Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Copper induced oxidation of serotonin: analysis of products and toxicity

Serotonin is a major neurotransmitter that controls many functions, ranging from mood and behaviour through to sleep and motor functions. The non‐enzymatic oxidation of serotonin is of significant importance as some oxidation products are considered to be neurotoxic. An interaction between copper and serotonin has been suggested by symptoms observed in a number of neurodegenerative diseases such as Wilson’s and Prion diseases. Using PC12 cells as a model of neuronal cells, we show that the interaction between copper and serotonin is toxic to undifferentiated cells. The toxicity is largely due to reactive oxygen species as cell death is significantly reduced in the presence of the antioxidant mannitol. Differentiation of the PC12 cells also confers resistance to the oxidative process. In vitro oxidation of serotonin by copper results in the eventual formation of a coloured pigment, thought to be a melanin‐like polymeric species. Using spectroscopic methods we provide evidence for the formation of a single intermediate product. This dimeric intermediate was identified and characterized as 5,5′‐dihydroxy‐4,4′‐bitryptamine. These results indicate that copper structurally alters serotonin and this process may play a role in copper related neurodegenerative diseases.
Digital Subtraction Arteriography: A New Method for Evaluation of Extracranial Occlusive Disease

• Digital subtraction arteriography (DSA) allows visualization of both the intracranial and extracranial vasculature following an intravenous injection of contrast medium. One hundred consecutive patients were evaluated using this modality. In 32, DSA was compared with conventional arteriography. The degree of internal carotid artery stenosis and/or occlusion shown by DSA was confirmed by conventional arteriography in 27 cases (84%). Abnormalities of the extracranial vasculature was demonstrated by DSA in 60% of patients with suspected cerebrovascular disease. Digital subtraction arteriography demonstrated significant stenosis or occlusion of the carotid arteries in 30% of patients in whom Doppler and radionuclide studies were normal. Digital subtraction arteriography is useful in evaluation of the extracranial vasculature in a variety of clinical conditions. In some instances it serves as a substitute for conventional arteriography. However, its exact place in evaluation of extracranial vasculature disease remains to be defined.
Breaking the Softmax Bottleneck: A High-Rank RNN Language Model

We formulate language modeling as a matrix factorization problem, and show that the expressiveness of Softmax-based models (including the majority of neural language models) is limited by a Softmax bottleneck. Given that natural language is highly context-dependent, this further implies that in practice Softmax with distributed word embeddings does not have enough capacity to model natural language. We propose a simple and effective method to address this issue, and improve the state-of-the-art perplexities on Penn Treebank and WikiText-2 to 47.69 and 40.68 respectively.
A phase I trial and pharmacokinetic study of 9-cis-retinoic acid (ALRT1057) in pediatric patients with refractory cancer: a joint Pediatric Oncology Branch, National Cancer Institute, and Children's Cancer Group study.

PURPOSE To determine the maximum tolerated dose and describe the toxicities of 9-cis-retinoic acid (9cRA, ALRT1057) administered p.o. tid in pediatric patients with refractory cancer and to study the pharmacokinetics of 9cRA and determine whether systemic drug exposure changes with chronic dosing. PATIENTS AND METHODS Children with refractory cancer (stratified by age, < or =12 and >12 years) were treated with p.o. 9cRA for 28 consecutive days. The starting dose was 50 mg/m(2)/day divided into 3 doses with planned escalations to 65, 85, and 110 mg/m(2)/day. Pharmacokinetic sampling was performed on days 1 and 29 of the first cycle. RESULTS Of the 37 patients entered, 18 patients < or =12 years of age and 11 patients >12 years of age were evaluable for toxicity. In patients >12 years of age, dose-limiting headache occurred in 2/2 patients at the 110 mg/m(2)/day dose level; 1/8 patients at 85 mg/m(2)/day developed dose-limiting pseudotumor cerebri. In patients < or =12 years of age, 3/5 patients at the starting dose level of 50 mg/m(2)/day developed dose-limiting pseudotumor cerebri; and 0/6 patients experienced dose-limiting toxicity at 35 mg/m(2)/day. Reversible non-dose-limiting hepatotoxicity was observed in 15 patients across all of the dose levels. There was considerable interpatient variability in 9cRA plasma concentrations. Peak plasma concentrations of 9cRA occurred at a median of 1.5 h after a p.o. dose, and the harmonic-mean terminal half-life was 43 min. By day 29 of 9cRA administration, the plasma 9cRA area under the curve declined by an average of 65% from day 1 values. CONCLUSIONS The dose-limiting toxicity of 9cRA in pediatric patients was neurotoxicity, primarily pseudotumor cerebri. Younger children tolerate significantly lower doses of 9cRA than older children. Similar to all-trans-retinoic acid, the pharmacokinetics of 9cRA demonstrated a wide degree of interpatient variability and decreased over time when administered on a daily basis. The recommended Phase II dose of 9cRA in patients < or =12 and >12 years of age is 35 and 85 mg/m(2)/day, respectively.
Epidemiology and outcome of high-surgical-risk patients admitted to an intensive care unit in Brazil

Objective To define the epidemiological profile and the main determinants of morbidity and mortality in noncardiac high surgical risk patients in Brazil. Methods This was a prospective, observational and multicenter study. All noncardiac surgical patients admitted to intensive care units, i.e., those considered high risk, within a 1-month period were evaluated and monitored daily for a maximum of 7 days in the intensive care unit to determine complications. The 28-day postoperative, intensive care unit and hospital mortality rates were evaluated. Results Twenty-nine intensive care units participated in the study. Surgeries were performed in 25,500 patients, of whom 904 (3.5%) were high-risk (95% confidence interval - 95%CI 3.3% - 3.8%) and were included in the study. Of the participating patients, 48.3% were from private intensive care units, and 51.7% were from public intensive care units. The length of stay in the intensive care unit was 2.0 (1.0 - 4.0) days, and the length of hospital stay was 9.5 (5.4 - 18.6) days. The complication rate was 29.9% (95%CI 26.4 - 33.7), and the 28-day postoperative mortality rate was 9.6% (95%CI 7.4 - 12.1). The independent risk factors for complications were the Simplified Acute Physiology Score 3 (SAPS 3; odds ratio - OR = 1.02; 95%CI 1.01 - 1.03) and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment Score (SOFA) on admission to the intensive care unit (OR = 1.17; 95%CI 1.09 - 1.25), surgical time (OR = 1.001, 95%CI 1.000 - 1.002) and emergency surgeries (OR = 1.93, 95%CI, 1.10 - 3.38). In addition, there were associations with 28-day mortality (OR = 1.032; 95%CI 1.011 - 1.052), SAPS 3 (OR = 1.041; 95%CI 1.107 - 1.279), SOFA (OR = 1.175, 95%CI 1.069 - 1.292) and emergency surgeries (OR = 2.509; 95%CI 1.040 - 6.051). Conclusion Higher prognostic scores, elderly patients, longer surgical times and emergency surgeries were strongly associated with higher 28-day mortality and more complications during the intensive care unit stay.
In‐stent neoatherosclerosis and tissue characteristics of restenotic lesions following implantation of second generation drug‐eluting stents in unrestricted coronary lesions: Optical frequency domain imaging study

BACKGROUND Differences in stent platform, polymer coatings, and antirestenotic drugs among the current in use second-generation drug-eluting stents (G2-DESs) may induce significant variations in neointimal response and vascular healing, which may impact the prevalence of neoatherosclerosis (NA) and morphological appearance of the restenotic tissue. METHODS AND RESULTS Utilizing Optical frequency domain imaging, two independent reviewers, retrospectively compared the prevalence of neoatherosclerosis (NA), and the morphological differences, and tissue characteristics of 50 G2-DESs in-stent restenosis (ISR) lesions (35 everolimus-eluting stent [22 cobalt-chromium (CoCr), 13 platinum-chromium (PtCr)], and 15 biolimus-eluting stent [BES]) implanted liberally in unrestricted coronary lesions. More than half of the stents were implanted in type C lesions, while 40% of the stents were implanted primarily in lesions with recanalized chronic total occlusion. NA, defined as a neointima formation with the presence of lipids or calcification, was observed in fewer than half (24/50) of all ISR lesions with no significant in-between group differences (41%, 69%, and 40% in CoCr, PtCr, and BES respectively, P = 0.22), nor were there any significant differences in the morphological appearance or tissue characteristics between all G2-DESs subtypes. CONCLUSIONS Acknowledging some limitations, our results may suggest that the prevalence of NA and the morphological appearance of restenotic lesions might not differ when G2-DESs are implanted in unrestricted, rather complex, coronary lesions.
BLAC: A Bindingless Architecture for Distributed SDN Controllers

Distributed controller architectures have been proposed for Software-Defined Networking (SDN) to ensure scalability and reliability. One major drawback of the existing architectures is the uneven load distribution among controllers stemming from the static binding between controllers and switches. To address this issue, several existing studies introduce dynamic binding by adopting some switch migration mechanisms that re-associate switches from overloaded controllers to underutilized controllers. However, the migration process adds a considerable amount of complexity to the system and may incur significant network latency. In this paper, we propose BLAC, a novel BindingLess Architecture for distributed Controllers (BLAC), in which load balance is achieved with the help of the proposed scheduling layer, which intercepts flow requests from switches and dispatches them to different controllers as determined by selected scheduling algorithms. The process is proceeded transparently with no extra modification required for off-the-shelf SDN switches. Besides, the scheduling layer can flexibly support various scheduling algorithms and causes neither disruption of service nor significant network delay. We build a prototype that can work with various distributed controller systems and conduct experiments to demonstrate its efficacy. The results show that our design outperforms the static-binding controller system in terms of both system throughput and response time without the complexity of the dynamic-binding controller system.
A case study at starnberger see for hyperspectral bathymetry mapping using inverse modeling

In coastal regions, hyperspectral remote sensing is becoming an established method to map water depth. For inland waters however, only few studies based on empirical methods have been published so far. This paper presents a study for the German lake Starnberger See using a physically based approach. Hyperspectral data were acquired from airplane using a HySpex VNIR-1600 sensor. They were processed by inverse modeling using a radiative-transfer based analytical model. In situ measurements were taken to decide which model parameters to fit and which to keep constant during data analysis, and they were used to initialize the parameters. Bottom reflectance was determined from the image itself. An echo sounding survey was undertaken for validation. For the studied area, bathymetry could be mapped up to a depth of 8 m with a rms error of 37 cm. Accuracies of 10–25 cm from 0–4 m and 35–65 cm from 4–8 m seem possible if the remaining systematic errors can be further reduced, e.g. by accounting for changes of bottom reflectance.
Duration and amplitude of the light-induced cGMP hydrolysis in vertebrate photoreceptors are regulated by multiple phosphorylation of rhodopsin and by arrestin binding.

The duration and amplitude of the light-induced cGMP hydrolysis in bovine rod outer segments were investigated using purified rhodopsin in nine different states of phosphorylation in a reconstituted system. Effects of varying amounts of arrestin at all states of rhodopsin phosphorylation were measured. The findings were the following: (1) At low bleaching levels, the activity of phosphodigesterase (PDE) depends strongly on the phosphorylation degree of the light-activated rhodopsin (R*), while at saturating light levels R* of all phosphorylation degrees activates PDE to the same extent. (2) The turnoff time for PDE is markedly shortened if R* is phosphorylated, independent of the number of phosphate groups incorporated into rhodopsin (P/R); i.e., the first phosphate which is bound to R* seems to be responsible for the shortened turnoff time. The lifetime of phosphorylated R* is shown to be dramatically reduced compared to that of unphosphorylated R*, as monitored by the ability of R* to activate PDE. (3) After activation with phosphorylated R*, addition of arrestin caused a further reduction of both the maximum activity and the turnoff time of PDE. Both effects were strongly dependent on (a) the phosphorylation degree of R*, (b) the concentration of arrestin, and (c) the concentration of R*. These results suggest that the light-induced phosphorylation of rhodopsin to different extents and the subsequent binding of arrestin are involved in the light adaptation and in the fine regulation of the light response in vertebrate photoreceptors.
Sensitivity simulation of surface acoustic wave ultraviolet detector by multi-physics method

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) ultraviolet (UV) detector uses a thin Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanowire sensing layer to detect the UV light. Since the sensing layer is a photo-conducting film, the sharp change of conductivity of it under UV light illumination becomes the most important factor affecting the propagation velocity of SAW due to the electric-acoustic interaction. The dependence of the SAW propagation velocity on the photo-conductivity of the sensing layer is simulated by multi-physics method and the results are presented and discussed. It is found that the propagation velocity of SAW decreases with increasing the conductivity of the thin ZnO nanowire sensing layer and vice versa. Thus, the sensitivity of the SAW UV detector, which is defined as the decrease of the central frequency under UV light illumination, is investigated using the suggested simulation model. It is found that the UV sensitivity is proportional to the designed frequency of S AW device as well as the thickness of sensing layer to some degree. However, an abnormal phenomenon that there is an UV sensitivity peak on the sensitivity-thickness curve with much larger range of sensing layer thickness will occur according to the simulation results. These simulation results can help optimizing and designing the SAW UV detector.
Impact of Maternal Smoking on Birth Size: Effect of Parity and Sex Dimorphism

Background: Maternal smoking during pregnancy causes a delay of intrauterine growth. Objective: To examine the effect of maternal smoking during pregnancy on fetal growth in relationship to maternal parity, age and number of cigarettes smoked/day, and offspring’s gender. Subjects: We studied 2,108 term newborns (1,102 male, 1,006 female) delivered at the General University Hospital of Patras from 1994 to 2004. The 1,443 were born to mothers who did not smoke and 665 to mothers who smoked during pregnancy. Methods: Birth weight, length and head circumference were measured prospectively in all newborns. Also, maternal smoking status and number of cigarettes smoked per day, age, and parity were recorded. For the analysis, t test, one-way ANOVA, Mann-Whitney U test, Spearman rank correlation, and factorial MANOVA with covariates were used. Results: With increasing parity, in the neonates of nonsmoking mothers there was a gradual increase of growth, whereas in neonates of smoking mothers there was a gradual decrease of growth. This effect was more pronounced in males. A significant negative main effect on growth resulted from the interaction of smoking with parity (p = 0.013), and with gender and parity (p = 0.001). There was a significant negative correlation between number of cigarettes smoked per day and growth, the strength of which increased with parity, mainly in males. Conclusion: Maternal smoking during pregnancy causes a delay in fetal growth, which is greater in male offspring, an effect that is enhanced with parity but is independent of maternal age.
Twenty four hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring: a new tool for determining cardiovascular prognosis

Twenty four hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (24-H ABPM) plays an important part in the management of subjects with suspected and confirmed disorders of blood pressure regulation. This article reviews the prognostic significance of various aspects of the 24-H ABPM and describes the authors experience in Chesterfield. Over the course of 12 month period from 1 August 2002, 1264 subjects had 24-ABPM. A total of 1187 (93.91%) subjects were included in this study, with mean age of 59.30 years and male:female ratio was 46%: 54 %. Fifty two (4.38%) of the subjects had all of the seven features associated with an adverse prognosis. Only 82 (6.90%) subjects had none of the seven adverse prognostic features with the remainder having one or more adverse prognostic features.
Quality of Life in Patients With Primary and Metastatic Brain Tumors in the Literature as Assessed by the FACT-Br

Background The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Brain (FACT-Br) is a quality of life (QOL) assessment tool that was originally developed for use in patients with primary brain tumors. However, the tool has also been used to assess QOL in patients with metastatic brain tumors. The purpose of this study is to compare the differences in QOL responses as assessed by the FACT-Br in patients with primary and metastatic brain neoplasms. Methods A systematic literature search was conducted using the OvidSP platform in MEDLINE (1946 to July Week 2 2012) and EMBASE (1980 to 2012 Week 28). Articles in which the FACT-Br was used as a QOL assessment for patients with malignant brain tumors (both primary and metastatic) were included in the study. The weighted means of FACT-Br subscale and overall scores were calculated for the studies. To compare these scores, weighted analysis of variance was conducted and PROC GLM was performed for the data. A P-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results A total of 23 studies (four in brain metastases, 18 in primary brain tumors and 1 in a mixed sample) using the FACT-Br for assessment of QOL were identified. Social and functional well-being were significantly better in patients with primary brain tumors (weighted mean score of 22.2 vs. 10.7, P = 0.0026, 16.9 vs. 6.2, P = 0.0025, respectively). No other scale of the FACT-Br was significantly different between the two groups and the performance status of patients included in both groups was similar. Conclusion Patients with primary brain cancer seemed to have better social and functional well-being scores than those with metastatic brain tumors. Other QOL domains were similar between these two groups. However, the heterogeneity in the included studies and the low sample size of included samples in patients with metastatic brain tumors could have confounded our findings.
Combining Representation Learning with Logic for Language Processing

The current state-of-the-art in many natural language processing and automated knowledge base completion tasks is held by representation learning methods which learn distributed vector representations of symbols via gradient-based optimization. They require little or no hand-crafted features, thus avoiding the need for most preprocessing steps and task-specific assumptions. However, in many cases representation learning requires a large amount of annotated training data to generalize well to unseen data. Such labeled training data is provided by human annotators who often use formal logic as the language for specifying annotations. This thesis investigates different combinations of representation learning methods with logic for reducing the need for annotated training data, and for improving generalization.
Cognitive style in bipolar disorder

Background Abnormalities of cognitive style in bipolar disorder are of both clinical and theoretical importance. Aims To compare cognitive style in people with affective disorders and in healthy controls. Method Self-rated questionnaires were administered to 118 individuals with bipolar I disorder, 265 with unipolar major recurrent depression and 268 healthy controls. Those with affective disorder were also interviewed using the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry and case notes were reviewed. Results Those with bipolar disorder and those with unipolar depression demonstrated different patterns of cognitive style from controls; negative self-esteem best discriminated between those with affective disorders and controls; measures of cognitive style were substantially affected by current levels of depressive symptomatology; patterns of cognitive style were similar in bipolar and unipolar disorder when current mental state was taken into account. Conclusions Those with affective disorder significantly differed from controls on measures of cognitive style but there were no differences between unipolar and bipolar disorders when current mental state was taken into account.
Performance analysis of LDPC codes with selection diversity combining over identical and non-identical rayleigh fading channels

Selection diversity combining employed in conjunction with low-density parity-check codes is able to mitigate the effects of fading. The closed-form bit-error rate expressions of this scheme over independent and non-identically distributed and independent and identically distributed flat Rayleigh fading channels are derived using the extrinsic information transfer chart and Gaussian approximation. The derived expressions are compared with simulation results as well as the Eb/N0 threshold using density evolution (DE). They are in good agreement with simulation results and have the advantage of reduced computational complexity over DE.