Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does ambulatory blood pressure monitoring improve the diagnosis of secondary hypertension?

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring can determine the average blood pressure level and the short- and long-term blood pressure variability (circadian rhythm). The circadian blood pressure rhythm appears to be mediated mainly by the circadian rhythm of the sympathetic tone which is linked to changes in physical and mental activity, e.g. the waking-sleeping cycle. A statistically significant circadian blood pressure rhythm was observed in approximately 80% of mild to moderate essential hypertensive patients as well as in normal subjects. However, in patients with Cushing's syndrome, under glucocorticoid treatment, or with hyperthyroidism, central and/or peripheral autonomic dysfunction (Shy-Drager syndrome, spinal cord injury, brainstem lesions, diabetic neuropathy, uremic neuropathy, etc), chronic renal failure, eclampsia, malignant hypertension, sleep apnea syndrome or systemic atherosclerosis, the normal circadian blood pressure rhythm appears to be eliminated or reversed, while in those with primary aldosteronism, renovascular hypertension, pheochromocytoma without paroxysmal hypertension, diabetes insipidus, acromegaly, hyperparathyroidism or hyperprolactinemia, the nocturnal blood pressure fall has been observed as in normal subjects. The alteration in the circadian blood pressure rhythm was observed with different pathophysiological conditions, although no specific pattern was observed for any condition. A disturbance in any part of the hierarchy of factors that regulate the circadian rhythm of sympathetic neural tone seems to disturb the circadian blood pressure rhythm. We conclude that ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is not critically important in the diagnosis of secondary hypertension although it does help in screening for secondary hypertension.
Radiofrequency Ablation: Review of Mechanism, Indications, Technique, and Results

Radiofrequency tissue ablation is a rapidly evolving in situ tissue ablation technique and has received increased attention in the past few years. The applications evolved from ablation of cardiac aberrant conduction fiber, to tumor ablation in bone, liver, kidney, breast, brain, and lung. Among them, hepatic primary and secondary tumor ablation is the most widely studied subject. In this article, we review the mechanism, procedure, results, and the prospects of this technique, with emphasis on hepatic tumor ablation.
Blind image restoration for blurred images implemented on GPU

In this paper, we use a restoration method that rapidly restores blurred images using local patches proposed by Senshiki et al. [1]. The computation time is significantly reduced by that method, but it is not yet a practical. Therefore, we propose to accelerate by implementing the image restoration processing on GPU. By measuring the processing time of the image restoration, we show the superiority of the use of GPU than CPU.
Gray-Box Driver Modeling and Prediction: Benefits of Steering Primitives

Shared control is a promising approach for designing an Advanced Driver Assistance System, since it unifies the advantages of both manual control and full automation. However, for a true cooperative shared control ADAS the automation has to understand the human and thus a suitable model which describes the driver in the control loop is essential. Our gray-box approach bases on the biological concept that humans realize motion by combining a finite set of motion primitives (we call movemes). With the assumption that a driver switches between movemes based on perceived information, we propose a Hidden Markov Model which determines the probability of each movement given a certain driving situation. Car turn maneuver experiments show a good approximation of steering trajectories recorded in a driving simulator. A comparison with a black-box model show that the movement-based driver model performs significantly better. In addition, training algorithms are available and the probabilistic approach of the model allows further interpretation of the results.
Saúde oral em idosos com doença de Alzheimer

Doenca de Alzheimer (DA) e uma desordem neurodegenerativa em que ha comprometimento da memoria e de outras funcoes cognitivas, assim como disturbios motores e comportamentais, que refletem sobre a higiene pessoal e bucal com a evolucao da doenca. A proposta deste estudo foi descrever, subjetiva e objetivamente, a saude oral de uma populacao de idosos diagnosticados com DA. Foram avaliados todos os participantes do "Programa de cinesioterapia funcional e cognitiva de idosos com DA" (PRO-CDA) e do "Programa de atividade fisica para a terceira idade" (PROFIT), ambos da Universidade Estadual Paulista "Julio de Mesquita Filho" (Campus de Rio Claro - Sao Paulo). O grupo experimental foi composto por 30 idosos do PRO-CDA (idade media de 79,13 ± 5,59 anos), nos estagios leve, moderado e severo da DA. O grupo controle foi composto por 30 idosos do PROFIT (idade media de 67,80 ± 5,45 anos), com ausencia de DA ou outra demencia. O aspecto subjetivo de autopercepcao dos idosos foi avaliado por meio do General Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI). A saude oral foi avaliada objetivamente por meio da mensuracao do numero de dentes naturais remanescentes, do numero de dentes cariados, perdidos e obturados (CPOD); do indice de higiene oral (IHO), das condicoes das proteses removiveis quanto a estabilidade, retencao, oclusao, dimensao vertical e defeitos; do tempo de uso e da presenca de biofilme nas proteses removiveis; e da presenca de patologias orais. Analises descritivas das caracteristicas da amostra e relativas as condicoes das proteses removiveis e presenca de patologia oral, foram realizadas pelos testes Qui-quadrado ou Exato de Fisher. Os dados das variaveis, idade, escolaridade e renda mensal; da variavel subjetiva GOHAI e das variaveis objetivas numero de dentes, CPOD, IHO, tempo de uso e presenca de biofilme das proteses removiveis, foram comparados entre os grupos com e sem DA por meio do teste Mann Whitney; e entre o grupo controle e os estagios da DA por meio dos testes Kruskal Wallis e Dunn post-hoc. Nivel de significância de 5% foi utilizado em todos os testes. Os valores do GOHAI foram similares (P=0.1024) e registrados como moderado, o que monstrou uma autopercepcao positiva dos grupos quantos suas condicoes de saude oral. Maior idade (P<0.0001); menor escolaridade (P=0.0098); maior CPOD (P=0.0024); pior IHO (P=0.0023) e menor numero de dentes remanescentes (P=0.0004) foram observados nos idosos com DA. Comparacoes entre os estagios da DA e o grupo controle, tambem mostraram valores similares do GOHAI (P=0.4135). Pior IHO (P=0.0042) foi verificado para os voluntarios no estagio severo; e maior CPOD (P=0.0191) e menor numero de dentes remanescentes (P=0.0223) nos estagios moderado e severo da doenca. Pode-se observar que 75% dos idosos com patologia oral possuiam a DA. Pode-se concluir que os idosos com DA apresentaram maior comprometimento da saude oral pela avaliacao objetiva do que aqueles sem a doenca. Apesar do autorelato de saude bucal por meio do GOHAI ter mostrado uma autopercepcao positiva dos grupos, houve um declinio da saude bucal com a progressao da DA. Abstr
p66ShcA Modulates Tissue Response to Hindlimb Ischemia

Background—Oxidative stress plays a pivotal role in ischemia and ischemia/reperfusion injury. Because p66ShcA-null (p66ShcA−/−) mice exhibit both lower levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species and increased resistance to cell death induced by oxidative stress, we investigated whether tissue damage that follows acute ischemia or ischemia/reperfusion was altered in p66ShcA−/− mice. Methods and Results—Unilateral hindlimb ischemia was induced by femoral artery dissection, and ischemia/reperfusion was induced with an elastic tourniquet. Both procedures caused similar changes in blood perfusion in p66ShcA wild-type (p66ShcAwt) and p66ShcA−/− mice. However, significant differences in tissue damage were found: p66ShcAwt mice displayed marked capillary density decrease and muscle fiber necrosis. In contrast, in p66ShcA−/− mice, minimal capillary density decrease and myofiber death were present. When apoptosis after ischemia was assayed, significantly lower levels of apoptotic endothelial cells and myofibers were found in p66ShcA−/− mice. In agreement with these data, both satellite muscle cells and endothelial cells isolated from p66ShcA−/− mice were resistant to apoptosis induced by simulated ischemia in vitro. Lower apoptosis levels after ischemia in p66ShcA−/− cells correlated with decreased levels of oxidative stress both in vivo and in vitro. Conclusions—p66ShcA plays a crucial role in the cell death pathways activated by acute ischemia and ischemia/reperfusion, indicating p66ShcA as a potential therapeutic target for prevention and treatment of ischemic tissue damage.
A decision support framework for genomically informed investigational cancer therapy.

Rapidly improving understanding of molecular oncology, emerging novel therapeutics, and increasingly available and affordable next-generation sequencing have created an opportunity for delivering genomically informed personalized cancer therapy. However, to implement genomically informed therapy requires that a clinician interpret the patient's molecular profile, including molecular characterization of the tumor and the patient's germline DNA. In this Commentary, we review existing data and tools for precision oncology and present a framework for reviewing the available biomedical literature on therapeutic implications of genomic alterations. Genomic alterations, including mutations, insertions/deletions, fusions, and copy number changes, need to be curated in terms of the likelihood that they alter the function of a "cancer gene" at the level of a specific variant in order to discriminate so-called "drivers" from "passengers. " Alterations that are targetable either directly or indirectly with approved or investigational therapies are potentially "actionable. " At this time, evidence linking predictive biomarkers to therapies is strong for only a few genomic markers in the context of specific cancer types. For these genomic alterations in other diseases and for other genomic alterations, the clinical data are either absent or insufficient to support routine clinical implementation of biomarker-based therapy. However, there is great interest in optimally matching patients to early-phase clinical trials. Thus, we need accessible, comprehensive, and frequently updated knowledge bases that describe genomic changes and their clinical implications, as well as continued education of clinicians and patients.
Thermodynamic analysis of humidifi cation dehumidifi cation desalination cycles

Humidifi cation dehumidifi cation desalination (HDH) is a promising technology for small-scale water production applications. There are several embodiments of this technology which have been investigated by researchers around the world. However, from a previous literature [1], we have found that no study carried out a detailed thermodynamic analysis in order to improve and/or optimize the system performance. In this paper, we analyze the thermodynamic performance of various HDH cycles by way of a theoretical cycle analysis. In addition, we propose novel high-performance variations on those cycles. These high-performance cycles include multi-extraction, multi-pressure and thermal vapor compression cycles. It is predicted that the systems based on these novel cycles will have gained-output ratio in excess of 5 and will outperform existing HDH systems.
Insect Resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis

Insect resistance to the Cry toxins of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) has been examined previously using a number of traditional biochemical and molecular techniques. In this study, we utilized a proteomic approach involving two-dimensional differential gel electrophoresis, mass spectrometry, and function-based activity profiling to examine changes in the gut proteins from the larvae of an Indianmeal moth (IMM, Plodia interpunctella) colony exhibiting resistance to Bt. We found a number of changes in the levels of certain specific midgut proteins that indicate increased glutathione utilization, elevation in oxidative metabolism, and differential maintenance of energy balance within the midgut epithelial cells of the Bt-resistant IMM larva. Additionally, the electrophoretic migration pattern of a low molecular mass acidic protein, which apparently is an ortholog of F1F0-ATPase, was considerably altered in the Bt-resistant insect indicating that variations in amino acid content or modifications of certain proteins also are important components of the resistance phenomenon in the IMM. Furthermore, there was a dramatic decrease in the level of chymotrypsin-like proteinase in the midgut of the Bt-resistant larva, signifying that reduction of chymotrypsin activity, and subsequently decreased activation of Cry toxin in the insect midgut, is an important factor in the resistant state of the IMM. The proteomic analysis of larval gut proteins utilized in this study provides a useful approach for consolidating protein changes and physiological events associated with insect resistance to Bt. Our results support the hypothesis that physiological adaptation of insects and resistance to Bt is multifaceted, including protein modification and changes in the synthesis of specific larval gut proteins. We believe that increased oxidative metabolism may be an adaptive response of insects that undergo survival challenge and that it could mediate detoxification as well as higher rates of generalized and localized mutations that enhance their resistance and provide survival advantage.
Decay constants of the heavy-light mesons from the field correlator method

Meson Green's functions and decay constants f{sub {gamma}} in different channels {gamma} are calculated using the field correlator method. Both, spectrum and f{sub {gamma}}, appear to be expressed only through universal constants: the string tension {sigma}, {alpha}{sub s}, and the pole quark masses. For the S-wave states the calculated masses agree with the experimental numbers within {+-}5 MeV. For the D and D{sub s} mesons the values of f{sub P}(1S) are equal to 210(10) and 260(10) MeV, respectively, and their ratio f{sub D{sub s}}/f{sub D}=1.24(3), agrees with a recent CLEO experiment. The values f{sub P}(1S)=182, 216, 438 MeV are obtained for the B, B{sub s}, and B{sub c} mesons with the ratio f{sub B{sub s}}/f{sub B}=1.19(2) and f{sub D}/f{sub B}=1.14(2). The decay constants f{sub P}(2S) for the first radial excitations as well as the decay constants f{sub V}(1S) in the vector channel are also calculated. The difference of about 20% between f{sub D{sub s}} and f{sub D}, f{sub B{sub s}} and f{sub B} directly follows from our analytical formulas.
Les pêcheries françaises de Méditerranée: synthèse des connaissances

Le document presente des informations sur la nature des fonds et l'hydrodynamisme des diverses facades francaises de Mediterranee. L'importance economique relative des pecheries pour les differentes sous-zones, ainsi que certains aspects de la dynamique de la flottille y sont developpes. Un etat synthetique des connaissances disponibles sur les principales ressources halieutiques exploitees constitue l'essentiel du document. II porte sur 60 especes de poissons, 5 especes de crustaces, 8 especes de mollusques, 1 echinoderme, 1 octocoralliaire. Les fiches especes comportent des informations de biologie generale et des donnees d'exploitation. Chaque espece fait l'objet d'une liste de references bibliographiques.
Adding mucins to an in vitro batch fermentation model of the large intestine induces changes in microbial population isolated from porcine feces depending on the substrate.

Adding mucus to in vitro fermentation models of the large intestine shows that some genera, namely lactobacilli, are dependent on host-microbiota interactions and that they rely on mucosal layers to increase their activity. This study investigated whether this dependence on mucus is substrate dependent and to what extent other genera are impacted by the presence of mucus. Inulin and cellulose were fermented in vitro by a fecal inoculum from pig in the presence or not of mucin beads in order to compare fermentation patterns and bacterial communities. Mucins increased final gas production with inulin and shifted short-chain fatty acid molar ratios (P < 0.001). Quantitative real-time PCR analyses revealed that Lactobacillus spp. and Bifidobacterium spp. decreased with mucins, but Bacteroides spp. increased when inulin was fermented. A more in-depth community analysis indicated that the mucins increased Proteobacteria (0.55 vs 0.25%, P = 0.013), Verrucomicrobia (5.25 vs 0.03%, P = 0.032), Ruminococcaceae, Bacteroidaceae and Akkermansia spp. Proteobacteria (5.67 vs 0.55%, P < 0.001) and Lachnospiraceae (33 vs 10.4%) were promoted in the mucus compared with the broth, while Ruminococcaceae decreased. The introduction of mucins affected many microbial genera and fermentation patterns, but from PCA results, the impact of mucus was independent of the fermentation substrate.
Jamming in Underwater Sensor Networks as a Bayesian Zero-Sum Game with Position Uncertainty

We investigate a jamming problem in an underwater acoustic sensor network, where nodes try to communicate in spite of an adversary that is attempting to block their communications. We take into account that the attenuation of underwater acoustic channels is strongly dependent on the communication distance and the signal frequency. We frame the problem in a game theoretic setup, as a Bayesian zero-sum game where the sensor network acts as the maximizer of the transmission capacity, while the jammer is the minimizer. In particular, we are interested in evaluating the effect of the nodes' position on the resulting equilibrium. The Bayesian character comes into play to represent the uncertainty on the position information of the nodes. Our evaluations show that for many network configurations, the equilibrium strategy of the jammer is pure. Thus, the transmitters can act as though the jammer only causes a higher level of interference. This allows us to identify positions where the damage caused by a jammer is easier to quantify, but the jammer itself is harder to detect.
Network on Chip Architecture for Multi-Agent Systems in FPGA

A system of interacting agents is, by definition, very demanding in terms of computational resources. Although multi-agent systems have been used to solve complex problems in many areas, it is usually very difficult to perform large-scale simulations in their targeted serial computing platforms. Reconfigurable hardware, in particular Field Programmable Gate Arrays devices, have been successfully used in High Performance Computing applications due to their inherent flexibility, data parallelism, and algorithm acceleration capabilities. Indeed, reconfigurable hardware seems to be the next logical step in the agency paradigm, but only a few attempts have been successful in implementing multi-agent systems in these platforms. This article discusses the problem of inter-agent communications in Field Programmable Gate Arrays. It proposes a Network-on-Chip in a hierarchical star topology to enable agents’ transactions through message broadcasting using the Open Core Protocol as an interface between hardware modules. A customizable router microarchitecture is described and a multi-agent system is created to simulate and analyse message exchanges in a generic heavy traffic load agent-based application. Experiments have shown a throughput of 1.6Gbps per port at 100MHz without packet loss and seamless scalability characteristics.
Cancer preventive agents 11. Novel analogs of dimethyl dicarboxylate biphenyl as potent cancer chemopreventive agents†

Context: Dimethyl dicarboxylate biphenyl (DDB) is a clinically used hepatoprotectant and has also been found to have chemopreventive activity. Materials and methods: Sixteen novel analogs (5-20) were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their cancer preventive activity. The 2,2′-bismethyl ester (5-18) and ether (19, 20) DDB analogs were synthesized by insertion of various linear alkyl, short fatty acid, polar, and aromatic groups. All synthesized analogs were evaluated in an in vitro short-term 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced Epstein Barr virus early antigen (EBA-EA) activation assay. Three of the most potent compounds were also tested for inhibitory effects on skin tumor promotion in an in vivo two-stage mouse-skin carcinogenesis test using 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) as an initiator and TPA as a promoter. Results: Compound 19 with bisprenyl ethers had the most significant cancer preventive activity (100% inhibition of activation at 1 × 103 mol ratio/TPA, 78.4%, 49.7%, and 10.9% inhibition at 5 × 102, 1 × 102, 1 × 10 mol ratio/TPA, respectively) in vitro. Compound 19 also exhibited a remarkable inhibitory effect on skin tumor promotion in the in vivo two-stage mouse-skin carcinogenesis test. Discussion and conclusions: Thus, DDB analog 19 could be a valuable candidate as a cancer preventive agent or as a lead for the development of new antitumor promoter drugs.
Insight into Alcohol Consumption-Related Problems and Its Correlates Among Taiwanese Alcoholic Hepatogastroenterological Clinic Patients

1Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 2Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 3Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 4Faculty of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 5Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Municipal Hsiao-Kang Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 6Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA 7Department of Psychiatry, Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
Experience Using Web-Based Shotgun Measures for Large-System Characterization and Improvement

This article discusses our experience in using a World Wide Web-based shotgun measurement approach for mining and characterizing large software systems. The approach recognizes that measurement information is essentially management information, that different levels and functions of the organizational hierarchy require different information to make decisions, and that a measurement program is typically a discovery process about an organization's current modes of operations. What we found was the usefulness of a measurement program that also allows managers to dynamically formulate new goals and get answers to questions not specifically related to original goals but raised nonetheless by metric data. We describe three specific cases of decisions that were made using this approach and data collected from one large system and accessed using the company's intranet over the past two years.
The application of random amplified polymorphic DNA for sandfly species identification

Abstract. We have applied the recently developed Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) method to produce species‐specific, DNA profiles for two sympatric, Venezuelan sandfly species, thought to be the vectors responsible for recent outbreaks of cutaneous and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis in the Andean State of Tachira. Moreover, within the profile, it was possible to identify a diagnostic DNA band for Lu.youngi of 0.32 kb. Results showed that the size of this diagnostic DNA band remained constant and did not vary with sex or geographical distribution.