Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis of a corrugated coaxial waveguide resonator for mode rarefaction in a gyrotron

The analysis of a coaxial waveguide resonator with its central conductor corrugated with wedge-shaped slots, considering space harmonic effects due to slot periodicity, was used to study the problem of mode competition in a gyrotron. A more positive slope of the plot of the eigenvalue versus the ratio of the waveguide wall to outer slot radii (coaxial parameter) for the desired mode, typically, TE/sub 8,4/ as compared to the corresponding slopes for the competing modes formed a basis for the study of mode separation. Considering the aspect of mode separation on the basis of the relative slopes of the eigenvalue plot and that of mode degeneracy, a tradeoff was made to select the slot depth at a value intermediate between the values corresponding to the narrow and deeper slots. For the slot depth parameter selected, one may find the coaxial parameter, around which to taper the structure cross section, for mode separation on the basis of relative slopes of the eigenvalue plot, avoiding, at the same time, the region of the mode degeneracy. The analysis and interpretation of results for mode separation with reference to the typical mode TE/sub 8,4/ chosen is extendible to higher modes as well, which was exemplified with reference to the typical higher order TE/sub 12,4/ and TE/sub 27,11/ modes.
Experimental efficacy of an everolimus eluting cobalt chromium stent

Introduction: Rapamycin and its analogs are now being coated on different stent platforms, using different polymer matrices to prevent restenosis by impairing vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and neointimal formation. Methods: We evaluated the feasibility and compared the efficacy of biostable polymeric everolimus and sirolimus (CYPHER®, Cordis) eluting stents in a porcine coronary model. Cobalt chromium balloon expandable stents (ML VISION®, Guidant) were coated with a polymer containing everolimus (190 μg/cm2). Twelve pigs underwent placement of 36 oversized sirolimus (n = 12), everolimus (n = 12), and bare metal (cobalt chromium, n = 12) stents in the coronary arteries. Results: At day 28, vessel injury scores were low (<0.25) and similar between each of the three test groups. The mean neointimal thickness was significantly lower in the everolimus‐ (0.13 ± 0.07 mm, P = 0.02) and sirolimus‐eluting stents (0.13 ± 0.08 mm, P = 0.04) versus the bare metal stents (0.20 ± 0.07 mm). The mean percent area stenosis was similar for the everolimus‐eluting stents [(20.8 ± 6.9)%] and the sirolimus‐eluting stents [(20.8 ± 7.6)%], and each was significantly less than that of bare metal stents [(26.1 ± 7.8)%, P = 0.05]. Conclusion: Stent‐based delivery of sirolimus and everolimus delivered via durable polymeric matrices are equally effective in the suppression of neointimal formation at day 28 in the porcine coronary model. Further study is necessary to document dose response and long‐term comparative effects of these drug‐eluting stents. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Risk Factors for Venous Thrombotic Disease

Introduction Venous thrombosis occurs in about 1 per 1,000 individuals per year.1,2 It usually affects the deep veins of the leg, but may occur in other sites, such as the upper extremities, cerebral sinus, liver and portal veins, or retinal veins. It also may occur in the superficial veins, usually in the leg. The predilection of thrombosis occurring in the leg is the result of the upright position of man, with the resulting slow antigravitational flow of blood in the veins of the leg. Embolization occurs when parts of the clot dislodge and are transported by the blood flow, usually through the heart to the vasculature of the lungs.3 Thrombosis is a serious disorder. It may be fatal by pulmonary embolism, although this is rare (case fatality rate of venous thrombosis is estimated at 1% to 2%). A common, and often disabling, consequence of deep vein thrombosis is postthrombotic syndrome, with symptoms ranging from discoloration to pain and ulceration.4 Because thrombosis is not very rare and often has serious consequences, prophylactic treatment is focussed on preventing first events and recurrences through adequate knowledge about risks and risk factors.5
Trophic cycling and carbon export relationships in the California Current Ecosystem

We constructed a simple non–steady‐state model of trophic cycling relationships in the California Current Ecosystem and tested its predictions of mesozooplankton fecal‐pellet export against vertical carbon‐flux measurements by the 234Th method taken during Lagrangian experiments. To assess trophic relationships, we simultaneously measured 14C‐primary production and chlorophyll‐based rate estimates of phytoplankton growth, microzooplankton grazing, mesozooplankton grazing, and net phytoplankton growth. Study locations ranged from coastal upwelling to offshore oligotrophic conditions. E‐ratios (carbon export : 14C‐primary production) predicted by the model ranged from 0.08 to 0.14, in good agreement with both the magnitude and the variability found in contemporaneous measurements of 234Th export and C : 234Th‐ratios of sinking particles. E‐ratios were strongly decoupled from new production estimates. The lowest measured and predicted e‐ratios were associated with higher nutrient chlorophyll parcels with net accumulating phytoplankton in the inshore region. For our study sites, variability in export efficiency was determined by the local net balance of growth and grazing and the relative strengths of grazing pathways to microzooplankton and mesozooplankton. Despite very different plankton assemblages studied, the consistently good agreement between independently measured production‐grazing processes and biogeochemical rates suggest that zooplankton are the major drivers of vertical carbon‐flux in this system during springtime.
Molecular Epidemiology of Meningococci Isolated in Niger in 2003 Shows Serogroup A Sequence Type (ST)-7 and Serogroup W135 ST-11 or ST-2881 Strains

ABSTRACT In 2003, in the Zinder and Maradi regions (Niger), epidemics were due to serogroup A:4:P1.9 meningococci belonging to sequence type 7 (ST-7). In Niamey, only sporadic cases were reported: 55% of the meningococcus strains were in serogroup A, and 38% were in serogroup W135 and could be placed in ST-11, identical to the 2002 Burkina Faso epidemic clone, and in ST-2881, a new ST.
Rho-ROCK Signal Pathway Regulates Microtubule-Based Process Formation of Cultured Podocytes – Inhibition of ROCK Promoted Process Elongation

Background: Podocytes, renal glomerular visceral epithelial cells, have two kinds of processes, namely major processes containing microtubules (MTs) and foot processes with actin filaments (AFs). The present study investigated how MTs are organized by the Rho-ROCK signal transduction pathway during process formation of podocytes. Method: After induction of differentiation, podocytes of the conditionally immortalized mouse cell line were treated with Y-27632, a specific inhibitor of ROCK, and exoenzyme C3, an inhibitor of RhoA, as well as with forskolin whose effects include inhibition of RhoA, in order to inhibit the Rho-ROCK pathway. Results: Inhibition of ROCK significantly enhanced the formation of thick processes containing MT bundles. Y-27632 promoted process formation even in the presence of latrunculin A which disrupts AFs, strongly suggesting that ROCK directly regulates MT assembly. Treatment with Y-27632 increased MT stability, and stabilized MTs preferentially localized in podocyte processes. Moreover, when treated with a combination of Y-27632 and forskolin, and with Y-27632 and C3 as well, podocytes developed not only MT-based thick processes but also AF-based thin projections. Conclusions: These data indicate a contribution of ROCK in MT organization to promote podocyte process formation, although it was originally thought to regulate AF assembly. AF-based thin projections seem to be induced mainly by inhibition of RhoA and ROCK. The present study reveals a significant role of the Rho-ROCK signal pathway in the reorganization of both MTs and AFs during process formation of podocytes.
Polyclonal versus monoclonal immunoglobulin-free light chains quantification

Background The clinical usefulness of the serum-free light chain assays has expanded since their first description, and further applications other than plasma cell dyscrasia are emerging. Currently, we have the ability to perform the measurements with two certified methods: the Freelite™ assay (The Binding Site Ltd, Birmingham, UK) and the new N Latex free-light chain assay (Siemens, Germany). In the present study, we investigated the impact of free light chain concentrations and structures on their quantification, performed with both tests. Methods A total of 524 serum samples from 497 patients from our routine laboratory were analysed with the Freelite™ and the N Latex free light chain assay. The results were compared in two subgroups: with or without monoclonal component. Twenty-four samples were subsequently investigated for the presence of dimeric and monomeric free light chain with sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and densitometric quantification. Results Methods comparison showed that the Pearson rank correlation coefficients were 0.90 for polyclonal k and 0.91 for polyclonal λ free light chain. Conversely for monoclonal immunoglobulins, the Pearson rank correlation coefficient was lower with 0.82 for kM >500 mg/L and 0.56 for λM >500 mg/L. Furthermore, densitometric quantification of the involved monoclonal free light chains showed that both assays do not reflect the Coomassie-stained protein mass. Conclusion Samples containing high amounts of a single pathologic free light chain may not be considered like a sample containing a sum of different polyclonal free light chains. Indeed, free light chain dimerization leads to different scatter efficiency of macromolecular complexes.
A new development of triterpene acid‐containing extracts from Viscum album L. displays synergistic induction of apoptosis in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

Objectives: Aqueous Viscum album L. extracts are widely used for anti‐cancer therapies. Due to their low solubility, triterpenes (which are known to act on cancers), do not occur in aqueous extracts in significant amounts. Using cyclodextrins, we have found it possible to solubilize mistletoe triterpene acids and to determine their effects on acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in vitro and in vivo.
Automatic detection of diabetic foot complications with infrared thermography by asymmetric analysis

Abstract. Early identification of diabetic foot complications and their precursors is essential in preventing their devastating consequences, such as foot infection and amputation. Frequent, automatic risk assessment by an intelligent telemedicine system might be feasible and cost effective. Infrared thermography is a promising modality for such a system. The temperature differences between corresponding areas on contralateral feet are the clinically significant parameters. This asymmetric analysis is hindered by (1) foot segmentation errors, especially when the foot temperature and the ambient temperature are comparable, and by (2) different shapes and sizes between contralateral feet due to deformities or minor amputations. To circumvent the first problem, we used a color image and a thermal image acquired synchronously. Foot regions, detected in the color image, were rigidly registered to the thermal image. This resulted in 97.8%±1.1% sensitivity and 98.4%±0.5% specificity over 76 high-risk diabetic patients with manual annotation as a reference. Nonrigid landmark-based registration with B-splines solved the second problem. Corresponding points in the two feet could be found regardless of the shapes and sizes of the feet. With that, the temperature difference of the left and right feet could be obtained.
Evaluation of Asthma Management Policies in New York City Public Schools

The aim of this study was to investigate asthma management policies and protocols in Bronx, New York, public elementary schools in light of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Resolution on Asthma Management in Schools. An anonymous survey was conducted in November 2001 of principals, teachers, counselors, and nurses at five Bronx elementary schools. The response rate was 62%, and the majority of respondents (84%) were teachers; 51% of respondents learned of a student's asthma only through informal conversation with the student or parent, 28% said they were usually not informed of a student's asthma status, and only 10% learned of a child's asthma through existing school protocols; 21% of respondents did not know whom in the school was responsible for supervising the health needs of children with asthma, and 30% did not know how asthma inhalers were supposed to be handled at their school. Only 1.6% of teachers were “very familiar” with Board of Education asthma policies. The results are interpreted as showing poor adherence to the NHLBI recommendations. They also reflect a lack of consistent strategies for communication of a child's asthma diagnosis and for management of the disease in the schools. Ongoing efforts to improve asthma management in public schools through teacher education and policy development should be supported and evaluated for outcomes in teacher knowledge and student health.
Language and thought in schizophrenia.

Introducing a new hobby for other people may inspire them to join with you. Reading, as one of mutual hobby, is considered as the very easy hobby to do. But, many people are not interested in this hobby. Why? Boring is the reason of why. However, this feel actually can deal with the book and time of you reading. Yeah, one that we will refer to break the boredom in reading is choosing language and thought in schizophrenia as the reading material.
Optimism and Burnout in Competitive Sport

*rd , 2013; revised August 21 st , 2013; accepted September 16 th , 2013 Copyright © 2013 Rosendo Berengui et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between optimism and burnout in the context of athletic competition. The sample was composed of 227 athletes that competed in wrestling at Spain’s national level. For the assessment of constructs, the Spanish version by Otero et al. (1998) of the Life Orientation Test (LOT-R) was utilized, as well as the Inventario de Burnout para Deportistas (IBD), which was an adaptation for athletic populations by Garces de Los Fayos (1999) of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) (Maslach & Jackson, 1981). The results demonstrate a relationship between optimism and the three dimensions of burnout, in which the athletes who are more optimistic demonstrate less emotional exhaustion, less depersonalization, and a greater perception of personal accomplishment in their athletic performance.
Recombinant FVIIa in the management of uncontrolled hemorrhage

BACKGROUND: Recombinant FVIIa (rFVIIa/NovoSeven) is a novel hemostatic agent originally developed to treat patients with hemophilia who had developed inhibitors. Several case reports have suggested that rFVIIa may be effective in treating patients without a pre‐existing bleeding disorder who have uncontrolled bleeding.
Highly accurate fast lung CT registration

Lung registration in thoracic CT scans has received much attention in the medical imaging community. Possible applications range from follow-up analysis, motion correction for radiation therapy, monitoring of air flow and pulmonary function to lung elasticity analysis. In a clinical environment, runtime is always a critical issue, ruling out quite a few excellent registration approaches. In this paper, a highly efficient variational lung registration method based on minimizing the normalized gradient fields distance measure with curvature regularization is presented. The method ensures diffeomorphic deformations by an additional volume regularization. Supplemental user knowledge, like a segmentation of the lungs, may be incorporated as well. The accuracy of our method was evaluated on 40 test cases from clinical routine. In the EMPIRE10 lung registration challenge, our scheme ranks third, with respect to various validation criteria, out of 28 algorithms with an average landmark distance of 0.72 mm. The average runtime is about 1:50 min on a standard PC, making it by far the fastest approach of the top-ranking algorithms. Additionally, the ten publicly available DIR-Lab inhale-exhale scan pairs were registered to subvoxel accuracy at computation times of only 20 seconds. Our method thus combines very attractive runtimes with state-of-the-art accuracy in a unique way.
Credit Supply Shocks and Economic Activity in a Financial Accelerator Model

This paper uses the canonical New Keynesian macroeconomic model—augmented with the standard financial accelerator mechanism—to study the extent to which disruptions in financial markets can account for U.S. economic fluctuations during the 1985–2009 period. The key feature of the model is that financial shocks drive a wedge between the required return on capital and the safe rate of return on household savings. A widening of this wedge causes a decline in investment spending and a worsening in the quality of borrowers’ balance sheets, factors that lead to a mutually-reinforcing deterioration in financial conditions. We employ the methodology developed by Gilchrist and Zakraǰsek [2011b] to construct a measure of distress in the financial sector, which is used to simulate the model. Our simulations indicate that an intensification of financial stresses implies a sharp widening of credit spreads, a significant slowdown in economic activity, a decline in short-term interest rates, and a persistent disinflation. Moreover, such financial market disruptions account for the bulk of contraction in U.S. economic activity that occurred during the last three recessions; these disturbances also generate the investment booms that characterized the 1995–2000 and 2003–06 periods. We also consider the potential benefits of a monetary policy rule that allows the short-term nominal rate to respond to changes in financial conditions as measured by movements in credit spreads. We show that such a spreadaugmented policy rule can effectively damp the negative consequences of financial disruptions on real economic activity. JEL Classification: E30, E44, E52
A newly thermoactive and detergent‐stable lipase from annular sea bream (Diplodus annularis): Biochemical properties

A lipolytic activity was located in the annular seabream pyloric caeca, from which a digestive lipase (AsDL) was purified. Pure AsDL has an apparent molecular mass of 50 kDa. The purified lipase is thermoactive as it displays its maximal activity on short‐ and long‐chain triacylglycerols at a temperature of 50 °C. The enzyme is alkaline resistant as it retains 90% of its maximal activity when incubated during 1 H at pH 10. No colipase was detected in the annular seabream pyloric caeca. Similar results were reported for the sardine and the gray mullet digestive systems. This is in line with the idea that colipase might have evolved in mammal animals simultaneously with the appearance of an exocrine pancreas. AsDL is a serine enzyme, like all known lipases from different origins. Interestingly, the pure lipase was found to be insensitive to Triton X‐100, a synthetic detergent, addition even at a concentration as high as 12 mM. The purified enzyme has potential applications in detergent and food industry because of its thermal activity and alkaline nature.
Respiratory practitioners' experience of end-of-life discussions in COPD.

UNLABELLED The importance of palliative care and implementing end-of-life tools nationally is well recognized, yet inequalities in care between patients with malignant and non-malignant disease are well documented. There is little evidence that open discussions regarding end-of-life decision-making are taking place routinely with patients who have non-malignant disease, so it seemed appropriate to investigate health professionals' perspectives. AIM This study aimed to explore and provide insight into respiratory health professionals' experiences of their discussions with patients with life-limiting chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHOD A qualitative phenomenology approach was used. In-depth, face-to-face interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of three respiratory nurses, two lung cancer nurse specialists, and two respiratory physicians. FINDINGS The seven in-depth interviews were thematically analysed so that the data could be categorized. The themes that emerged were: choosing the right time; the skill of picking up and receiving cues; deciding when, what and how to tell; boundaries to discussion; and working with emotions. CONCLUSIONS The main findings highlighted the difference in approach in discussions between patients with cancer and those with non-malignant disease. The emotional phenomena that emerged could have significant implications for clinical practice. The findings suggest that the emotional dimension plays a crucial part in engaging with patients and involving them in end-of-life care planning.
Monitoring of blood gas parameters and acid-base balance of pregnant and non-pregnant rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in routine experimental conditions

Blood gas parameters and acid-base balance values were determined in adult pregnant New Zealand rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in standard laboratory housing conditions and during anaesthesia with an association of ketamine-chlorpromazine, administered before surgical procedures. All the variables were also studied in adult non-pregnant female, used as controls. No differences in pH, sO2c, O2Hb, COHb, sO2m and a-vDO2 were found between pregnant and non-pregnant rabbits in physiological conditions and during anaesthesia. Ketamine-chlorpromazine and pregnancy seemed to change the other parameters used to assess the acid-base balance and the oxygenation conditions. Anaesthesia affected only Hb, O2Ct, O2Cap, CcO2 and P50. The additive effect of pregnancy and anaesthesia modified pCO2, pO2, HCO3-, TCO2, BEb, SBC, BEecf, A-aDO2, RI, MetHb, RHb, CaO2 and CvO2. The patterns described are close to those of other species, suggesting the New Zealand rabbit might be a reliable animal model for monitoring selected variables.