Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cause and timing of death in massively transfused trauma patients

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to characterize the cause of death in severely injured trauma patients to define potential responses to resuscitation. METHODS Prospective analysis of 190 critically injured patients who underwent massive transfusion protocol (MTP) activation or received massive transfusion (>10 U of packed red blood cells [RBC] per 24 hours). Cause of death was adjudicated into one of four categories as follows: (1) exsanguination, (2) early physiologic collapse, (3) late physiologic collapse, and (4) nonsurvivable injury. RESULTS A total 190 patients underwent massive transfusion or MTP with 76 deaths (40% mortality), of whom 72 deaths were adjudicated to one of four categories: 33.3% died of exsanguination, 16.6% died of early physiologic collapse, 11.1% died of late physiologic collapse, while 38.8% died of nonsurvivable injuries. Patients who died of exsanguination were younger and had the highest RBC/fresh frozen plasma ratio (2.97 [2.24]), although the early physiologic collapse group survived long enough to use the most blood products (p < 0.001). The late physiologic collapse group had significantly fewer penetrating injuries, was older, and had significantly more crystalloid use but received a lower RBC/fresh frozen plasma ratio (1.50 [0.42]). Those who were determined to have a nonsurvivable injury had a lower presenting Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, fewer penetrating injuries, and higher initial blood pressure reflecting a preponderance of nonsurvivable traumatic brain injury. The average survival time for patients with potentially survivable injuries was 2.4 hours versus 18.4 hours for nonsurvivable injuries (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION Severely injured patients requiring MTP have a high mortality rate. However, no studies to date have addressed the cause of death after MTP. Characterization of cause of death will allow targeting of surgical and resuscitative conduct to allow extension of the physiologic reserve time, therefore rendering previously nonsurvivable injury potentially survivable. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Prognostic study, level III.
Comparison of Hybrid Sorting Algorithms Implemented on Different Parallel Hardware Platforms

Sorting is a common problem in computer science. There are lot of well-known sorting algorithms created for sequential execution on a single processor. Recently, hardware platforms enable to create wide parallel algorithms. We have standard processors consist of multiple cores and hardware accelerators like GPU. The graphic cards with their parallel architecture give new possibility to speed up many algorithms. In this paper we describe results of implementation of a few different sorting algorithms on GPU cards and multicore processors. Then hybrid algorithm will be presented which consists of parts executed on both platforms, standard CPU and GPU.
Enhancement of Multispectral Ikonos Satellite Image Using Quantum Information Processing

The objective of the paper is to demonstrate how an image enhancement technique denoted quantum Fourier transform, improves the possibilities for visual interpretation of multispectral IKONOS satellite image, covering an urban area. Image representation is usually based on a mathematical function that has two spatial values, x and y. The spatial points x and y in the image function have the values to represent intensity of the image at that spatial point. An alternative method of image representation is the transformation. Transformation is also a mathematical method in which an image is represented as complex exponential summations. The complex exponentials have the varying magnitudes, frequencies and phases. Transformation method of image representation is useful for image analysis, interpretations, filter etc. In this paper an image is represented based on the quantum mechanics for image analysis. The image is transformed using quantum Fourier transforms. For a specific application the result of processed image is better than the original image then it will be called as Enhancement. Enhancements of images are done in two broad categories. They are spatial domain methods and frequency domain methods. Frequency domain methods are based on transforms. And here quantum transforms is implemented. It is shown how the quantum Fourier transforms are applicable in the remote sensing satellite images, particularly for image enhancement. The satellite image of IKONOS is covering the Chennai city in Tamilnadu, India. From experimental result, it is observed that the pixels have low correlation when quantum Fourier transforms, are applied.
Mortality among Catholic nuns certified as radiologic technologists.

BACKGROUND Several studies have shown that Catholic nuns have a different mortality experience than women of similar age in the general population. We had a unique opportunity to evaluate mortality patterns of nuns identified in an occupational study of nearly 145,000 radiologic technologists (73% female). METHODS A total of 1,103 women were classified as nuns based on their titles of "Sister" or "SR". Their mortality experience was compared to other female radiologic technologists and to U.S. white females. RESULTS Five hundred eighty-three nuns (53%) were deceased as of January 1, 1995. Compared to other technologists, nuns were at significantly increased risk of dying from all causes (Standardized mortality ratio (SMR)=1.1; 95% Confidence interval (CI)=1.0-1.2, stomach cancer (SMR=2.7; 95% CI=1.2-5.4), diabetes (SMR=2.2; 95% CI=1.0-4.1), ischemic heart disease (SMR=1.2; 95% CI=1.1-1.4), all digestive diseases (SMR=2.0; 95% CI=1.3-3.0), and gastric and duodenal ulcers (SMR=8.3; 95% CI=2.3-21.3). In contrast, we observed a significant deficit in lung cancer (SMR=0.5; 95% CI=0.2-0.9), no deaths from cervical cancer, and a breast cancer risk 10% lower than expected (SMR=0.9; 95% CI=0.6-1.3). When compared to U.S. females, nuns experienced significantly reduced mortality from all causes (SMR=0.8; 95% CI=0.7-0.9), cervical cancer (SMR=0.0; 95% CI=0.0-0.7), all endocrine, metabolic and nutritional diseases (SMR=0.5; 95% CI=0.3-0.9), all circulatory diseases (SMR=0.7; 95% CI=0.7-0.8) including ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease, and all respiratory diseases (SMR=0.5; 95% CI=0.3-0.8), and a nearly significant deficit of diabetes (SMR=0.6; 95% CI=0.3-1.0). In contrast, nuns had an almost 3-fold greater risk of tuberculosis (SMR=2.9; 95% CI=1.4-5.3) and a 20% excess of breast cancer (SMR=1. 2; 95% CI=0.8-1.7). The breast cancer excess was concentrated among nuns first certified before 1940 (SMR=2.0; CI=1.3-3.0), when radiation doses were possibly the highest, but the risk did not increase with increasing length of certification. CONCLUSIONS Compared with the general population, the mortality experience of nuns was favorable and reflected the "healthy worker effect" commonly seen in occupational studies. Patterns observed for breast and cervical cancer possibly indicate differences in reproductive and sexual activities associated with belonging to a religious order. The possibility of a radiation-related excess for breast cancer among nuns certified before 1940 cannot be completely discounted, although there was no dose-response relationship with a surrogate measure of exposure (number of years certified). When their mortality experience was compared with other radiologic technologists, the influence of lifestyle factors was not apparent. Am. J. Ind. Med. 37:339-348, 2000. Published 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc. dagger
Advances in the development and use of human tissue-based techniques for drug toxicity testing

Introduction: Unacceptable failure rates in clinical trials are largely responsible for the high costs of bringing successful drugs to market – costs that are passed on to patients, insurers or healthcare providers. Furthermore, failures in clinical trials deny patients much-needed new drugs and potentially expose them to unnecessary risk. With so many medicines reaching their patent expiry date, pressure is on the pharmaceutical industry to not only increase its output of effective medicines but also improve its ability to minimise safety issues. Areas covered: This review focuses on the availability and use of human tissues and their derivatives to explore potential toxicity problems of new drugs. The growth in the number and quality of human material-based assays and enabling technologies is reviewed, followed by a discussion of the application of such assays to identify specific toxicities, using specific examples. Expert opinion: Although human tissues are now beginning to be seen as playing an important role in evaluating the potential for toxicity of new drugs in the clinic, their importance deserves to be more widely recognised and their use in the identification of toxicity issues as early as possible in the drug development life cycle should be significantly increased.
Diacylglycerol Kinases: Regulation and Signaling Roles

Summary Diacylglycerol kinases (DGKs) are thought to attenuate diacylglycerol signals by converting diacylglycerol to phosphatidic acid. The nine mammalian diacylglycerol kinases that have been identified are widely expressed, but each isoform has a unique tissue and subcellular distribution. The activity of DGKs is regulated by mechanisms that can modify their access to diacylglycerol, affect their activity, or alter their ability to bind to other proteins. Although little is known of the specific function of DGKs in platelets, they likely influence actin reorganization and other signaling events requiring diacylglycerol.
Scale-Independent Relational Query Processing

An increasingly common pattern is for newly-released web applications to succumb to a Success Disaster . In this scenario, overloaded database machines and resultant high response times destroy a previously good user experience, just as a site is becoming popular. Unfortunately, the data independence provided by a traditional relational database system, while useful for agile development, only exacerbates the problem by hiding potentially expensive queries under simple declarative expressions. The disconnect between expression complexity and runtime cost often leads developers to mistrust the suitability of relational database systems for their web applications in the long term. As a result, developers of these applications are increasingly abandoning relational systems in favor of imperative code written against distributed NoSQL key/value stores, losing the many benefits of data independence in the process.While some claim that scalability issues are inherent in the use of the relational model, this thesis challenges that notion by extending standard data independence with the notion of scale independence . In contrast to traditional relational databases, a scale-independent system is capable of providing predictable response time for all of the queries in an application, even as the amount of data grows by orders of magnitude. This predictability is achieved by compile-time enforcement of strict upper bounds on the number of operations that will be performed for all queries. Coupled with a service level objective (SLO) compliance prediction model and a scalable storage architecture, these upper bounds make it easy for developers to write {em success-tolerant} applications that support an arbitrarily large number of users while still providing acceptable performance.Statically bounding the amount of work required to execute a query can be easy for some queries, such as those that perform a lookup of a single record by primary key. However, such simple queries are generally insufficient for the construction of complex, real-world applications. Therefore, to enable successful development of such applications, this thesis defines four levels of scale-independent execution that greatly expand the space of queries that can be guaranteed to be scalable a priori. Each scale-independent execution level leverages increasingly sophisticated techniques, ranging from extra cardinality information in the schema to incremental precomputation, to ensure that the performance of the application will not change as the amount of stored data grows. Furthermore, developers can use the levels to reason about the resource requirements of each query that is run by their application.In addition to presenting the theory of scale independence, this thesis describes PIQL, a actual implementation of a scalable relational engine. Using the PIQL system, I present an empirical analysis of scale independence that includes all the queries from the TPC-W benchmark and validates PIQL's ability to maintain nearly constant high-quantile query and update latency, even as an application scales to hundreds of machines.
Energy-aware joint power, packet and topology optimization by simulated annealing for WSNs

Energy-aware connectivity in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) can increase their network lifetime. This can be achieved by optimizing the power control, a particular communication mechanism and the topology control. To this end, in this paper', an energy-aware joint power, packet and topology optimization for WSNs is provided. More specifically, we assume power control based on feedback information, packet transmission through automatic-repeat-request(ARQ) mechanism and topology control assuming specific coverage constraints. This particular joint optimization problem is considered as NP-complete and heuristic methods are usually applied in such complicated cases. In particular, we employ Simulated Annealing (SA) for a step-by-step evaluation of the average energy consumption of sensor nodes, which is considered the objective function of our optimization problem. In each step of the SA algorithm, the resultant topology is evaluated and at the convergence point the near optimal transmit power and packet as well as node placements are obtained jointly.
A novel nonwoven hybrid bioreactor (NWHBR) for enhancing simultaneous nitrification and denitrification

This study proposed a nonwoven hybrid bioreactor (NWHBR) in which the nonwoven fabric played dual roles as a biofilm carrier and membrane‐like separation of the flocculent sludge in the reactor. The results of long‐term monitoring demonstrated that the NWHBR could achieve simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND), with nearly complete ammonium removal and 80% removal of total nitrogen. The biofilm attached to the nonwoven fabric removed 27% of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and 36% of the nitrate in the reactor, an enhanced elimination of nutrients that was attributed to the increased mass transfer within the biofilm due to permeate drag. The results of batch experiments showed that the flocculent sludge played a more dominant role in nitrification and denitrification (79% and 61%, respectively) than the biofilm (21% and 36%, respectively). The batch experiments also revealed that the enforced mass transfer, with an effluent recirculation rate of 4.3 L/m2h (which was the same as the flux during the reactor's long‐term operation), improved the denitrification rate by 58% (i.e., from 9.0 to 14.2 mg‐NO 3− ‐N/h). Pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene amplification revealed a high microbial diversity in both the flocculent sludge and biofilm, with Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Chloroflexi as the dominant groups. A phylogenetic (P) test indicated that the NWHBR contained phylogenetically distinct microbial communities: those in the biofilm differed from those in the flocculent sludge. However, the communities on the exterior and interior of the biofilm were more similar to each other. Due to its good SND performance, low physical back‐washing frequency and low air‐to‐water ratio, the NWHBR represents an attractive alternative for the wider application of either low‐cost membrane bioreactors or biofilm reactors. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2013; 110: 1903–1912. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Designing of compact micro strip patch antenna with diamond structure and modified ground for isolation improvement

The wireless technology and broadband applications nowadays are very advanced from their early stages, but still an antenna is the indispensable item in these technologies. Hence this paper presented a compact micro strip 2X1 patch antenna for applications in WLAN band operating in the 5GHz–6GHz frequency range. Two element compact patch antenna with a combination of simple diamond decoupling structure is presented here. This antenna is constructed using RO 4350 substrate used for high frequency applications. After simulation with CST software the performance of the proposed antennas is investigated and compared to both the cases. An improvement of 9.2dB in coupling loss (S21) and 3.2dB in return loss (S11) are achieved.
Dose-response effects of omega-3 fatty acids on triglycerides, inflammation, and endothelial function in healthy persons with moderate hypertriglyceridemia.

BACKGROUND Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) have been shown to reduce cardiovascular mortality at a dose of ≈1 g/d. Studies using higher doses have shown evidence of reduced inflammation and improved endothelial function. Few studies have compared these doses. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to compare the effects of a nutritional dose of EPA+DHA (0.85 g/d) with those of a pharmaceutical dose (3.4 g/d) on serum triglycerides, inflammatory markers, and endothelial function in healthy subjects with moderately elevated triglycerides. DESIGN This was a placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized, 3-period crossover trial (8 wk of treatment, 6 wk of washout) that compared the effects of 0.85 and 3.4 g EPA+DHA/d in 23 men and 3 postmenopausal women with moderate hypertriglyceridemia (150-500 mg/dL). RESULTS The higher dose of EPA+DHA lowered triglycerides by 27% compared with placebo (mean ± SEM: 173 ± 17.5 compared with 237 ± 17.5 mg/dL; P = 0.002), whereas no effect of the lower dose was observed on lipids. No effects on cholesterol (total, LDL, and HDL), endothelial function [as assessed by flow-mediated dilation, peripheral arterial tonometry/EndoPAT (Itamar Medical Ltd, Caesarea, Israel), or Doppler measures of hyperemia], inflammatory markers (interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein), or the expression of inflammatory cytokine genes in isolated lymphocytes were observed. CONCLUSION The higher dose (3.4 g/d) of EPA+DHA significantly lowered triglycerides, but neither dose improved endothelial function or inflammatory status over 8 wk in healthy adults with moderate hypertriglyceridemia. The trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00504309.
The Effect of Government Subsidies on Private R&D Expenditure: --Evidence from Zhejiang Province of China

China government has implemented some schemes of public funds in order to increase R&D intensity of private firms. This study analyzes the effects of public R&D schemes on the innovation activities of private firms in Zhejiang Province of China. The main question in this paper is whether government subsidies to Private R&D stimulate R&D activities or simply crowd out privately financed R&D. Empirically, we investigate the average causal effects of all government subsidies in Zhejiang Province of China using Propensity Score Matching. In order to account for possible selectivity bias, and to improve comparability of firms, two different versions of matching approach are employed. The Nearest neighbor estimator is preferred to the Kernel estimator. The results show that government R&D subsidies do not have a significant effect on R&D expenditures of private firms.
Two orienting mechanisms, one architecture: A comment on Rusconi, Turatto and Umiltà (2007)

Rusconi, Turatto, and Umilta` (2007) recently investigated the architectures underlying the Simon and the SNARC effect using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). The SNARC effect reflects the observation that relatively small numbers are responded to faster with the left-hand side while relatively large numbers are responded to faster with the right-hand side (Dehaene, Bossini, & Giraux, 1993). It is generally accepted that this effect is caused by a congruency between the side of the response and spatial information that is activated by the (irrelevant) magnitude of the number. In the Simon task, participants are faster to respond to a stimulus if the location of this stimulus is corresponding with the side of response when the location of the stimulus is irrelevant. Like the SNARC effect, the Simon effect reflects a congruency between (irrelevant) spatial information and the side of response. On the basis of existing literature two regions of major interest were identified in the posterior parietal lobule presumably involved as a neural circuit in the Simon and the SNARC effect. It was observed that the Simon and the SNARC effect were largely influenced by different stimulation locations leading the authors to conclude that both effects are generated by different neural mechanisms. We are sympathetic with any attempt that tries to further our understanding of the intimate link between the spatial processing of magnitude and location information. With respect to this, the use of rTMS could prove to be a very useful tool. However, as will be outlined below, the level of processing of spatial information should clearly be outlined in discussing the results. Taking this into account, we will argue that the presented data are not in disagreement with the hypothesis that the Simon and the SNARC effect depend on similar processing pathways.
Effect of slow and fast pranayama training on handgrip strength and endurance in healthy volunteers.

BACKGROUND Pranayama has been assigned very important role in yogic system of exercises and is said to be much more important than yogasanas for keeping sound health. Also different pranayamas produce divergent physiological effects. AIM To study the effect of 12 weeks training of slow and fast pranayama on handgrip strength and endurance in young, healthy volunteers of JIPMER population. SETTINGS AND DESIGN Present study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, JIPMER in 2011-12 (1.06.11 to 1.04.12). MATERIALS AND METHODS Total of 91 volunteer subjects were randomised into slow pranayama (SPG) (n=29), fast pranayama (FPG) (n=32) and control groups (CG) (n=30). Supervised pranayama training (SPG - Nadisodhana, Pranav pranayama and Savitri pranayama; FPG - Kapalabhati, Bhastrika and Kukkuriya pranayama) was given for 30 minutes thrice a week for 12 weeks to both slow and fast pranayama groups by certified yoga trainer. Hand grip strength (HGS) and endurance (HGE) parameters were recorded using handgrip dynamometer (Rolex, India) at baseline and after 12 weeks of pranayama training. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED Longitudinal changes in each group were compared by using Student's paired t-test. Delta changes in each group were analysed by ANOVA with Tukey post-hoc analysis. RESULTS In SPG significant improvement occurred only in HGE parameter from 83.95±45.06 to 101.62±53.87 (seconds) (p<0.001) whereas in FPG, significant improvement was observed in HGS from 33.31±9.83 to 37.9±9.41 (Kilograms) (p=0.01) as well as in HGE from 92.78±41.37 to 116.56±58.54 (seconds) (p=0.004). Using Students unpaired t-test difference between the groups in HGS is found to be 1.17±5.485 in SPG and in FPG is 4.59±7.26 (p=0.39); HGE difference in SPG is 1.77±21.17 and in FPG is 2.38±43.27 (p>0.05). CONCLUSION Pranayama training decreases sympathetic activity, resulting in mental relaxation and decreased autonomic arousal thereby, decreasing force fluctuations during isometric contraction. This is reflected as improvement in HGS and HGE.