Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
4D XCAT phantom for multimodality imaging research.

PURPOSE The authors develop the 4D extended cardiac-torso (XCAT) phantom for multimodality imaging research. METHODS Highly detailed whole-body anatomies for the adult male and female were defined in the XCAT using nonuniform rational B-spline (NURBS) and subdivision surfaces based on segmentation of the Visible Male and Female anatomical datasets from the National Library of Medicine as well as patient datasets. Using the flexibility of these surfaces, the Visible Human anatomies were transformed to match body measurements and organ volumes for a 50th percentile (height and weight) male and female. The desired body measurements for the models were obtained using thePEOPLESIZE program that contains anthropometric dimensions categorized from 1st to the 99th percentile for US adults. The desired organ volumes were determined from ICRP Publication 89 [ICRP, "Basic anatomical and physiological data for use in radiological protection: reference values," ICRP Publication 89 (International Commission on Radiological Protection, New York, NY, 2002)]. The male and female anatomies serve as standard templates upon which anatomical variations may be modeled in the XCAT through user-defined parameters. Parametrized models for the cardiac and respiratory motions were also incorporated into the XCAT based on high-resolution cardiac- and respiratory-gated multislice CT data. To demonstrate the usefulness of the phantom, the authors show example simulation studies in PET, SPECT, and CT using publicly available simulation packages. RESULTS As demonstrated in the pilot studies, the 4D XCAT (which includes thousands of anatomical structures) can produce realistic imaging data when combined with accurate models of the imaging process. With the flexibility of the NURBS surface primitives, any number of different anatomies, cardiac or respiratory motions or patterns, and spatial resolutions can be simulated to perform imaging research. CONCLUSIONS With the ability to produce realistic, predictive 3D and 4D imaging data from populations of normal and abnormal patients under various imaging parameters, the authors conclude that the XCAT provides an important tool in imaging research to evaluate and improve imaging devices and techniques. In the field of x-ray CT, the phantom may also provide the necessary foundation with which to optimize clinical CT applications in terms of image quality versus radiation dose, an area of research that is becoming more significant with the growing use of CT.
The sepsis six and the severe sepsis resuscitation bundle: a prospective observational cohort study

Background Severe sepsis is likely to account for around 37 000 deaths annually in the UK. Five years after the international Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) care bundles were published, care standards in the management of patients with severe sepsis are achieved in fewer than one in seven patients. Methods This was a prospective observational cohort study across a 500-bed acute general hospital, to assess the delivery and impact of two interventions: the SSC resuscitation bundle and a new intervention designed to facilitate delivery, the sepsis six. Process measures included compliance with the bundle and the sepsis six; the outcome measure was mortality at hospital discharge. Results Data from 567 patients were suitable for analysis. Compliance with the bundle increased from baseline. 84.6% of those receiving the sepsis six (n=220) achieved the resuscitation bundle compared with only 5.8% of others. Delivery of the interventions had an association with reduced mortality: for the sepsis six (n=220), 20.0% compared with 44.1% (p<0.001); for the resuscitation bundle (n=204), 5.9% compared with 51% (p<0.001). Those receiving the sepsis six were much more likely to receive the full bundle. Those seen by the sepsis team had improved compliance with bundles and reduced mortality. Conclusions This study supports the SSC resuscitation bundle, and is suggestive of an association with reduced mortality although does not demonstrate causation. It demonstrates that simplified pathways, such as the sepsis six, and education programmes such as survive sepsis can contribute to improving the rate of delivery of these life-saving interventions.
Enhancing an Agent-based Test Case Prioritization System by Event Evaluation

Test case prioritization systems are useful tools to support test managers in planning test runs in regression testing. These systems evaluate information about test cases to nd the best order for the test case execution. During a system's life cycle, a lot of test runs are usually performed. To give optimal support and to improve the results from test run to test run, the prioritization systems need to react dynamically to events, which occur during the di erent phases development, test and operation of the life cycle. They have to consider changes, unexpected faults found during operation, and many other events. This article describes an agent-based approach to improve a test case prioritization system by considering dynamic events for the test plan generation.
Mammotropic and somatotropic hormones in sera of normal rats and in rats bearing primary and grafted pituitary tumors

Parallel determinations were made of the concentration of MtH and StH in the sera of rats with spontaneous, estrogen‐induced and grafted pituitary tumors and, for a base, in sera of normal rats of both sexes, in various physiologic states, following oophorectomy and treatment with gonadal hormones.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Surrogates of Multiple Sclerosis Pathology and Their Relationship to Central Nervous System Atrophy

This article focuses on the various magnetic resonance imaging metrics currently used in multiple sclerosis and discusses how they relate to central nervous system atrophy. The authors discuss the significance of T2 lesion burden, gray matter damage, T1 hypointense lesions (black holes), contrast‐enhanced lesions, magnetization transfer imaging, diffusion imaging, and magnetic resonance spectroscopy. These magnetic resonance imaging surrogates exhibit different sensitivities for each of the underlying pathogenic processes of multiple sclerosis. By exploiting the complementary nature and varying sensitivities of these magnetic resonance imaging surrogates, it is possible to create a more comprehensive picture of the degenerative process of multiple sclerosis.
Term Outcomes of Laparoscopic versus Open Distal Gastrectomy with D 2 Lymph Nodes Dissection for Gastric Cancer : A Prospective Study

Background: Laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (LDG) for gastric adenocarcinoma (GA) is gaining more acceptances worldwide. Its results are still controversial. This study aimed to assess short term outcomes of LDG and compare it to the standard open distal gastrectomy. Patients and Methods: 27 patients with GA of the distal 2/3 of the stomach were included and divided into 2 groups; Group A: 15 patients submitted to open distal gastrectomy with D2 lymph node (LN) dissection, and Group B: 12 patients submitted to LDG with D2 LN dissection. Results: The median age was 54 and 54.3 years in group A and B respectively. The median operative time was 118.7 and 210.2 minutes in group A and B respectively. The median safety margin was 6.52 and 5.7 cm in group A and B respectively while the median number of excised LN was 24.2 and 21.4 in group A and B respectively. One patient in group B had intraoperative bleeding that was controlled laparoscopically. No conversion to open surgery needed in group B. The median number of narcotic doses was 5.9 and 4.25 in group A and B respectively. The median length of hospital stay was 7.2 days in group A and 7.3 days in group B. Three patients in group A and 2 patients in group B had postoperative complications and all were treated successfully conservatively. Conclusion: LDG with D2 LN dissection is oncologically safe with short-term outcomes comparable to those of the open surgery. Gaining more surgeons’ experience is necessary to improve these results.
DART: Dependable VLSI test architecture and its implementation

Although many electronic safety-related systems require very high reliability, it is becoming harder and harder to achieve it because of delay-related failures, which are caused by decreased noise margin. This paper describes a technology named DART and its implementation. The DART repeatedly measures the maximum delay of a circuit and the amount of degradation in field, in consequence, confirms the marginality of the circuit. The system employing the DART will be informed the significant reduction of delay margin in advance of a failure and be able to repair it at an appropriate time. The DART also equips a technique to improve the test coverage using the rotating test and a technique to consider the test environment such as temperature or voltage using novel ring-oscillator-based monitors. The authors applied the proposed technology to an industrial design and confirmed its effectiveness and availability with reasonable resources.
14.6 An all-digital power-delivery monitor for analysis of a 28nm dual-core ARM Cortex-A57 cluster

The current trend for System-on-Chip (SoC) compute subsystems is to improve energy efficiency, while operating at a similar power budget as previous generations. Reduced supply voltages and increased transistor density affords SoCs composed of multiple clusters of CPUs and additional specialized compute engines. However, this comes at the cost of both increasing current, and increasing current density, to the extent that these systems are ultimately constrained by power delivery. Pathological AC supply noise conditions may arise due to sporadic combinations of system and micro-architectural events, and these effectively limit the energy efficiency of the system, as sufficient voltage margin must be deployed to guarantee these conditions do not result in system failure.
Financial crisis and sectoral diversification of Argentine banks, 1999–2004

We explore the impact and evolution of loan portfolio diversification during the 2001–2002 Argentine financial crises. Using a novel dataset that combines public information on the main activity of the largest 930 Argentine firms with their borrowing from each bank operating in the country between 1999 and 2004, we find that banks did not modify much their loan portfolio mix as a response to the crisis. Econometric results point to a positive effect of sectoral diversification and lending to tradable sectors on bank profitability and risk mitigation. Our results suggest that larger banks benefit more from diversification than smaller ones and that the benefits of diversification are greater during the downside of the business cycle.
The ricochet of magic bullets: summary of the Institute of Medicine Report, Adverse Effects of Pertussis and Rubella Vaccines.

On July 3, 1991, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a reported entitled, Adverse Effects of Pertussis and Rubella Vaccines,1 in response to a congressional request to review evidence about a set of serious adverse events and immunization with pertussis and rubella vaccines. The request originated in the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (Public Law 99-660), whose primary purpose was to establish a federal compensation scheme for persons potentially injured by a vaccine; Section 312 of Public Law 99-660 called for the IOM review. Over the course of its 20-month study, the 11-member interdisciplinary committee constituted by IOM to conduct the review examined altogether 18 adverse events for pertussis vaccine—infantile spasms; hypsarhythmia; aseptic meningitis; acute encephalopathy; chronic neurologic (permanent brain) damage; deaths classified as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS); anaphylaxis, autism; erythema multiforme or other rashes; Guillain-Barré syndrome (polyneuropathy); peripheral mononeuropathy; hemolytic anemia; juvenile diabetes; learning disabilities and hyperactivity; protracted inconsolable crying or screaming; Reye's syndrome; shock and "unusual shock-like state" with hypotonicity, hyporesponsiveness, and short-lived convulsions (usually febrile); and thrombocytopenia—and 4 adverse events for rubella vaccine—acute arthritis; chronic arthritis; radiculoneuritis and other neuropathies; and thrombocytopenic purpura. In conducting its review, the committee recognized that its charge was to focus on questions of causation and not broader topics, such as cost-benefit or risk-benefit analyses of vaccination. This summary begins with a brief history of events leading to the IOM study, then reviews the methods used by the committee to evaluate the evidence, summarizes the committee's conclusions for these adverse events, and offers directions for future investigation of adverse events in connection with widely used health interventions, such as vaccination.
Consistent Reduction of ACTH responses to stimulation with CRH, Vasopressin and Hypoglycaemia in Patients with Major Depression

Eleven patients with major depression and 12 control subjects were administered corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), aqueous arginine vasopressin (AVP), and insulin hypoglycaemia (IH) to test for differences in hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis function. Patients with major depression demonstrated lower ACTH responses to CRH when compared with controls, and a trend toward such after administration of AVP. Despite lower ACTH responses in patients with depression, there were no differences in Cortisol responses to these stimuli. In the CRH and AVP tests, there was no correlation between the basal Cortisol and ACTH responses in either controls or patients, but in the IH test there was a negative correlation between these responses for both groups. The ACTH responses to CRH and AVP were positively correlated in controls and patients. Cortisol responses to all three provocative stimuli were positively correlated in both subject groups. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that hypothalamic or supra-hypothalamic overactivity may be involved in the development of HPA-axis abnormalities in patients with depression.
Nonconvulsive Status Epilepticus: High Incidence of Complex Partial Status

Summary: Nonconvulsive status epilepticus may be subdivided into generalized (absence) status and complex partial status. The latter is regarded as a rarity, whereas the former constitutes the dominant part of the hitherto reported cases. We report 10 consecutive cases of adult patients with nonconvulsive status epilepticus, all documented by ictal electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings. Five had a complex partial status; the origin of the complex partial status appeared to be frontal in four of these patients. Three had recurrent complex partial seizures with incomplete recovery between seizures, and two had more continuous symptoms. One of the latter exhibited neither motor phenomena nor automatisms. The effect of diazepam or clonazepam was immediate in all 10 cases though transient in eight. A lasting control of the status was not achieved in six patients until i.v. phenytoin was added. The difficulties in the differentiation between complex partial status and absence status despite ictal EEG recordings are discussed, illustrated by a case with seizure discharges of a focal onset which rapidly generalized. The study indicates that complex partial status may be more common and the clinical expressions of absence status more variable than hitherto recognized.
A nonlinear switching control method for a class of non-minimum-phase nonlinear systems

This paper presents a nonlinear control method by combining adaptive-network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) with multiple models for a class of uncertain discrete-time nonlinear systems with unstable zero-dynamics. The proposed method is composed of a linear robust controller, an ANFIS-based nonlinear controller, and a switching mechanism using multiple models technique. The method in this paper has the following three features compared with the results available in the literature. First, this method relaxes the commonly-used global boundedness assumption on the unmodeled dynamics, and thus can cope with a much general class of practical applications. Secondly, ANFIS is used to estimate and compensate for the unmodeled dynamics adaptively in the nonlinear controller design, which improves the relatively low convergence rate of neural networks and reduces the possibility that the networks becomes trapped in local minima. Thirdly, to guarantee the universal approximation property of ANFIS, a “one-to-one mapping” is adapted. A simulation example is exploited to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Transcriptomic analysis identifies genes and pathways related to myrmecophagy in the Malayan pangolin (Manis javanica)

The Malayan pangolin (Manis javanica) is an unusual, scale-covered, toothless mammal that specializes in myrmecophagy. Due to their threatened status and continuing decline in the wild, concerted efforts have been made to conserve and rescue this species in captivity in China. Maintaining this species in captivity is a significant challenge, partly because little is known of the molecular mechanisms of its digestive system. Here, the first large-scale sequencing analyses of the salivary gland, liver and small intestine transcriptomes of an adult M. javanica genome were performed, and the results were compared with published liver transcriptome profiles for a pregnant M. javanica female. A total of 24,452 transcripts were obtained, among which 22,538 were annotated on the basis of seven databases. In addition, 3,373 new genes were predicted, of which 1,459 were annotated. Several pathways were found to be involved in myrmecophagy, including olfactory transduction, amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism, lipid metabolism, and terpenoid and polyketide metabolism pathways. Many of the annotated transcripts were involved in digestive functions: 997 transcripts were related to sensory perception, 129 were related to digestive enzyme gene families, and 199 were related to molecular transporters. One transcript for an acidic mammalian chitinase was found in the annotated data, and this might be closely related to the unique digestive function of pangolins. These pathways and transcripts are involved in specialization processes related to myrmecophagy (a form of insectivory) and carbohydrate, protein and lipid digestive pathways, probably reflecting adaptations to myrmecophagy. Our study is the first to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying myrmecophagy in M. javanica, and we hope that our results may play a role in the conservation of this species.
Blood Glucose Control for Individuals with Type-2 Diabetes: Acute Effects of Resistance Exercise of Lower Cardiovascular-Metabolic Stress

Abstract Moreira, SR, Simões, GC, Moraes, JFVN, Motta, DF, Campbell, CSG, and Simões, HG. Blood glucose control for individuals with type-2 diabetes: Acute effects of resistance exercise of lower cardiovascular-metabolic stress. J Strength Cond Res 26(10): 2806–2811, 2012—This study compared the effects of resistance exercise (RE) intensities on blood glucose (GLUC) of individuals without (ND) and with type-2 diabetes (T2D). Nine individuals with T2D and 10 ND performed: (a) RE circuit at 23% of 1 maximal repetition (1RM) (RE_L); (b) RE circuit at 43% 1RM (RE_M); and (c) control (CON) session. Blood lactate (LAC) and GLUC were measured before, during, and postinterventions. Double product (DP) and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) were recorded. The area under the curve (AUC) revealed the effects of RE circuits in reducing GLUC in individuals with T2D (RE_L: 12,556 ± 3,269 vs. RE_M: 13,433 ± 3,054 vs. CON: 14,576 ± 3,922 mg.dl−1.145 minutes; p < 0.05) with a lower AUC of GLUC in RE_L in comparison to RE_M. Similarly, for ND the RE_L reduced the AUC of GLUC when compared with RE_M and CON (RE_L: 10,943 ± 956 vs. RE_M: 12,156 ± 1,062 vs. CON: 11,498 ± 882 mg.dl−1.145 minutes; p < 0.05). The AUC of GLUC was higher for T2D compared with ND on CON condition (p = 0.02). However, after RE circuits the difference between groups for AUC of GLUC was abolished. The RE_M for T2D was more stressful when compared with RE_L for LAC (CON: 1.3 ± 0.5 vs. RE_L: 5.5 ± 1.5 vs. RE_M: 6.8 ± 1.3 mmol·L−1; p < 0.05), DP (CON: 8,415 ± 1,223 vs. RE_L: 15,980 ± 2,007 vs. RE_M: 18,047 ± 3,693 mmHg.bpm−1; p < 0.05), and RPE (RE_L: 11 ± 2 vs. RE_M: 13 ± 2 Borg Scale; p < 0.05). We concluded that RE_L and RE_M were effective in reducing GLUC for individuals with T2D, with lower cardiovascular-metabolic and perceptual stress being observed for RE_L. These data suggest that acute RE sessions at light or moderate intensities are effective for controlling GLUC in individuals with T2D.
Artifact-compensated time-continuous recording from neural tissue during stimulation using a capacitively coupled in-vitro CMOS-MEA with 4k recording and 1k stimulation sites

A CMOS MEA with 4k recording and 1k stimulation sites is used for time-continuous recording of neural signals during stimulation. All sites consist of thin metal electrodes on the chip surface covered by a thin high-k dielectric. Recording and stimulation channels are electrically separated but physically superimposed so that recording at the site of stimulation is possible as well as at any other location within the array. A compensation method is introduced to fully compensate for stimulation signal-induced artifacts in the recording channels. Measurement results reveal the feasibility of our approach.
Proximity relationships between helices I and XI or XII in the lactose permease of Escherichia coli determined by site-directed thiol cross-linking.

The lactose permease of Escherichia coli was expressed in two fragments (split permease), each with a Cys residue, and cross-linking was studied. Split permease with a discontinuity in either loop II/III (N2C10permease) or loop VI/VII (N6C6permease) was used. Proximity of multiple pairs of Cys residues in helices I and XI or XII was examined by using three homobifunctional thiol-specific cross-linking reagents of different lengths and flexibilities (6 A, rigid; 10 A, rigid; 16 A, flexible) or iodine. Cys residues in the periplasmic half of helix I cross-link to Cys residues in the periplasmic half of helix XI. In contrast, no cross-linking is evident with paired Cys residues near the cytoplasmic ends of helices I and XI. Therefore, the periplasmic halves of helices I and XI are in close proximity, and the helices tilt away from each other towards the cytoplasmic face of the membrane. Cross-linking is also found with paired Cys residues near the middle of helices I and XII, but not with paired Cys residues near either end of the helices. Thus, helices I and XII are in close proximity only in the approximate middle of the membrane. Based on the findings, a modified helix packing model is proposed.