Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distribution of novel polymorphisms of the interleukin-8 and CXC receptor 1 and 2 genes in systemic sclerosis and cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis.

OBJECTIVE To search for single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the interleukin-8 (IL-8) and IL-8 receptor CXCR-1 and CXCR-2 genes, and to compare their distribution among patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) with fibrosing alveolitis (FASSc) or without fibrosing alveolitis (NFASSc), or patients with cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis (CFA), and normal healthy subjects. METHODS Fifty control subjects were screened for potential polymorphisms by using polymerase chain reaction in association with sequence-specific primers incorporating mismatches at the 3' end. The novel polymorphisms were subsequently examined in British Caucasian subjects, including 194 healthy controls, 71 patients with CFA, and 128 patients with SSc who were further subdivided into 78 FASSc patients and 50 NFASSc patients. RESULTS Three novel biallelic polymorphisms were identified in the IL-8 gene (all in noncoding areas of the gene), 1 was found in the CXCR-1 gene (resulting in a conservative amino acid change), and 3 were observed in the CXCR-2 gene, of which the first resulted in a silent codon change and the others were in the 3' untranslated area of exon 3. Compared with controls, a significant increase in the frequency of the CXCR-2 +785 CC homozygote and of the CXCR-2 +1208 TT homozygote was found in the SSc patients (37% versus 22% [P = 0.01] and 33% versus 17% [P = 0.003], respectively). A subgroup analysis revealed this association to be significant both in the FASSc patients and in the NFASSc patients. CONCLUSION This report describes an association between SSc and 2 polymorphisms occurring close to each other in the CXCR-2 gene. This finding and its functional significance need to be confirmed and analyzed in future studies.
3H‐thymidine long survival autoradiography as a method for dating the time of neuronal origin in the chick embryo: The locus coeruleus and cerebellar Purkinje cells

Contrary to previous assumptions, we have found that a single dose of 3H‐thymidine (25 μCi), injected into the yolk sac of White Leghorn chick eggs on 2 days of incubation (d.i.) only remains available for DNA‐synthesizing (proliferating) cells for 48 hours following the time of injection. This finding now makes it possible to date the time of neuronal origin in the avian embryo using a single injection of isotope and a long survival time (30 days posthatch) as in mammalian studies where 3H‐thymidine is only available as a short “pulse. ” Using this method, we have determined that neurons in the chick locus coeruleus (LC) cease proliferation on 2–6 d.i. with a peak of neuronal genesis on 3–5 d.i. In addition, neuronal genesis is not homogeneous throughout the LC cell population, but occurs in a predominantly caudorostral gradient. Conversely, the cerebellar Purkinje cells cease division on 3–8 d.i. with a peak of heavy labeling on 4–6 d.i. , 1 day later than that observed in the LC.
An Aging Dynamo: Demographic Change and the Decline of Entrepreneurial Activity in the United States

The rate of new business startups has fallen drastically over the last thirty-five years, accelerating greatly since the year 2000. Other measures of business dynamism such as the job reallocation rate are consistent with this trend, raising serious concern given the importance that young, high growth, firms have in employment. The timing of this decline coincides with the start of a steady increase in the age of the United States workforce which has accelerated along with the aging of the baby boomers. I document an empirical `hump shape' between an individual's propensity to select into entrepreneurship as they age. I then construct life cycle model of entrepreneurial choice that accounts for this hump shape, and study a number of channels that link demographic forces to entrepreneurial selection. I find that demographic channels can account for a large portion of the recent decline in startup activity and predict a continued decline as the pool of potential entrepreneurs continues to age. I conclude with a discussion of the potential policy tools that will affect individual's life cycle risk attitudes and the predicted effects that such measures will have on the rate of new business startups.
Intentional Coricidin Product Exposures among Illinois Adolescents

Objectives: We sought to describe the demographics and trends of Coricidin product abuse in children in Illinois and to calculate an approximate total charge to the health-care system. Methods: In this retrospective database review, we identified 652 cases of intentional exposure to Coricidin products among children <18 years old in the Illinois Poison Center database from 2001 to 2006. Demographic, historical, clinical, and outcome data were recorded. Results: The mean (standard deviation) age was 15.7 (1.58) years. A significant increase in exposures occurred during the study period which showed a cyclic nature with peaks in the fall months. Of the patients with disposition data available, 28.6% were admitted to a critical care unit, 15.2% to a noncritical care hospital unit, 6.3% were admitted for inpatient psychiatric care, and 46.4% were evaluated in the emergency department and discharged home. Moderate or major outcomes were reported in 42.7% of cases in which data were available. No deaths were reported. The total approximate hospital charge was $2,119,881.90 or $353,313.65/year. Conclusions: Intentional abuse of Coricidin products reported to the poison center occurred primarily among adolescents and was often associated with significant short-term clinical effects and a clear financial burden to the health-care system. Scientific Significance: This investigation demonstrates that Coricidin product abuse continues to be a problem particularly among adolescents. Parents and clinicians need to continue to be aware of these substances as drugs of abuse and curbing sales to adolescents should be considered.
In vitro Release of Phosphoric Acid Ester from Self-etching Primer

Self-etching primers have simplified the process of direct bonding of dental resins, by eliminating the rinsing step after etching in conventional bonding, for example. Although it is generally assumed that all of the applied self-etching primer is incorporated into the resin, the possibility that a substantial amount remains free and extractable into a person’s saliva has not been investigated. The aim of the present study was to examine this issue by bonding brackets to extracted teeth with self-etching primers under controlled conditions and determining the proportion of the applied phosphoric acid ester that is subsequently extractable by high-performance liquid chromatography. Approximately half of the applied acid ester was extractable and thus not integrated into the polymeric network following standard light curing. This was reduced to 40% when the curing time was doubled. Acid ester leaching was a rapid process that was essentially completed within an hour.
Vessel segmentation in 3D spectral OCT scans of the retina

The latest generation of spectral optical coherence tomography (OCT) scanners is able to image 3D cross-sectional volumes of the retina at a high resolution and high speed. These scans offer a detailed view of the structure of the retina. Automated segmentation of the vessels in these volumes may lead to more objective diagnosis of retinal vascular disease including hypertensive retinopathy, retinopathy of prematurity. Additionally, vessel segmentation can allow color fundus images to be registered to these 3D volumes, possibly leading to a better understanding of the structure and localization of retinal structures and lesions. In this paper we present a method for automatically segmenting the vessels in a 3D OCT volume. First, the retina is automatically segmented into multiple layers, using simultaneous segmentation of their boundary surfaces in 3D. Next, a 2D projection of the vessels is produced by only using information from certain segmented layers. Finally, a supervised, pixel classification based vessel segmentation approach is applied to the projection image. We compared the influence of two methods for the projection on the performance of the vessel segmentation on 10 optic nerve head centered 3D OCT scans. The method was trained on 5 independent scans. Using ROC analysis, our proposed vessel segmentation system obtains an area under the curve of 0.970 when compared with the segmentation of a human observer.
Characterization of LAMP1-labeled nondegradative lysosomal and endocytic compartments in neurons

Despite widespread distribution of LAMP1 and the heterogeneous nature of LAMP1-labeled compartments, LAMP1 is routinely used as a lysosomal marker, and LAMP1-positive organelles are often referred to as lysosomes. In this study, we use immunoelectron microscopy and confocal imaging to provide quantitative analysis of LAMP1 distribution in various autophagic and endolysosomal organelles in neurons. Our study demonstrates that a significant portion of LAMP1-labeled organelles do not contain detectable lysosomal hydrolases including cathepsins D and B and glucocerebrosidase. A bovine serum albumin–gold pulse–chase assay followed by ultrastructural analysis suggests a heterogeneity of degradative capacity in LAMP1-labeled endolysosomal organelles. Gradient fractionation displays differential distribution patterns of LAMP1/2 and cathepsins D/B in neurons. We further reveal that LAMP1 intensity in familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis–linked motor neurons does not necessarily reflect lysosomal deficits in vivo. Our study suggests that labeling a set of lysosomal hydrolases combined with various endolysosomal markers would be more accurate than simply relying on LAMP1/2 staining to assess neuronal lysosome distribution, trafficking, and functionality under physiological and pathological conditions.
The Size Discount: Further Evidence on the Relationship Between Size and Firm Value

Many authors have found a negative relationship between a firm’s size and its value, as measured by Tobin’s q. This result can be viewed as a size discount. While there are many hypotheses about why the size discount exists, none have been rigorously supported in the literature. This paper argues that the relationship is due the inability of shareholders to minimize agency costs in larger companies Empirical tests show that larger firms with managers that impose agency costs upon their shareholders through bad acquisitions bear a significant size discount, while larger firms that make good acquisitions have no size discount.
Cytolethal Distending Toxin Demonstrates Genotoxic Activity in a Yeast Model

ABSTRACT Cytolethal distending toxins (CDTs) are multisubunit proteins produced by a variety of bacterial pathogens that cause enlargement, cell cycle arrest, and apoptosis in mammalian cells. While their function remains uncertain, recent studies suggest that they can act as intracellular DNases in mammalian cells. Here we establish a novel yeast model for understanding CDT-associated disease. Expression of the CdtB subunit in yeast causes a G2/M arrest, as seen in mammalian cells. CdtB toxicity is not circumvented in yeast genetically altered to lack DNA damage checkpoint control or that constitutively promote cell cycle progression via mutant Cdk1, because CdtB causes a permanent type of damage that results in loss of viability. Finally, we establish that CDTs are likely to be potent genotoxins, as indicated by in vivo degradation of chromosomal DNA associated with expression of CdtB—suggesting that the varied distribution of CDT in bacteria implicates many human pathogens as possessors of genotoxic activity.
Direct Runge-Kutta Discretization Achieves Acceleration

We study gradient-based optimization methods obtained by directly discretizing a second-order ordinary differential equation (ODE) related to the continuous limit of Nesterov's accelerated gradient method. When the function is smooth enough, we show that acceleration can be achieved by a stable discretization of this ODE using standard Runge-Kutta integrators. Specifically, we prove that under Lipschitz-gradient, convexity and order-$(s+2)$ differentiability assumptions, the sequence of iterates generated by discretizing the proposed second-order ODE converges to the optimal solution at a rate of $\mathcal{O}({N^{-2\frac{s}{s+1}}})$, where $s$ is the order of the Runge-Kutta numerical integrator. Furthermore, we introduce a new local flatness condition on the objective, under which rates even faster than $\mathcal{O}(N^{-2})$ can be achieved with low-order integrators and only gradient information. Notably, this flatness condition is satisfied by several standard loss functions used in machine learning. We provide numerical experiments that verify the theoretical rates predicted by our results.
Voltage-based harmonic compensation using MCCF state estimation

The majority of modern loads are based on power electronic devices, resulting in harmonic current emission. In consequence, increasing harmonic voltage levels are observed in distribution grids. Shunt active power filters (SAPF) can decrease the harmonic voltage distortion with a voltage-based harmonic compensation scheme. This paper presents a method for voltage-based selective harmonic compensation (SHC). Multiple complex coefficient filter (MCCF) state estimation is utilized for harmonic extraction. Stationary frame generalized integrators (SGI) provide control of the selected harmonic compensation. As the voltage-based SHC is implemented in stationary reference frame, computational efforts are reduced compared to synchronous reference framed SHC methods. In addition, the MCCF state estimator determines grid fundamental for robust grid synchronization in presence of imbalance and harmonic voltages, further decreasing computation requirements in the overall SAPF control. Simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
A Passive Model-Order Reduction Algorithm for RLC Networks with Embedded Delay Elements

This paper describes a new algorithm to obtain reduced-order models for large networks with delay elements. The proposed algorithm can be used in situations where delay extraction based modeling approaches have been used to model portions of interconnects with low losses, while other portions are modeled with large networks of lumped components. It is shown that the reduced-order model is passive by construction
Optimal Design of a Voltage Regulator Based on Gyrator Switched-Resonator Converter IC

This paper details efficiency analysis and characteristics of a gyrator switched-resonator converter (GSwRC) IC. Followed by an efficiency analysis, this paper introduces an optimized size-efficiency design procedure for IC realization of the converter. In area-sensitive applications, the optimization method combined with the converter’s benefits presents an attractive approach for power delivery in point-of-load applications. To verify the analytical framework, two sets of bridge-type GSwRCs prototypes have been evaluated. One is an on-chip bridge GSwRC that has been fabricated in 0.18- $\mu \text{m}$ 5-V CMOS process, according to the principles detailed in this paper, and verified through postlayout analysis and experimental measurements of the fabricated IC. The second prototype is a discrete GSwRC that is used for further validation of the theoretical framework. In addition, the analysis has been verified through a design example of a multiphase resonant switched-capacitor converter. The fabricated IC prototype operation is demonstrated with 1.5 A, delivering up to 2.25 W from 3-V input voltage, with peak efficiency at 85%. A fully monolithic controller to regulate the output voltage is described and implemented on-chip by an automated synthesis process and place-and-route tools.
Ethico-Economic Analysis of Impact Finance: The Case of Green Bonds

Abstract This article aims to understand whether Green Bonds (GBs) can be considered an ethical action with a measurable impact, creating ethical and sustainable value beyond economic and financial value. To this end, we attempt to define an ethico-economic framework to understand whether GBs fit into the objectives of action, sociability, humanitarianism, and measurable ethical value, and assess their capacity to constitute a new and powerful instrument in a shared ethical framework.
Impact of ultra‐thin struts on restenosis after chronic total occlusion recanalization: Insights from the randomized PRISON IV trial

OBJECTIVES The PRISON-IV trial showed inferior outcome in patients with chronic total occlusions (CTOs) treated with the ultrathin-struts (60 μm for stent diameter ≤3 mm, 81μm >3 mm) hybrid-sirolimus eluting stents (SES) compared with everolimus eluting stents (EES, 81 μm). The aim of this study is to investigate if the use of smaller stents (≤3 mm) was responsible for the inferior outcome reported in the trial. METHODS In the PRISON-IV trial 330 patients with CTO lesion were randomized 1:1 to receive either hybrid-SES or EES. The hybrid-SES failed to reach the non-inferiority primary endpoint of in-segment late lumen loss (LLL) at 9-month angiographic follow-up. In this sub-analysis, we divided the population according to the different size of stents implanted in those receiving only stents with diameter ≤3 mm (Group-A, 178 patients), only stents >3 mm (Group-B, 59 patients), and those receiving stents of both sizes (Group-C, 93 patients). RESULTS Baseline and procedural characteristics were comparable in the three groups. At angiographic follow-up, most of the adverse outcomes occurred in Group A, with higher incidence of binary restenosis in the Hybrid-SES versus EES (10.3% vs 1.3%, P = 0.03) and augmented in-stent diameter stenosis (26.04 ± 18.59% vs 21.24 ± 12.84, P = 0.06). Similarly, optical coherence tomography (OCT), which was performed in 60 patients at follow-up, documented a mild trend toward lower values of minimum in stent area in Hybrid-SES arm of Group A (4.4 ± 1.02mm2 vs 5.0 ± 1.28mm2, respectively, P = 0.16). CONCLUSIONS The present analysis suggests that the inferior performance of the ultra-thin hybrid-SES in CTO-PCI is particularly pronounced when smaller stent (≤3 mm diameter) are adopted, if compared with EES.
Trends in Nosocomial Pneumonia in Surgical Patients as We Approach the 21st Century: A Prospective Analysis

To compare outcome and prognostic factors of pneumonia in surgical patients, we prospectively studied all episodes of nosocomial infection at all sites in 1997 on the surgical services at a single hospital. Pneumonia accounted for 74 of 287 episodes of infection. The crude mortality for pneumonia was 31.1 versus 12.2 per cent for all other infections (P < 0.001). Pneumonia patients had a higher severity of illness compared with those with infections at other sites (18.7 ± 0.8 vs 14.0 ± 0.5; P < 0.001). Crude mortality remained higher in pneumonia patients when compared with an infected control group matched for severity of illness and age (31% vs 15%; P = 0.02). Staphylococcus aureus (15%) was the most common isolate, followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (9%). Resistant Gram-positive cocci accounted for 7 per cent of all isolates but was associated with a 60 per cent mortality vs 28 per cent with other organisms (not significant; P = 0.1). The Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score for patients with resistant Gram-positive cocci was 22 ± 1 versus 18 ± 1 with other organisms (P = 0.03). Nonsurvivors of pneumonia were older (58 ± 2 vs 51 ± 3; P = 0.03), had a higher APACHE II score (23 ± 1 vs 17 ± 1; P < 0.001), and were diagnosed later in their hospital course (18 ± 4 days vs 11 ± 1; P = 0.05) compared with survivors. Pneumonia-associated mortality in surgical patients remains high compared with other infections even when correcting for differences in severity of illness. Although resistant Gram-positive cocci appear to be increasing in frequency, they may represent markers of severe illness rather than true pathogens. Increasing age, severity of illness, and length of stay before diagnosis were all associated with a worse prognosis.
Optimal Switch Placement in Distribution Systems Using Trinary Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm

Achieving high-distribution reliability levels and concurrently minimizing capital costs can be considered as the main issues in distribution system optimization. Determination of the optimum number and location of switches in distribution system automation is an important issue from the reliability and economical points of view. In this paper, a novel three-state approach inspired from the discrete version of a powerful heuristic algorithm, particle swarm optimization, is developed and presented to determine the optimum number and locations of two types of switches (sectionalizers and breakers) in radial distribution systems. The novelty of the proposed algorithm is to simultaneously consider both sectionalizer and breaker switches. The feasibility of the proposed algorithm is examined by application to two distribution systems. The proposed solution approach provides a global optimal solution for the switch placement problem.
Review of the Innovative H&CD Designs and the Impact of Their Configurations on the Performance of the EU DEMO Fusion Power Plant Reactor

Heating and current drive (H&CD) systems are being investigated for a demonstration fusion power plant DEMO to deliver net electricity for the grid around 2050. Compared to ITER, which has to show the generation of 500-MW thermal power, the target of DEMO is the successful production of 300 to 500 MW electrical power to the grid and to aim for a self-sufficient tritium fuel cycle. Three H&CD systems are under development for DEMO in Europe, the electron cyclotron (EC) system, the neutral beam injection (NBI) system, and the ion cyclotron system. Based on present studies for plasma ramp-up, ramp-down, and flat top phases, to be further validated in more detailed simulations, the assumed total launched power needed from the H&CD system in DEMO is in the range of 50–100 MW, to be provided for plasma heating and control. This paper describes the design and Research and Development status of selected H&CD systems, considered for their deployment in the EU DEMO. It was always considered that different H&CD configurations and design variants will have an impact on the performances for the whole fusion plant. It shall be noted that the basis for the H&CD integrated design and system development is the actual version of the European fusion electricity roadmap. The project also elaborates on H&CD efficiency improvements which will reduce the recirculating power fraction in the future fusion power plants. Different studies under investigation will be discussed such as for NBI the photoneutralization and for EC novel concepts for gyrotron multistage-depressed collector.