Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Familial hypercholesterolaemia: summary of NICE guidance

The estimated prevalence of familial hypercholesterolaemia in the United Kingdom is 1 in 500. Heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia carries a high risk of premature coronary heart disease (>50% risk in men by the age of 50 years and >30% in women by 60 years), but the condition is underdiagnosed. This article summarises the most recent recommendations from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on diagnosing and managing familial hypercholesterolaemia.1 NICE recommendations are based on systematic reviews of best available evidence. When minimal evidence is available, recommendations are based on the guideline development group’s opinion of what constitutes good practice. Evidence levels for the recommendations are given in italic in square brackets. ### Diagnosis ### Management in primary care
The Rhinovirus Subviral A-Particle Exposes 3′-Terminal Sequences of Its Genomic RNA

ABSTRACT Enteroviruses, which represent a large genus within the family Picornaviridae, undergo important conformational modifications during infection of the host cell. Once internalized by receptor-mediated endocytosis, receptor binding and/or the acidic endosomal environment triggers the native virion to expand and convert into the subviral (altered) A-particle. The A-particle is lacking the internal capsid protein VP4 and exposes N-terminal amphipathic sequences of VP1, allowing for its direct interaction with a lipid bilayer. The genomic single-stranded (+)RNA then exits through a hole close to a 2-fold axis of icosahedral symmetry and passes through a pore in the endosomal membrane into the cytosol, leaving behind the empty shell. We demonstrate that in vitro acidification of a prototype of the minor receptor group of common cold viruses, human rhinovirus A2 (HRV-A2), also results in egress of the poly(A) tail of the RNA from the A-particle, along with adjacent nucleotides totaling ∼700 bases. However, even after hours of incubation at pH 5.2, 5′-proximal sequences remain inside the capsid. In contrast, the entire RNA genome is released within minutes of exposure to the acidic endosomal environment in vivo. This finding suggests that the exposed 3′-poly(A) tail facilitates the positioning of the RNA exit site onto the putative channel in the lipid bilayer, thereby preventing the egress of viral RNA into the endosomal lumen, where it may be degraded. IMPORTANCE For host cell infection, a virus transfers its genome from within the protective capsid into the cytosol; this requires modifications of the viral shell. In common cold viruses, exit of the RNA genome is prepared by the acidic environment in endosomes converting the native virion into the subviral A-particle. We demonstrate that acidification in vitro results in RNA exit starting from the 3′-terminal poly(A). However, the process halts as soon as about 700 bases have left the viral shell. Conversely, inside the cell, RNA egress completes in about 2 min. This suggests the existence of cellular uncoating facilitators.
Agent Behavioral Analysis Based on Absorbing Markov Chains

We propose a novel technique to identify known behaviors of intelligent agents acting within uncertain environments. We employ Markov chains to represent the observed behavioral models of the agents and we formulate the problem as a classification task. In particular, we propose to use the long-term transition probability values of moving between states of the Markov chain as features. Additionally, we transform our models into absorbing Markov chains, enabling the use of standard techniques to compute such features. The empirical evaluation considers two scenarios: the identification of given strategies in classical games, and the detection of malicious behaviors in malware analysis. Results show that our approach can provide informative features to successfully identify known behavioral patterns. In more detail, we show that focusing on the long-term transition probability enables to diminish the error introduced by noisy states and transitions that may be present in an observed behavioral model. We pose particular attention to the case of noise that may be intentionally introduced by a target agent to deceive an observer agent.
Trust-Aware Behavior Reflection for Robot Swarm Self-Healing

The deployment of robot swarms is influenced by real-world factors, such as motor issues, sensor failure, and wind disturbances. These factors cause the appearance of faulty robots. In a decentralized swarm, sharing incorrect information from faulty robots will lead to undesired swarm behaviors, such as swarm disconnection and incorrect heading directions. We envision a system where a human operator is exerting supervisory control over a remote swarm by indicating changes in trust to the swarm via a "trust-signal". By correcting faulty behaviors, trust between the human and the swarm is maintained to facilitate human-swarm cooperation. In this research, a trust-aware behavior reflection method --Trust-R -- is designed based on a weighted mean subsequence reduced algorithm (WMSR). By using Trust-R, detected faulty behaviors are automatically corrected by the swarm in a decentralized fashion by referring to the motion status of their trusted neighbors and isolating failed robots from the others. Based on real-world scenarios, three types of robot faults -- degraded performance caused by motor wear, abnormal motion caused by system uncertainty and motion deviation caused by an external disturbance such as wind -- were simulated to test the effectiveness of Trust-R. Results show that Trust-R is effective in correcting swarm behaviors for swarm self-healing.
Understanding Hydrophobicity Recovery of Silicone Rubber Material Post Corona Ageing

Surface hydrophobicity recovery of silicone rubber insulating material post corona ageing is reported in the present work. Recovery rate of hydrophobicity of uncleaned (S1) and cleaned sample (S2) after the corona ageing are compared. Results indicate that surface potential and its decay time constant reduces drastically after the corona ageing, as compared to the virgin specimen. However, the test specimens regain their hydrophobicity, though at a different rate, with time. Trap distribution characteristic shows that the characteristic time and charge trap depth reduces with the corona aged specimens and regain with rest period. A similar trend is observed with contact angle and corona inception voltage (CIV) of the test specimens. Pattern classification of Ultra High Frequency (UHF) discharge signal is done using modified Chaotic Analysis (CA).
Decentralized Multi-Agent Path Finding for UAV Traffic Management

The development of a real-world Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) system to ensure the safe integration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in low altitude airspace, has recently generated novel research challenges. A key problem is the development of Pre-Flight Conflict Detection and Resolution (CDR) methods that provide collision-free flight paths to all UAVs before their takeoff. Such problem can be represented as a Multi-Agent Path Finding (MAPF) problem. Currently, most MAPF methods assume that the UTM system is a centralized entity in charge of CDR. However, recent discussions on UTM suggest that such centralized control might not be practical or desirable. Therefore, we explore Pre-Flight CDR methods where independent UAS Service Providers (UASSPs) with their own interests, communicate with each other to resolve conflicts among their UAV operations—without centralized UTM directives. We propose a novel MAPF model that supports the decentralized resolution of conflicts, whereby different ‘agents’, here UASSPs, manage their UAV operations. We present two approaches: (1) a prioritization approach and (2) a simple yet practical pairwise negotiation approach where UASSPs agents determine an agreement to solve conflicts between their UAV operations. We evaluate the performance of our proposed approaches with simulation scenarios based on a consultancy study of predicted UAV traffic for delivery services in Sendai, Japan, 2030. We demonstrate that our negotiation approach improves the “fairness” between UASSPs, i.e. the distribution of costs between UASSPs in terms of total delays and rejected operations due to replanning is more balanced when compared to the prioritization approach.
Redox signalling and cardioprotection: translatability and mechanism

The morbidity and mortality from coronary artery disease (CAD) remain significant worldwide. The treatment for acute myocardial infarction has improved over the past decades, including early reperfusion of culprit coronary arteries. Although it is mandatory to reperfuse the ischaemic territory as soon as possible, paradoxically this leads to additional myocardial injury, namely ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, in which redox stress plays a pivotal role and for which no effective therapy is currently available. In this review, we report evidence that the redox environment plays a pivotal role not only in I/R injury but also in cardioprotection. In fact, cardioprotective strategies, such as pre‐ and post‐conditioning, result in a robust reduction in infarct size in animals and the role of redox signalling is of paramount importance in these conditioning strategies. Nitrosative signalling and cysteine redox modifications, such as S‐nitrosation/S‐nitrosylation, are also emerging as very important mechanisms in conditioning cardioprotection. The reasons for the switch from protective oxidative/nitrosative signalling to deleterious oxidative/nitrosative/nitrative stress are not fully understood. The complex regulation of this switch is, at least in part, responsible for the diminished or lack of cardioprotection induced by conditioning protocols observed in ageing animals and with co‐morbidities as well as in humans. Therefore, it is important to understand at a mechanistic level the reasons for these differences before proposing a safe and useful transition of ischaemic or pharmacological conditioning. Indeed, more mechanistic novel therapeutic strategies are required to protect the heart from I/R injury and to improve clinical outcomes in patients with CAD.
The Effect of Virtual Agent Warmth on Human-Agent Negotiation

The perception of warmth and competence in others influences social interaction and decision making. Virtual agents have been used in many domains including serious gaming and training. In this work we study the effect of warmth expressed in the behavior of a virtual agent on a human-agent negotiation. We design and conduct an experiment where participants negotiate with two versions of the same agent displaying varying levels of warmth. The results show that humans are more satisfied with the warm agent, are more willing to renegotiate with it, would recommend the agent more to their friends and had a better interaction experience, even though there is no difference in negotiation outcome (utility, agreement or rounds needed). While studies have shown effects of emotional displays on negotiation and collaboration, this is - to our knowledge - the first time that a clear effect of behavioral style is shown on the post-hoc appraisal of a human-agent collaboration, in our case a negotiation.
Deep GoogLeNet Features for Visual Object Tracking

Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) has recently become very popular in visual object tracking due to their strong feature representation capabilities. Almost all of the CNN based trackers currently use the features extracted from shallow convolutional layers of VGGNet architecture. This paper presents an investigation of the impact of deep convolutional layer features in an object tracking framework. In this study, we demonstrate for the first time, the viability of features extracted from deep layers of GoogLeNet CNN architecture for the purpose of object tracking. We integrated GoogLeNet features in a discriminative correlation filter based tracking framework. Our experimental results show that the GoogLeNet features provides significant computational advantages over the conventionally used VGGNet features, without much compromise on the tracking performance. It was observed that features obtained from inception modules of GoogLeNet have high depths. Further, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was employed to reduce the dimensionality of the extracted features. This greatly reduces the computational cost and thus improve the speed of the tracking process. Extensive evaluation have been performed on three benchmark datasets: OTB, ALOV300++ and VOT2016 datasets and its performances are measured in terms of metrics like F-score, One Pass Evaluation, robustness and accuracy.
The Knoll-Concept to Decrease the Prevalence of Parkinson’s Disease

(-)-Deprenyl (D)/Selegiline, introduced under the code name: E-250, in 1964/65 as a new spectrum "psychic energizer" (Knoll et al., 1965), and named (-)-deprenyl from 1970, became famous in 1971/1972 as the first selective inhibitor of B-type monoamine oxidase (MAO-B) (Knoll  Magyar, 1972). D, registered at present in 64 countries, started its world-wide carrier as a therapeutic agent in 1977 as the unique MAO inhibitor free of the cheese-effect (reviewing its early history see Knoll, 1983). In the early 1960s when Knoll developed D MAO inhibitors were at the center of interest. It was the period when the hypothesis that depression is associated with diminished monoaminergic tone in the brain took root in the scientific community. MAO inhibitors played a key role in the development of this hypothesis. It became clear that MAO inhibitors elated depressed patients because they enhance the biological activity of monoamine transmitters in the central nervous system. In 1951 isoniazid and its isopropyl-derivative, iproniazid, were successfully introduced for the treatment of tuberculosis and it was an unexpected observation that in contrast to isoniazid, iproniazid produced undesirable central stimulation in some patients. Zeller, who proposed in 1938 the name “monoamine oxidase” for the class of enzymes responsible for the oxidative deamination of monoamines, discovered in 1952 that iproniazid is capable to inhibit MAO activity in the brain and isoniazid is devoid of this property (Zeller  Barsky, 1952). In 1956 Crane analyzed the psychiatric side effects of iproniazid and concluded that it might be beneficial in the treatment of depression (Crane, 1956) and Kline introduced it as a “psychic energizer” (Kline, 1958). Series of new MAO inhibitors were soon developed. It was, however, observed in 1963 that after eating cheese depressive patients treated with the highly potent MAO inhibitor, tranylcypromine, develop temporary clinical symptoms similar to a paroxysm induced by pheochromocytoma: hypertension, palpitation, neck stiffness, headache, nausea, vomiting. The same was observed also during treatment with nialamid, pargyline, and other MAO inhibitors. Blackwell (1963) realized that the hypertensive crisis is associated with the ingestion of high amounts of tyramine in cheese, the metabolism of which is inhibited by the MAO inhibitors (“cheese-effect”). Similar clinical episodes have also been observed after the ingestion of some other foodstuffs, such as yeast products and chianti wines, pickled herring, chicken liver, which are rich in tyramine, and/or other amine such as -phenylethylamine (PEA), tryptamine, or L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA).
Analysis and modelling of YouTube traffic

YouTube currently accounts for a significant percentage of the Internet's global traffic. Hence, understanding the characteristics of the YouTube traffic generation pattern can provide a significant advantage in predicting user video quality and in enhancing network design. In this paper, we present a characterisation of the traffic generated by YouTube when accessed from a regular PC. On the basis of this characterisation, a YouTube server traffic generation model is proposed, which, for example, can be easily implemented in simulation tools. The derived characterisation and model are based on experimental evaluations of traffic generated by the application layer of YouTube servers. A YouTube server commences the download with an initial burst and later throttles down the generation rate. If the available bandwidth is reduced (e.g. in the presence of network congestion), the server behaves as if the data excess that cannot be transmitted because of the reduced bandwidth were accumulated at a server's buffer, which is later drained if the bandwidth availability is recovered. As we will show, the video clip encoding rate plays a relevant role in determining the traffic generation rate, and therefore, a cumulative density function for the most viewed video clips will be presented. The proposed traffic generation model was implemented in a YouTube emulation server, and the generated synthetic traffic traces were compared with downloads from the original YouTube server. The results show that the relative error between downloads from the emulation server and the original server does not exceed 6% for the 90% of the considered videos. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Clinical Study Cardiac Troponin T and Illness Severity in the Very-Low-BirthWeight Infant

Introduction. Respiratory distress are very common in Very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants and Myocardial injury may play a role in the disease outcome. Cardiac troponin T (cTnT) is the most useful marker of injury in adult population, but has not been extensively studied in this population. Aim. To study the role of cTnT in VLBW infants and its association with clinical outcomes. Methods. All VLBW infants admitted to our NICU were included in the study. Echocardiography and blood samples for cTnT determination were collected at 24 and 48 hours of life, and values >0.1 ng/mL were considered CTnT-positive values. Results. A total of 116 neonates had their blood samples collected. The median cTnT concentration within 24 hours was 0.191 (0.1–0.79) ng/mL and within 48 hours was 0.293 (0.1–1.0) ng/mL. A logistic regression analysis showed that PDA, low GA, and use of dopamine were independently associated with positive cTnT and abnormal Dopplerfluxometry and diuretics use had protective effects and was independently associated with troponin values. Conclusion. We observed a high prevalence of positivecTnT values in VLBW infants associated with illness severity. Our findings suggest that cTnT may be a useful and early marker of myocardial injury in VLBW infants.
Mechanisms of Immunity in Typhus Infections IV. Failure of Chicken Embryo Cells in Culture to Restrict Growth of Antibody-Sensitized Rickettsia prowazeki

Rickettsia prowazeki, pretreated with typhus immune human serum, readily infects, and grows in, chicken embryo cells in culture. This finding is similar to those of previous studies which showed that typhus rickettsiae, pretreated with immune serum, grow in cells of the yolk sac of embryonated hen eggs and in the cells of the midgut of the human body louse. In contrast, identically treated typhus rickettsiae were destroyed by human macrophages in culture. Collectively, these observations seem to support an emerging concept that the fate of antibody-sensitized typhus rickettsiae depends upon the presence or absence of certain specialized properties of the host cell into which they gain entrance—nonphagocytic cells or “nonprofessional” phagocytic cells versus certain kinds of “professional” phagocytes. The phenomena involved probably have an important bearing on the mechanisms of the persisting infection and the nonsterile immunity which characterizes convalescence from typhus fever in man. They also form the basis for certain practical technical innovations in the laboratory.
Intraneural angiosarcoma and angiosarcoma arising in benign and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumours: clinicopathological and immunohistochemical analysis of four cases

Angiosarcomatous differentiation represents the least common form of heterologous differentiation in malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumours (MPNST), and is seen most frequently in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1. More rarely, it has been reported in patients without stigmata of neurofibromatosis, or in benign nerve sheath tumours and peripheral nerves. This study was undertaken to confirm this rare association.
ANN-Cuckoo Optimization Technique to Predict Software Cost Estimation

Software cost is of the most complex and vital aspect in consideration when software is in its development stages. To determine the amount of time, effort and resources required to complete the project successfully translate to Software Cost Estimation (SCE). Thus far, many models have been suggested such as Fuzzy Logic, Neural Networks, Support Vector Machines, Ant Colony Optimization, Genetic Algorithms, Decision Trees, Case-Based Reasoning and Soft Computing Techniques. Such computational models have contributed to a large extent in this arena. Yet, there still lies immense scope to apply optimization methods. Neural Networks are the most utilized techniques in software cost estimation by researchers. In this paper, we propose the use of a new model, i.e. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) trained using Cuckoo Optimization Algorithm (COA) to predict Software Cost Estimation. The key goal is to exhibit use of a novel learning procedure for ANN to better predict SCE. The proposed model is verified with the ISBSG dataset and results are compared with existing models. The results shown are in terms of Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) and Mean Magnitude of Relative Error (MMRE).
Synchronization Characteristics of Feedback-Induced Chaos in Strongly Injection-Locked Semiconductor Lasers

The modulation bandwidth enhancement and the chaos synchronization characteristics of feedback-induced chaos in strongly injection-locked semiconductor lasers are studied numerically by establishing the theoretical model. With extra external optical injection, the modulation bandwidth of a unidirectional close-loop chaos synchronization system is greatly enhanced about three times. The robustness of injection-locked synchronization to parameter mismatches is discussed in terms of cross-correlation coefficient and synchronization error. Finally, the transmission of high bit rate signals with directly current modulation in this system is briefly investigated, and the results show that this system possesses a high transmission speed and a good robustness.
Multi-unit Budget Feasible Mechanisms for Cellular Traffic Offloading

Cellular traffic offloading is nowadays an important problem in mobile networking. Since the offloading resource owners (agents) are self-interested and have private costs, it is highly challenging to design procurement mechanisms that motivate agents to reveal their true costs and achieve guaranteed performance under the constraint of a strict budget. In this paper, we model cellular traffic offloading as a multi-unit budget feasible procurement auction design problem with diminishing return valuations. We design a novel greedy-based randomized mechanism, and prove it is budget-feasible, truthful, individually rational and a $(3+2ln N)$-approximation, where N is the total number of available resource units. We also propose a deterministic mechanism which achieves $(2+ln N + \sqrt2+3ln N +ln^2N )$ - approximation. We prove no budget-feasible and truthful mechanism can do better than $ln N$-approximation in our setting, thus our mechanism approaches the optimal to a constant factor. In addition to solving the cellular traffic offloading problem, our work successfully extends solvable valuation class of greedy-based multi-unit budget-feasible mechanism with performance guarantees from the concave-additive valuations to more general local diminishing return valuations.