Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Outcome in high risk patients with unprotected left main coronary artery stenosis treated with percutaneous coronary intervention

Objective: We examined mortality, risk of myocardial infarction (MI), and target lesion revascularization (TLR) in high‐risk patients with unprotected left main (LM) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in Western Denmark. Background: PCI of left main coronary artery lesions may be an alternative to coronary artery bypass grafting in high‐risk surgical patients. Methods: From January 2005 to May 2007, all patients who had unprotected LM PCI with stent implantation were identified in the Western Denmark Heart Registry. The indications for PCI were: (1) ST segment elevation MI (STEMI), (2) non‐STEMI (NSTEMI) or unstable angina, and (3) stable angina. All patients were followed up for 18 months. Results: A total of 344 patients were treated with LM PCI (STEMI: 71, NSTEMI/unstable angina: 157, and stable angina: 116). In STEMI patients, the median logistic EuroSCORE was 22.5 (interquartile range 12.5–39.5), in non‐STEMI (NSTEMI)/unstable angina patients 13.8 (4.8–23.9), and in stable angina patients 4.8 (2.2–10.4). Mortality after 18 months 38.0, 18.5, and 11.2% (P < 0.001) in patients with STEMI, NSTEMI/unstable angina, and stable angina, respectively. MI after 18 months was 9.9, 6.4, and 6.0% (P = ns), respectively. Four subacute and one late definite stent thrombosis were seen. TLR occurred in 5.6, 4.5, and 6.9% (P = ns) of patients, respectively. Conclusion: After PCI, patients with STEMI and LM culprit lesion have a high‐mortality risk, whereas long‐term outcome for patients with NSTEMI and stable angina pectoris is comparable with other high surgical risk patients with unprotected left main lesion. Further, TLR rates and risk of stent thrombosis were low. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
OKT3 Therapy in Addition to Tacrolimus Is Associated with Improved Long-Term Function in Patients with Steroid Refractory Renal Allograft Rejection

Background/Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate long-term allograft salvage rates of patients with steroid refractory allograft rejection after kidney transplantation and to identify factors indicating a successful outcome. Patients and Methods: Fifty patients with continuing rejection after high-dose steroids were included in the study. Baseline immunosuppression was switched from cyclosporine to tacrolimus in all patients. Twenty patients additionally received OKT3 as antirejection therapy. Patients having received a cadaveric renal transplant in 1995, excluding patients with steroid resistant rejection, were chosen as a control cohort. Results: Patient survival rates were 96% (n = 48) and 90% (n = 45) and allograft survival rates were 66% (n = 33) and 62% (n = 31) after 5 and 7 years following steroid refractory renal allograft rejection. Graft survival within the control cohort was 73% after 5 years and 69% after 7 years. Creatinine clearance increased from 20 ± 15 ml/min/1.73 m2 at the start of tacrolimus therapy to 37 ± 29 ml/min/1.73 m2 and to 32 ± 26 ml/min/1.73 m2 after 5 and 7 years. OKT3 treatment predicted successful rescue therapy (p = 0.005 and p = 0.04 after 5 and 7 years). Conclusion: Our data indicate a reasonable graft survival in steroid refractory renal allograft rejection using tacrolimus. OKT3 treatment in addition to tacrolimus therapy may be beneficial for long-term allograft survival.
Esthetic outcome of implant-supported single-tooth replacements assessed by the patient and by prosthodontists.

PURPOSE The objective of this study was to assess and compare patients' and clinicians' judgments of the esthetic outcome of implant-supported single-tooth replacements. MATERIALS AND METHODS In all, 29 patients with 41 single implant-supported crowns in the maxillary anterior region participated in the study. The esthetic outcome of the implant-supported crowns was assessed by the patients and by 5 prosthodontists by means of a questionnaire in which various esthetics-related variables were addressed and responded to using visual analogue scales. Multiple regression analyses were used to evaluate the influence of the variables on the "overall satisfaction" with the implant-supported crown. RESULTS Most variables in the patients' assessments revealed mean values above 90% and median values close to 100%. No single factor used in the multiple regression analysis was found to influence a patient's satisfaction with appearance of the crown at a statistically significant level. The clinicians' degree of satisfaction was for all variables lower than that of the patients. In 89% of the cases the clinicians could correctly locate the single implant-supported crown. Among the variables assessed, surrounding soft tissue appearance and form of the crown had the strongest influence on the clinician's overall satisfaction with the appearance of the crown. CONCLUSION Appreciation of the esthetic outcome of the single implant-supported crowns was rated higher by the patients than by the prosthodontists. Furthermore, factors considered by professionals to be of significance for the esthetic result of the restorative treatment may not be of decisive importance for the patient's satisfaction.
Leveraging the urban soundscape: Auditory perception for smart vehicles

Urban environments are characterised by the presence of distinctive audio signals which alert the drivers to events that require prompt action. The detection and interpretation of these signals would be highly beneficial for smart vehicle systems, as it would provide them with complementary information to navigate safely in the environment. In this paper, we present a framework that spots the presence of acoustic events, such as horns and sirens, using a two-stage approach. We first model the urban soundscape and use anomaly detection to identify the presence of an anomalous sound, and later determine the nature of this sound. As the audio samples are affected by copious non-stationary and unstructured noise, which can degrade classification performance, we propose a noise-removal technique to obtain a clean representation of the data we can use for classification and waveform reconstruction. The method is based on the idea of analysing the spectrograms of the incoming signals as images and applying spectrogram segmentation to isolate and extract the alerting signals from the background noise. We evaluate our framework on four hours of urban sounds collected driving around urban Oxford on different kinds of road and in different traffic conditions. When compared to traditional feature representations, such as Mel-frequency cepstrum coefficients, our framework shows an improvement of up to 31% in the classification rate.
Multiple classes of stem cells in cutaneous epithelium: a lineage analysis of adult mouse skin

Continuous renewal of the epidermis and its appendages throughout life depends on the proliferation of a distinct population of cells called stem cells. We have used in situ retrovirus‐mediated gene transfer to genetically mark cutaneous epithelial stem cells of adolescent mice, and have followed the fate of the marked progeny after at least 37 epidermal turnovers and five cycles of depilation‐induced hair growth. Histological examination of serial sections of labeled pilosebaceous units demonstrated a complex cell lineage. In most instances, labeled cells were confined to one or more follicular compartments or solely to sebaceous glands. Labeled keratinocytes in interfollicular epidermis were confined to distinct columnar units representing epidermal proliferative units. The contribution of hair follicles to the epidermis was limited to a small rim of epidermis at the margin of the follicle, indicating that long term maintenance of interfollicular epidermis was independent of follicle‐derived cells. Our results indicate the presence of multiple stem cells in cutaneous epithelium, some with restricted lineages in the absence of major injury.
Exercise augments weight loss induced improvement in renal function in obese metabolic syndrome individuals

Objective Metabolic syndrome (MetS) obesity is an independent risk factor for chronic kidney disease. This study was conducted to examine the effects of lifestyle interventions on renal parameters and putative metabolic, neuroadrenergic and hemodynamic mediators of renal injury. Methods Untreated men and women (mean age 55 ± 1 years; BMI 32.7 ± 0.6 kg/m2) without pre-existing renal dysfunction, who fulfilled MetS criteria were randomized to dietary weight loss (WL, n = 13), weight loss combined with aerobic exercise (WL + EX, n = 13), or no treatment (control, n = 12). Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), 24 h urinary albumin excretion, plasma renin activity (PRA), muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), baroreflex sensitivity (BRS), anthropometric, metabolic and fitness variables were measured at baseline and week 12. Results Body weight decreased by −8.2 ± 0.8% in the WL and −10.7 ± 0.9% in the WL + EX groups (both P < 0.001). Fitness (maximal oxygen consumption) increased by 15 ± 5% and BRS by 5.5 ± 2.4 ms/mmHg in the WL + EX group only (P < 0.05). Serum creatinine decreased by −8.1 ± 4.8%, (WL, P = 0.016) and −14.9 ± 3.0% (WL + EX, P < 0.001). Estimated GFR increased commensurately but the increment was greater in the WL + EX group (P = 0.04). Albuminuria (P < 0.05) and MSNA (P < 0.001) decreased similarly in both groups, whereas PRA, high sensitivity C-reactive protein, uric acid and DBP decreased only in the WL + EX group (all P < 0.05). Conclusion Moderate weight loss in obese MetS patients is associated with a reduction in albuminuria and an improvement in eGFR which is augmented by exercise co-intervention.
Alloxan in vivo does not only exert deleterious effects on pancreatic B cells.

The aim of the experiment was to investigate the mechanism of harmful alloxan action in vivo. 75 mg/kg b.w. of this diabetogenic agent were administered to fasting rats. Two minutes later the animals were decapitated. It was observed that alloxan caused a distinct rise in blood insulin and glucose levels with a concomitant drop of free fatty acids. The amount of sulfhydryl groups in the liver of alloxan-treated rats was decreased and glutathione peroxidase activity was substantially higher. These results indicate that some changes observed in alloxan-induced diabetes can not only be the consequence of B cells damage by alloxan but may also be the result of its direct influence on other tissues. It was also observed that glucose given 20 min before alloxan injection only partially protected against the deleterious effects of alloxan.
HTSC current controlled devices for microwave applications

The very low microwave resistance of superconducting thin films in superconducting state in combination with possibility to change the state with a bias current to a much higher resistance normal state (S-N transition) permits the realisation of bias controlled microwave devices. Such devices may have an extremely good characteristics: low insertion loss, low noise level, short time of response to the control signal, and a rather large dynamic range. The following microstrip devices are discussed: low-pass filter and switch. The devices are characterised by a successful combination of parameters.
The relation between velocity of shortening and the tension‐length curve of skeletal muscle

Many different types of apparatus have been used in the past by physiologists to study the active shortening of muscle. Isotonic, auxotonic and inertia levers control the force applied to the muscle; other types of apparatus apply a definite pattern of shortening. Fortunately, the wide range of results obtained in these different experimental arrangements can be interpreted in terms of a single property of muscle-that the force of contraction is a function of the velocity of shortening. The isotonic force-velocity curve of striated muscle was first studied by Fenn & Marsh (1935): three years later Hill derived-the equation: (P+a) (V+b)=constant=(Po+a)b (1) (a and b are constants, P0 the isometric tension), which describes with remarkable accuracy the force-velocity relation in muscles of the frog (Hill, 1938); tortoise (retractor penis, Katz, 1939; ilio-fibularis, Abbott, 1953); man (Ralston, Polissar, Inman, Close & Feinstein, 1949; Wilkie, 1950); snail (Abbott, 1953); ray (Wilkie, 1952, unpublished), and Mytilus (Abbott & Lowy, in preparation). The isometric tension developed by a muscle depends on the length at which the muscle is stimulated, being greatest when the muscle has about the same length that it had in the body. Hill's equation can only be applied in the region of this maximum, where the variation of P0 with length is slight; for P0 appears in the equation as a constant. In the intact vertebrate body, muscle length changes are more or less limited to this maximal region. The experiments described in this paper were carried out in order to examine the relation between force and velocity in other regions of the tension-length curve.
On Improving Fairness and Providing Proportional Loss Differentiation in OBS Networks

Unfairness is a known undesirable characteristic of OBS networks whereby data flows which traverse longer routes and/or bottleneck links suffer higher data loss. The solutions to this problem presented in the literature, which are mostly based on giving preference to the data flows with longer routes, have not achieved fully satisfactory results. We face the unfairness problem from a different perspective, and propose the Reactive Unfairness Reduction technique, or RUR, which reactively gives transmission priority to those flows which are currently undergoing higher data loss rates. We also present Proportional differentiation RUR (P-RUR), which extends the operation of RUR for not only providing fairness, but also edge-to-edge proportional loss differentiation. Both mechanisms are evaluated through simulation.
Convergence and Divergence in Attachment Style Across Male and Female College Students' Friendships and Romantic Relationships

Attachment representations in friendship and romantic relationship contexts were examined in a sample of 398 college students. Analyses examined patterns of attachment style in both relationship contexts, divergence and convergence in attachment style, and links between attachment representations and negative peer and romantic relationship experiences (i.e., relational and physical victimization and betrayal). The majority of participants reported more secure attachment representations, relative to preoccupied or dismissing attachment. However, analysis of biological sex indicated that males reported more dismissing attachment styles with both friends and romantic partners, relative to females. Additionally, significant links were observed between negative peer and romantic relationship experiences and attachment representations, in theoretically consistent directions.
Effects of a naturally occurring compatible osmolyte on the internal dynamics of ribonuclease A.

Osmolytes are small organic solutes accumulated intracellularly by many organisms as they adapt to environmental stresses. Compatible osmolytes, a functional class of osmolytes, increase protein stability while having little or no effect on protein function. To investigate the interrelationships between protein stability, function, and internal dynamics, a hydrogen exchange (HX) quench method was established and used to study the effects of sucrose (a typical compatible osmolyte) on the structural fluctuations of ribonuclease A. It was found that the HX rates of the amide protons with intermediate rates are not affected by 1 M sucrose, but the slow-exchanging amide protons exchange even slower in 1 M sucrose. The protection factors of the slow-exchanging protons fall into a comparatively narrow range while those of the intermediate-exchanging protons vary widely. In agreement with the two-process model [Woodward, C.K. , & Hilton, B. D. (1980) Biophys. J. 32, 561-575], we conclude that for those slow-exchanging amide protons, the exchange occurs mainly from the compact unfolded state ensemble of the protein. The internal dynamics leading to slow exchange involve exposure of large protein surface areas, similar to that which occurs upon the unfolding of protein. Because sucrose opposes such an increase in protein surface area exposure, both the slow HX rates and the protein stability are affected by sucrose. For those amide protons with fast and intermediate HX rates, the exchange occurs mainly from the native state ensemble of the protein. The internal dynamics involved in the exchange are localized without much surface area change, and functionally important structural fluctuations are likely to occur within this dynamic range. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Shifting visual perspective during memory retrieval reduces the accuracy of subsequent memories

ABSTRACT Memories for events can be retrieved from visual perspectives that were never experienced, reflecting the dynamic and reconstructive nature of memories. Characteristics of memories can be altered when shifting from an own eyes perspective, the way most events are initially experienced, to an observer perspective, in which one sees oneself in the memory. Moreover, recent evidence has linked these retrieval-related effects of visual perspective to subsequent changes in memories. Here we examine how shifting visual perspective influences the accuracy of subsequent memories for complex events encoded in the lab. Participants performed a series of mini-events that were experienced from their own eyes, and were later asked to retrieve memories for these events while maintaining the own eyes perspective or shifting to an alternative observer perspective. We then examined how shifting perspective during retrieval modified memories by influencing the accuracy of recall on a final memory test. Across two experiments, we found that shifting visual perspective reduced the accuracy of subsequent memories and that reductions in vividness when shifting visual perspective during retrieval predicted these changes in the accuracy of memories. Our findings suggest that shifting from an own eyes to an observer perspective influences the accuracy of long-term memories.
A comparison of continuous infusion and intermittent bolus administration of 0.1% ropivacaine with 0.0002% fentanyl for epidural labor analgesia

Background and Aims: Minimal consumption of local anesthetic and opioid for epidural labor analgesia has been advocated for safe obstetric outcome and superior maternal satisfaction. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the analgesic efficacy of mode of administration of epidural 0.1% ropivacaine with 0.0002% fentanyl via continuous infusion or intermittent boluses during labor. Material and Methods: Sixty term primi or second gravida healthy parturients in labor requesting epidural analgesia were recruited in this study. Lumbar epidural catheter was inserted, and analgesia initiated with 0.2% ropivacaine. Patients were randomized to receive ropivacaine 0.1% with fentanyl 0.0002% via either continuous infusion (Group A) or intermittent boluses (Group B) on an hourly basis. If the parturient complained of pain and visual analog scale (VAS) score was >3, an additional bolus of the study drug was given. VAS score, motor blockade, maternal hemodynamics and fetal heart sounds were frequently monitored. Side effects, mode of delivery and neonatal outcome were noted. Results: To achieve similar VAS, the mean total dose of ropivacaine was 18.78 ± 3.88 mg in Group A and 16.86 ± 4.3 mg in Group B, the difference being statistically significant (P = 0.04). Seventeen out of 30 patients in Group A that is, 56.6% and nine patients in Group B that is, 30% required additional top-ups, and this was significantly higher (P = 0.037). Side effects, mode of delivery and neonatal outcome were comparable in both groups. Conclusion: Intermittent bolus administration provides a more efficacious route of drug delivery when compared to continuous infusion by significantly decreasing the total amount of local anesthetic plus opioid without adversely affecting patient safety or maternal satisfaction.
Epileptic Seizure Prediction in Scalp EEG using One Dimensional Local Binary Pattern based Features

Seizure prediction will deeply improve the quality of life of epileptic patients. In this paper, a new method of automatic seizure prediction is presented using one dimensional local binary pattern (1D-LBP) based features in scalp electroencephalogram (EEG). In the feature extraction stage, the preictal and interictal EEG signals were transformed to the 1D-LBP domain and histogram features were extracted. These features were submitted to two different types of classifiers: linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and support vector machine (SVM). In order to reduce the false prediction rate (FPR), a simple post processing stage was also incorporated. The classification using SVM showed improvement over LDA in terms of sensitivity, prediction time and FPR. The proposed method was evaluated using the scalp EEG recording from 13 patients with a total number of 47 seizures. It could achieve a sensitivity of 96.15%, an average prediction time of 51.25 minutes with an FPR of 0.463.
Dynamic functional assembly of the Torsin AAA+ ATPase and its modulation by LAP1

TorsinA is an essential AAA+ ATPase requiring LAP1 or LULL1 as cofactors. The dynamics of the Torsin/cofactor system remain poorly understood, with previous models invoking Torsin/cofactor assemblies with fixed stoichiometries. Here we demonstrate that TorsinA assembles into homotypic oligomers in the presence of ATP. Torsin variants mutated at the “back” interface disrupt homo‐oligomerization but still show robust ATPase activity in the presence of its cofactors. These Torsin mutants are severely compromised in their ability to rescue nuclear envelope defects in Torsin‐deficient cells, suggesting that TorsinA homo‐oligomers play a key role in vivo. Engagement of the oligomer by LAP1 triggers ATP hydrolysis and rapid complex disassembly. Thus the Torsin complex is a highly dynamic assembly whose oligomeric state is tightly controlled by distinctively localized cellular cofactors. Our discovery that LAP1 serves as a modulator of the oligomeric state of an AAA+ protein establishes a novel means of regulating this important class of oligomeric ATPases. Notably, both the homo‐oligomerization and the ATPase activation are offset by a TorsinA mutation implicated in the movement disorder DYT1 dystonia, possibly contributing to the molecular etiology of this disease.