integration with world and regional markets. We use a VECM (Vector Error Correction Model) to assess price transmission signals from regional to domestic markets, and between rural and urban areas in Afghanistan. Our analysis shows that in the long-run domestic prices follow wheat prices in the Central Asian region and Pakistan for the whole period, Jan 2004-Apr 2015. However, price adjustment occurs very slowly, particularly with respect to prices in Kazakhstan. Moreover, the regression analysis reveals that the Pakistan’s export ban in 2008 has had a major impact on price shocks in Afghanistan. After the export restriction policy there is not a statistically significant price linkage between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Our analysis also show that markets are not well integrated between rural and urban areas in Afghanistan. Given the export restriction polices from Pakistan and weak market integration with Kazakhstan, in addition to reliance on international trade, Afghanistan may need to consider stocks polices to manage seasonality and delays in imports, and improve infrastructure in order to prevent price shocks in its domestic wheat market. Also, pursuing a self-sufficiency policy requires attention to market integration between rural and urban areas, in addition to the mechanism to increase wheat production.
Hypoxia-Mediated Soluble Fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase 1 Increase Is Not Attenuated in Interleukin 6-Deficient Mice

The soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1), known to be increased in the serum of preeclamptic patients, is a relevant factor in causing maternal symptoms like hypertension and proteinuria. In this study, we aimed to reveal whether hypoxia is a cause of increased sFlt-1 levels and inflammation markers in vivo and whether these symptoms can be attenuated by interleukin 6 (IL-6) depletion. For this purpose, pregnant wild-type (wt) mice or IL-6−/− mice on embryonic day 16 were placed under either normoxic (20.9% oxygen) or hypoxic (6% oxygen) conditions for 6 hours. This led to a rise of sFlt-1 levels in maternal serum, independent of the IL-6 status of the dam. Increased maternal sFlt-1 serum levels were, however, not due to an increase in sFlt-1 messenger RNA levels in the placenta. Moreover, there was no increase in inflammatory markers in neither wt mice nor IL-6−/− mice. This suggests that hypoxia alone does not contribute to the induction of an inflammatory placenta. Also, the hypoxia-induced rise in sFlt-1 levels seems not to be mediated by IL-6 in vivo.
Three body resonances in two meson-one baryon systems

We report four {sigma}'s and three {lambda}'s, in the 1500-1800 MeV region, as two meson-one baryon S-wave (1/2){sup +} resonances. We solve Faddeev equations in the coupled channel approach. The invariant mass of one of the meson-baryon pairs and that of the three particles have been varied and peaks in the squared three body T-matrix have been found very close to the existing S=-1,J{sup P}=1/2{sup +} low lying baryon resonances. The input two-body t-matrices for meson-meson and meson-baryon interaction have been calculated by solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation with the potentials obtained in the chiral unitary approach.
Historical Perspective of Amniotic Fluid Embolism

Amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) is an extremely rare and usually lethal obstetric emergency. This enigmatic phenomenon is classically defined by hypoxia, hypotension, cardiovascular collapse, and consumptive coagulopathy, all of which create a complicated and confusing clinical picture for the anesthesiologist. This chapter addresses the history, current pathophysiology, diagnostic and treatment regimens in place to examine the problem of amniotic fluid embolism.
Concordance Among Physical Educators’, Teachers’, and Parents’ Perceptions of Attention Problems in Children

Objective: The study examined the concordance among rating sources on attention problems of elementary school–aged children. Method: A randomly selected sample (N = 841) of children was rated by the physical educators, the teachers, and the parents, using the Attention Scales of the Motor Behavior Checklist (MBC), the Teacher Report Form, the Child Behavior Checklist, and the ADHD–Rating Scale–IV (ADHD-RS-IV ). Results: Convergent validity of the Lack of Attention Scale of the MBC with the corresponding subscales was supported. Correlations were higher between teachers’ ratings and between physical educators’ and teachers’ ratings than between physical educators’ and parents’ ratings or between teachers’ and parents’ ratings. Conclusion: Findings underscore the importance of taking the child’s settings and observer influences into account and suggest that MBC is a new promising instrument for screening attention problems in school settings.