Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
[Relationship between genetic polymorphism of ERCC1 and susceptibility to liver cancer].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the association between genetic polymorphisms of ERCC1-C8092A and susceptibility to liver cancer, as well as the gene-environmental interaction on the etiology of liver cancer in Fuzhou. METHODS A case-control study was conducted to collect the information on environmental exposure while genetic polymorphism of ERCC1 was analyzed by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. General relative risk regression models were further applied to fit the interaction between genetic polymorphisms of ERCC1-C8092A and the environmental factors of liver cancer. RESULTS ERCC1-C8092A variant genotypes were associated with significant increasing risk of liver cancer adjusted odds ratio (OR = 3.789, 95%CI: 2.792 - 5.142), compared to the wild-type homozygote. Data from the analysis of interaction showed that genetic polymorphism of ERCC1-8092A appeared super-additive interaction with drinking pond-ditch or with hepatitis B, and super-multiplicative interaction with eating moldy food. CONCLUSION The point mutation in ERCC1-8092A was possibly susceptible to liver cancer, and related synergistically with other risk factors in hepatocelluar carcinogenesis in Fuzhou.
Pharmacological interaction of lorazepam with thiopentone sodium and skeletal neuromuscular blocking drugs.

Lorazepam (Wy 4036; 7-chloro-5-(O-chlorophenyl)-3-hydroxy-1,3-dihydro-2H-1,4benzodiazepin-2-one) is a highly active tranquillizing drug (Haider, 1971; Turner & Harry, 1971) which also has an application in preanaesthetic medication (Norris, 1971). In view of the recent reports by Feldman & Crawley (1970a, b) of a hazardous anaesthetic interaction of diazepam, experiments have been performed to investigate the pharmacological interactions of lorazepam with thiopentone and skeletal neuromuscular blocking drugs. In mice infused intravenously with thiopentone sodium, oral doses of lorazepam (0.1-10 mg/kg) reduced the time to induction of hypnosis and arrest of respiration. Furthermore, the duration of the loss of righting reflex after a single intravenous injection of thiopentone (50 mg/kg) was increased by lorazepam in doses of 1 25-6-25 mg/kg. Comparative tests with diazepam, meprobamate and glutethimide showed a similar enhancement of the effects of thiopentone. To investigate whether these effects represented a potentiating or an additive action of lorazepam with thiopentone, the effect of various dose combinations of the drugs on loss of righting reflex in mice was examined. The results indicated that lorazepam and thiopentone interacted to produce an effect greater than that expected from simple addition. Experiments in decerebrate cats in which contractions of the gastrocnemius muscles elicited by stimulation of the sciatic nerves were measured, showed that intravenous injection of lorazepam (0.5 and 2 mg/kg) or diazepam (0.5 and 2 mg/kg) failed to alter significantly the responses either to intravenous suxamethonium (10-50 pug/kg) or to intravenous gallamine (100-500 pg/kg). These animal experiments have shown no untoward pharmacological interactions when lorazepam or diazepam are combined with thiopentone or skeletal neuromuscular blocking drugs.
A differential lossless image compression scheme

A simple, easy to implement real-time lossless image coding algorithm which takes into account the pixel-to-pixel correlation in an image is presented. The algorithm has built-in limits to the variance in the size of the codewords, and seems to react robustly to mismatch between the assumed and actual statistics. Because of the limited dynamic range in codeword size it is not expected to have significant buffer overflow and underflow problems. Test results using this algorithm are presented. <<ETX>>
Diastolic heart failure after acute myocarditis, a new discovery in inflammatory cardiomyopathies?

Corvisart introduced the term ‘myocarditis’ in 1812,1 but it would take up to 1987 before the Dallas classification was accepted for standardising the diagnostic criteria.2 The gold standard for diagnosis now is endomyocardial biopsy (EMB), combining the Dallas criteria with immunohistochemistry for inflammation and PCR for the detection of viruses (reviewed in Dennert et al ),3 according to the 1995 WHO classification of cardiomyopathies.4 Of all patients with myocarditis 20% or more will develop dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM),5 which is induced by chronic inflammation or viral persistence after initial acute myocarditis (AMC). 6 A high prevalence of parvovirus B19 (PVB19), human herpes virus 6 or the combination of the two viruses exists in patients with ‘idiopathic’ DCM, suggesting that the persistence of these viruses may relate to a worse prognosis.3 5 6 The type of clinical presentation plays an important role in the prognosis; heart failure-like symptoms would have a higher mortality than infarct-like symptoms.5 Patients with recovered left ventricular ejection fraction are always thought to maintain their normalised cardiac function. They are discharged from follow-up or medical treatment, and data on the progression of cardiac function and long-term prognosis of these patients are lacking. The present study challenges this approach. The study by Escher et al ,7 published in this issue of Heart ( see page 709 ), prospectively studied 50 patients with AMC, which all underwent EMB irrespective of their cardiac function. They examined their …
Laparoscopic Splenectomy in a Minimal Resource Setting: A Case Series From the Caribbean

This study examines the perioperative outcome of laparoscopic splenectomy in a minimal resources setting in the Caribbean. Seventeen consecutive patients who underwent elective laparoscopic splenectomies by a single surgeon from August 2003 to December 2008 were studied. Data collected included patients' demographics, indications for surgery, operative time, complications, and outcome. 88% were females, the median age being 33.3 years. Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura was the most common indication (82%) in majority of the cases. Other indications included hereditary spherocytosis, hypersplenism, and metastatic disease. The mean operative time was 88.8 minutes and the mean hospital length of stay was 3.3 days. One case was converted to open splenectomy. Five patients experienced postoperative complications. There was no mortality. Despite limited blood banking facilities and hematology support, laparoscopic splenectomy may be safe in minimal resources setting, if cases are selected carefully and performed by an experienced surgeon with short operative times.
A fault-tolerant network-on-chip design using dynamic reconfiguration of partial-faulty routing resources

In this work, we propose a fault-tolerant framework for Network on Chips (NoC) to achieve maximum performance under fault. A fine-grained fault model is first introduced. Different from the traditional link or node NoC fault models which assume the faulty resource to be totally unfunctional, we distinguish the faulty components and handle them according to their fault classes. By doing so, we can avoid unnecessary partitioning of the network and hence achieve a higher connectivity under high fault rate. Two new dynamic reconfiguration schemes at the router level, namely Dynamic Buffer Swapping (DBS) and Dynamic MUX Swapping(DMS), are proposed to deal with the buffer and cross-bar faults accordingly, which are the main sources of failure in the router. In these schemes, the healthy resources in the router are maximally utilized to mitigate the faults. Experimental results show that we can achieve higher packet acceptance rate and lower latency compared with state-of-the-art fault-tolerant routing schemes.
Peripapillary glial cells in the chick retina: A special glial cell type expressing astrocyte, radial glia, neuron, and oligodendrocyte markers throughout development

Peripapillary glial cells of the chick are a special type of glia, not only because of their position, forming a boundary between the retina on one side and the optic nerve head (ONH) and the pecten on the other, but also because although they have the same orientation and similar shape as the retinal Müller cell (a type of radial glia) and express common markers for these cells and astrocytes, they do not express glutamine synthetase (GS) or carbonic anhydrase C (CA‐C), enzymes intensely expressed by Müller cells and astrocytes. In this study, we present further molecular characterization of these cells, using immunohistochemistry techniques. We show that peripapillary glial cells express a novel neuron antigen, 3BA8, that in the adult retina is located only in one neuron type (the amacrine cell) and in the inner plexiform layer (IPL). They also express an antigen specific to myelin and oligodendrocytes, MOSP, and a glial antigen, 3CB2, expressed by radial glia and astrocytes throughout the CNS. The study of the developmental expression of these three antigens in the peripapillary glial cell territory shows different spatiotemporal labeling patterns: 3CB2 and 3BA8 are expressed much earlier (embryonic days E3 and E5, respectively) than MOSP (E12), and during a developmental window (E6–E10) 3BA8 labels the peripapillary glial cells intensely and does not label the ONH or the optic nerve (ON), which are labeled later. The expression of 3CB2 is much more intense in the peripapillary glial cells than in Müller cells from early stages of development up to E16, and the expression of MOSP starts earlier in the peripapillary glial cells than in the Müller cells and is maintained with much higher intensity in the peripapillary glial cells throughout development. These findings show that Müller and peripapillary glial cells follow independent courses of differentiation, which together with the fact that the peripapillary glial cells express molecules typical of neurons, oligodendrocytes, radial glia, and astrocytes are evidence that peripapillary glial cells are a unique type of glia in the CNS. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Effect of Social Deprivation on Mortality and the Duration of Hospital Stay after a Stroke

Background: We aim to assess whether social deprivation independently predicts case fatality after a stroke patient has been admitted to hospital, and to assess whether social deprivation affected duration of hospital stay. Methods: Cohort study in a tertiary teaching hospital included consecutive patients admitted to hospital within 48 h of their stroke between 1988 and 1994. Outcome measures were case fatality at 1 year and length of hospital stay. The socioeconomiccategory was derived from the postcode sectorof residence for the patients (Carstairs index). Cause of death was determined by data linkage to the Registrar General data for Scotland. Results: 2,042 stroke patients were included. A significant age difference existed between the deprivation categories (76.0 ± 10.9 years in the affluent cohort vs. 71.4 ± 10.7 years in the deprived cohort). Smoking was more common in the deprived group. ECG findings and neurological score on admission were similar between the groups. No difference existed between groups for length of hospital stay (p = 0.793), and in the proportions remaining alive at 1 year (p = 0.416). When entered into a multivariate Cox regression analysis, the deprivation categories did not predict mortality. Age, sex, Philadelphia Geriatric Center Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) Scale Score, Orgogozo neurological score on admission, and ECG abnormalities were the significant predictors. Conclusions: Stroke patients living in more socially deprived areas had their strokes at an earlier age but were not at a greater risk of dying or longer hospital stay once they had been admitted to hospital.
Development and Evaluation of a Trapping System for Anoplophora glabripennis (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) in the United States

ABSTRACT Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), commonly known as the Asian longhorned beetle, is an invasive wood-boring pest that infests a number of hardwood species and causes considerable economic losses in North America, several countries in Europe, and in its native range in Asia. The success of eradication efforts may depend on early detection of introduced populations; however, detection has been limited to identification of tree damage (oviposition pits and exit holes), and the serendipitous collection of adults, often by members of the public. Here we describe the development, deployment, and evaluation of semiochemicalbaited traps in the greater Worcester area in Massachusetts. Over 4 yr of trap evaluation (2009–2012), 1013 intercept panel traps were deployed, 876 of which were baited with three different families of lures. The families included lures exhibiting different rates of release of the male-produced A. glabripennis pheromone, lures with various combinations of plant volatiles, and lures with both the pheromone and plant volatiles combined. Overall, 45 individual beetles were captured in 40 different traps. Beetles were found only in traps with lures. In several cases, trap catches led to the more rapid discovery and management of previously unknown areas of infestation in the Worcester county regulated area. Analysis of the spatial distribution of traps and the known infested trees within the regulated area provides an estimate of the relationship between trap catch and beetle pressure exerted on the traps. Studies continue to optimize lure composition and trap placement.
Arthritis and Rheumatism

Rheumatic complaints painful disability of joints and related connective tissue structures are estimated to cost this country £ 120,000,000 every year. They produce more disability than any other chronic disease, except bronchitis. In the year 1963-64 National Insurance certificates showed a loss of over 30 million working days. This figure represents a gross underestimate since those not requiring certificates are excluded. In the same year arthritis alone caused the loss of over 14 million working days in the male population. Many of these complaints cannot be avoided and treatment is often not curative. Nevertheless, accurate diagnosis and prompt treatment can undoubtedly reduce the total disability, whether physical, social or economic.
Accessibility of alcohol-related attitudes: a cross-lag panel model with young adults.

BACKGROUND In the alcohol literature, most cognition research has focused on alcohol expectancies. Overall scores on alcohol expectancy questionnaires predict longitudinal changes in drinking behavior. However, the association between expectancy subscale scores and drinking behavior is inconsistent and modest. Attitudinal information may vary in accessibility (i.e., the ease or speed with which attitudinal information is evaluated), and more accessible (i.e., faster) attitudinal evaluations may predict heavier alcohol consumption. An alternative hypothesis arising from response competition theory is that heavy drinkers will show slow attitudinal evaluations, given that heavy drinkers frequently show mixed, inconsistent, or opposing alcohol-related beliefs. In this study we examined the degree to which speed of processing of alcohol-related evaluative judgments longitudinally predicted alcohol consumption in university students. METHODS Response latencies for alcohol- and non-alcohol-related attitudinal inquiries and measures of alcohol use were administered at two intervals 4 months apart. RESULTS The key findings were that response times for tension reduction and cognitive impairment items at time 1 positively predicted alcohol consumption at time 2. These results held after we accounted for autocorrelation in drinking and individual variability in reactivity. CONCLUSION For items relating to tension reduction, response times fit a response competition hypothesis better than the attitude accessibility hypothesis.
Feline immunodeficiency virus vectors. Gene transfer to mouse retina following intravitreal injection

Transduction of the murine retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) with adenovirus vectors requires technically difficult and invasive subretinal injections. This study tested the hypothesis that recombinant vectors based on feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) could access the retina following intravitreal injection.
Increasing Incidence, Cost, and Seasonality in Patients Hospitalized for Cellulitis

Abstract Using data from the National Inpatient Sample, 1998–2013, we show that hospitalizations for cellulitis have approximately doubled. Costs increased by 118% to $3.74 billion annually. In addition, hospitalizations for cellulitis are highly seasonal, peaking in summer months: incidence during the peak month of July is 35% higher than in February.
Weight optimization in H∞ loop-shaping control and applications

The primary objective of this thesis is to leverage on the framework of H? loop-shaping control to formulate efficient and powerful optimization algorithms in LMI framework for the synthesis of performance loop-shaping weights. The H? loop-shaping design procedure is an efficient controller synthesis technique that combines classical loop-shaping concepts with H? synthesis. This procedure establishes a good tradeoff between robust stability and robust performance of a closed-loop system in a systematic manner. However, the selection of pre- and/or post-compensators, a crucial step in the design procedure, is nontrivial as factors such as the right half plane poles/zeros of the nominal plant, roll-off rate around the crossover frequency, strength of cross-coupling in multi-input multi-output systems, expected bandwidth, etc. must be adequately considered.Firstly, a frequency-dependent weight optimization framework is formulated in state-space form in order to remove the dependency on frequency while retaining the objective of maximizing the robust stability margin of a closed-loop system. This formulation facilitates the synthesis of low-order controllers, which is desirable from an implementation perspective.A weight optimization framework that incorporates smoothness constraints in order to prevent the cancellation of important modes of the system, for example, lightly damped poles/zeros of flexible structures, is subsequently formulated. The proposed formulation is intuitive from a design perspective as the smoothness constraints are expressed as gradient constraints on a log-log scale in dB/decade, consistent with the notation used in Bode plot for single-input single-output systems and singular value plots for multi-input multi-output systems.Thereafter, an optimization framework that maximizes the robust performance of a closed-loop system is presented. The philosophy in this framework is in line with practical design objectives that give the best achievable robust performance on a particular problem once a level of robust stability margin is demanded.Lastly, a novel unmanned vehicle is proposed. The vehicle uses a full six-degree-of-freedom tri-rotor actuation, capable of fully decoupled thrust and torque vectoring in all the 3D space. This vehicle can act as an unmanned ground vehicle or unmanned aerial vehicle, but the objective herein is restricted to the upright stability of the vehicle while operating on the ground as this is a precursor to rolling motion. The full nonlinear model of the vehicle is derived and linearized for subsequent controller synthesis, and this is thereafter validated by means of numerical simulations.
Effects of a loading dose regimen of three infusions of chimeric monoclonal antibody to tumour necrosis factor α (infliximab) in spondyloarthropathy: an open pilot study

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy and safety of a loading dose regimen of three intravenous infusions with infliximab in patients with active spondyloarthropathy. METHODS A monocentre, open-label pilot study of 21 patients with different subtypes of spondyloarthropathy was conducted. Treatment resistant patients with active disease (fulfilling inclusion criteria) received three infusions of 5 mg/kg infliximab (at weeks 0, 2, and 6). Standard clinical assessments were performed at baseline, and on days 3, 7, and 14, and from then on every two weeks. In patients who fulfilled criteria for ankylosing spondylitis, axial assessment was performed at baseline and on days 14, 42, and 84. RESULTS In all global assessments (visual analogue scale of patient global assessment, patient pain assessment, doctor global assessment), erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and C reactive protein, a highly significant decrease could be seen already at day 3 (compared with baseline), which was maintained up to day 84. In patients with peripheral disease (n=18), tender and swollen joint count significantly decreased. In patients with axial disease (n=11), functional and disease activity indices significantly improved. Moreover in eight patients with psoriatic arthritis a significant decrease of the psoriasis area and severity index was observed. The treatment was well tolerated in all patients; no significant adverse events were seen. CONCLUSION In this open-label pilot study of a loading dose regimen of three infusions of chimeric monoclonal antibody to tumour necrosis factor α in patients with active spondyloarthropathy, there was a fast and significant improvement of axial and peripheral articular manifestations, without major adverse experiences.
Free Dimensions-An Effective Approach to Achieving Fault Tolerance in Hypercubes

Hypercube network is an attractive structure for parallel processing due to its symmetry and regularity. We use the concept of free dimensions to achieve fault tolerance in hypercubes without requiring additional spare processing nodes; such additional redundancy requires modification of hypercube structure. A free dimension is defined to be a dimension across which both end nodes are not faulty. Given an n-dimensional hypercube, Qn, and a set of f/spl les/n faulty nodes, we present an efficient algorithm to find free dimensions, and show that at least n-f+1 free dimensions exist. Free dimensions can be used to partition Q/sub n/ into subcubes such that each subcube contains at most one fault. Such a partitioning helps in achieving fault tolerance via emulation, embedding, reconfiguration. It also helps in designing efficient routing and broadcasting algorithms in faulty hypercubes. >
Inductance improvement by using artificial magnetic conductor surfaces

In this paper, application of artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) surfaces for increasing the inductance of printed inductors is investigated through fullwave simulations. Two AMC structures are designed that have periodic (design A) and non-periodic (design B) spiral geometries. They exhibit multiple resonance frequencies thereby providing AMC operation at multiple frequency bands. Inclusion of these surfaces underneath a simple loop inductor yields inductance enhancement by 53.7% and 63.6% for design A and design B, respectively. As a result of this method, multiple regions of inductance increase appear in the inductance plot. It is also observed that quality factor is reduced in comparison to the standard inductor case at the regions of AMC operation. This can be minimized by adjusting the operation frequency but at the expense of a less significant inductance enhancement.