Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Serial Noninvasive Assessment of Apoptosis During Right Ventricular Disease Progression in Rats

Right ventricular (RV) function is the major determinant of survival in patients with pulmonary hypertension. Yet, the pathophysiologic basis of RV disease is unresolved. We aimed to study the role of apoptosis in RV disease by monitoring it serially during disease progression using in vivo 99mTc-annexin-V (99mTc-annexin) scintigraphy and study whether the reduction in apoptosis resulting from chronic treatment with valsartan can be detected by 99mTc-annexin scintigraphy. Methods: RV disease after pulmonary hypertension was induced by monocrotaline injection in rats. The following 3 groups were studied: rats treated with monocrotaline (monocrotaline rats), rats treated with monocrotaline plus valsartan (valsartan rats), and age-matched controls (control rats). Serial echocardiography and in vivo 99mTc-annexin scintigraphy were performed. Apoptosis was confirmed by 99mTc-annexin autoradiography and terminal deoxynucleotidyl-transferase–mediated dUTP nick-end labeling. Fibrosis was assessed by picrosirius red staining. Results: In monocrotaline rats, in vivo 99mTc-annexin uptake peaked early and declined thereafter but remained elevated, compared with baseline. These stage-dependent changes of in vivo 99mTc-annexin uptake were paralleled by changes in autoradiography and terminal deoxynucleotidyl-transferase–mediated dUTP nick-end labeling. Valsartan rats had longer RV failure–free survival than did monocrotaline rats and had reduced apoptosis. These changes were accompanied by commensurate delays in RV hypertrophy and RV dilation. Valsartan rats also had less fibrosis than monocrotaline rats at all disease stages. Conclusion: RV disease progression is associated with an early increase in RV apoptosis, as monitored using serial in vivo 99mTc-annexin scintigraphy. Delay in RV disease progression by valsartan is accompanied by reduction in RV apoptosis. Apoptosis plays a role in RV disease progression and may be assessed by serial in vivo 99mTc-annexin scintigraphy.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: Abnormalities in Short Term Fluctuations in Heart Rate and Respiratory Activity

Summary: In order to test the hypothesis that a defect in cardiorespiratory regulation contributes to death of infants from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), we analyzed the power spectra of heart rate and respiratory activity during 256-sec epochs of quiet sleep. Data were obtained from pneumogram recordings performed for 12 h at night on eight infants who subsequently died from SIDS and 22 age-matched control infants. We computed the heart rate and respiratory power spectra from a single epoch on each infant using an algorithm developed for an 8085 microprocessor system dedicated to this investigation. There was no statistically significant difference between SIDS and controls based on mean respiratory and heart rates. Spectral analysis revealed enhancement of low frequency power in the 0.02 to 0.1 Hz band in the heart rate power spectrum in the SIDS group compared to control (p < 0.002) and dispersion in respiratory frequency as determined by the respiratory band width (p < 0.00001). These data suggest that a predisposition to SIDS manifests itself in an abnormal pattern of fluctuations in heart rate and respiratory activity.
The age‐related white matter changes scale correlates with cognitive impairment

Background and purpose: Age‐related white matter changes (ARWMC) are closely associated with cognitive impairment. Although the ARWMC scale has been widely used to grade white matter changes (WMC) severity, the correlation between this scale and cognitive impairment has not been studied. We aimed to validate the ARWMC scale against cognition in patients with stroke.
Unraveling the Population History of Indian Siddis

The Siddis are a unique Indian tribe of African, South Asian and European ancestry. While their ancestral origins have been traced to the Bantu populations from sub-Saharan Africa, their population history has remained an enigmatic question. Here, we have traced the biogeographical origin of the Siddis employing an admixture based algorithm, Geographical Population Structure (GPS). We evaluated 14 Siddi genomes in reference to 5 African populations from the 1000 Genomes project and 7 Bantu populations from the Human Genome Diversity project. GPS assigned the Siddi genomes to west Zambia and the present-day border between Zimbabwe and northeastern Botswana, overlapping with one of the principal areas of secondary Bantu settlement in Africa, ~1700 years before present (YBP). This is concordant with the secondary Bantu dispersal route from the east African Bantu center that brought the African ancestors of the Siddis to settlement sites in southeast Africa, from where they were disseminated to India, by the Portuguese. Our results also suggest that while the Siddi genomes are significantly different from that of the Bantus, they displayed the highest genomic proximity to the Luhyas and North-East Bantus from Kenya, and that ancestral Siddis are likely to have split from the Luhyas, ~2700 YBP, in congruence with known Bantu expansion and population migration routes. Together with historical, linguistic and anthropological evidences our findings shine light on the genetic relatedness between populations, fine-scale population structure and recapitulate the population history of the Siddis, in the ethnohistorical context of India.
Loss of correlation between HIV viral load and CD4+ T-cell counts in HIV/HTLV-1 co-infection in treatment naïve Mozambican patients

Seven hundred and four HIV-1/2-positive, antiretroviral therapy (ART) naïve patients were screened for HTLV-1 infection. Antibodies to HTLV-1 were found in 32/704 (4.5%) of the patients. Each co-infected individual was matched with two HIV mono-infected patients according to World Health Organization clinical stage, age ±5 years and gender. Key clinical and laboratory characteristics were compared between the two groups. Mono-infected and co-infected patients displayed similar clinical characteristics. However, co-infected patients had higher absolute CD4+ T-cell counts (P = 0.001), higher percentage CD4+ T-cell counts (P < 0.001) and higher CD4/CD8 ratios (P < 0.001). Although HIV plasma RNA viral loads were inversely correlated with CD4+ T-cell-counts in mono-infected patients (P < 0.0001), a correlation was not found in co-infected individuals (P = 0.11). Patients with untreated HIV and HTLV-1 co-infection show a dissociation between immunological and HIV virological markers. Current recommendations for initiating ART and chemoprophylaxis against opportunistic infections in resource-poor settings rely on more readily available CD4+ T-cell counts without viral load parameters. These guidelines are not appropriate for co-infected individuals in whom high CD4+ T-cell counts persist despite high HIV viral load states. Thus, for co-infected patients, even in resource-poor settings, HIV viral loads are likely to contribute information crucial for the appropriate timing of ART introduction.
Geographic Variability in Access to Primary Kidney Transplantation in the United States, 1996–2005

This article focuses on geographic variability in patient access to kidney transplantation in the United States. It examines geographic differences and trends in access rates to kidney transplantation, in the component rates of wait‐listing, and of living and deceased donor transplantation. Using data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network/Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, we studied 700 000+ patients under 75, who began chronic dialysis treatment, received their first living donor kidney transplant, or were placed on the waiting list pre‐emptively. Relative rates of wait‐listing and transplantation by State were calculated using Cox regression models, adjusted for patient demographics. There were geographic differences in access to the kidney waiting list and to a kidney transplant. Adjusted wait‐list rates ranged from 37% lower to 64% higher than the national average. The living donor rate ranged from 57% lower to 166% higher, while the deceased donor transplant rate ranged from 60% lower to 150% higher than the national average. In general, States with higher wait‐listing rates tended to have lower transplantation rates and States with lower wait‐listing rates had higher transplant rates. Six States demonstrated both high wait‐listing and deceased donor transplantation rates while six others, plus D.C. and Puerto Rico, were below the national average for both parameters.
In vitro proliferation and differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells on hydroxyapatite versus human demineralised bone matrix with and without osteogenic protein-1

Background: Allografting is currently used in lower limb reconstruction surgery. Demineralised bone matrix (DBM) is more osteoinductive compared with allografts but lacks mechanical strength. Osteogenic protein-1 (OP-1) can improve the osteoinductivity of the allograft, however recent reports indicate significant allograft resorption when it is combined with OP-1. Objectives: Our hypothesis was that hydroxyapatite (HA) with human-mesenchymal stem cells (h-MSCs) and OP-1 (HA+h-MSCs+OP-1) has similar osteoinductive properties to human-DBM+h-MSCs. The objective was to evaluate h-MSC proliferation (by tritiated thymidine incorporation, total DNA Hoechst 33258 and scanning electron microscopy) and osteogenic differentiation (from alkaline phosphatase activity) in human demineralised bone matrix (h-DBM) and HA, with or without OP-1. Results: H-MSC proliferation on HA+OP-1 was significantly higher compared with that on HA at all time points (p < 0.05) and compared with DBM alone [day 1, (198.4 vs 95.4) p = 0.042; day 14 (286.1 vs 119.9), p < 0.001]. H-MSC proliferation was higher in DBM+OP-1, at all time points compared with HA+OP-1 but the difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). H-MSC differentiation was significantly higher in HA+OP-1 compared with HA (p < 0.05) but not significantly different from diffferentiation on DBM alone (p > 0.05). Differentiation was significantly higher on DBM+OP-1 at all time points compared with HA (p < 0.05) and with HA+OP-1 [day 1, (21.1 vs 10.1) (p = 0.03); day 7 (39.4 vs 7.1) (p < 0.01); day 14 (40.2 vs 14.4) (p < 0.001)]. Conclusions: When HA+h-MSCs is combined with OP-1 in vitro its osteogenic potential is similar to that of DBM+h-MSCs alone which may be adequate for non-weight-bearing applications. Mechanical testing however is of great importance for weight-bearing applications and the in vivo testing of the composite graft HA+h-MSCs+OP-1 vs DBM+h-MSCs is recommended.
Labor Strategy for Industrialization in South Korea

EVERY DEVELOPING COUNTRY has been trying to achieve economic growth and to enhance the living standards of the people by building an industrialized society. It is the concern with these issues that to a significant degree underlies the debates between modernization and dependency theorists. Moore pointed out that the requirements for modern economic development include the quest for improvement and political stability. ' Berg added that there are three prerequisites for industrialization and economic growth: human capital formation, social and organizational technology, and physical capital formation.2 Most developing countries are deficient in one or more of these prerequisites. Although the first of these might be internally achieved, the others cannot be attained in a short period. For rapid growth and industrialization, developing countries must borrow from developed countries. However, dependency theorists worry and warn that the flow of foreign technology or capital may result in such dependency on the developed country as to be counter-productive for the developing country.3 Therefore, a population who seeks to continue on the road to industrialization must carefully evaluate the road to development. The purpose of this paper is to consider South Korea's road to industrialization in light of South Korea's economic success which is regarded as one of the few success stories of economic growth and industrialization of a developing country. Over the past quarter century, South Korea sustained an unusually high GNP, averaging 9.2 percent annually.4 The economic growth of South Korea has been an inspiration to many developing countries because it is a small country with meager raw materials and scanty capital. South Korea
Reduced Event-Related Current Density in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex in Schizophrenia

There is good evidence from neuroanatomic postmortem and functional imaging studies that dysfunction of the anterior cingulate cortex plays a prominent role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. So far, no electrophysiological localization study has been performed to investigate this deficit. We investigated 18 drug-free schizophrenic patients and 25 normal subjects with an auditory choice reaction task and measured event-related activity with 19 electrodes. Estimation of the current source density distribution in Talairach space was performed with low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA). In normals, we could differentiate between an early event-related potential peak of the N1 (90-100 ms) and a later N1 peak (120-130 ms). Subsequent current-density LORETA analysis in Talairach space showed increased activity in the auditory cortex area during the first N1 peak and increased activity in the anterior cingulate gyrus during the second N1 peak. No activation difference was observed in the auditory cortex between normals and patients with schizophrenia. However, schizophrenics showed significantly less anterior cingulate gyrus activation and slowed reaction times. Our results confirm previous findings of an electrical source in the anterior cingulate and an anterior cingulate dysfunction in schizophrenics. Our data also suggest that anterior cingulate function in schizophrenics is disturbed at a relatively early time point in the information-processing stream (100-140 ms poststimulus).
Determinants Of Oral corticosteroid Responsiveness in Wheezing Asthmatic Youth (DOORWAY): protocol for a prospective multicentre cohort study of children with acute moderate-to-severe asthma exacerbations

Introduction Oral corticosteroids are the cornerstone of acute asthma management in the emergency department. Recent evidence has raised doubts about the efficacy of this treatment in preschool-aged children with viral-induced wheezing and in smoking adults. The aims of the study were to: (1) document the magnitude of response to oral corticosteroids in children presenting to the emergency department with moderate or severe asthma; (2) quantify potential determinants of response to corticosteroids and (3) explore the role of gene polymorphisms associated with the responsiveness to corticosteroids. Methods and analysis The design is a prospective cohort study of 1008 children aged 1–17 years meeting a strict definition of asthma and presenting with a clinical score of ≥4 on the validated Pediatric Respiratory Assessment Measure. All children will receive standardised severity-specific treatment with prednisone/prednisolone and cointerventions (salbutamol with/without ipratropium bromide). Determinants, namely viral aetiology, environmental tobacco smoke and single nucleotide polymorphism, will be objectively documented. The primary efficacy endpoint is the failure of emergency department (ED) management within 72 h of the ED visit. Secondary endpoints include other measures of asthma severity and time to recovery within 7 days of the index visit. The study has 80% power for detecting a risk difference of 7.5% associated with each determinant from a baseline risk of 21%, at an α of 0.05. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval has been obtained from all participating institutions. An impaired response to systemic steroids in certain subgroups will challenge the current standard of practice and call for the immediate search for better approaches. A potential host–environment interaction will broaden our understanding of corticosteroid responsiveness in children. Documentation of similar effectiveness of corticosteroids across determinants will provide the needed reassurance regarding current treatment recommendations. Results Results will be disseminated at international conferences and manuscripts targeted at emergency physicians, paediatricians, geneticists and respirologists. Trial registration number This study is registered at Clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02013076).
Direct Quantile Regression for Nonparametric Probabilistic Forecasting of Wind Power Generation

The fluctuation and uncertainty of wind power generation bring severe challenges to secure and economic operation of power systems. Because wind power forecasting error is unavoidable, probabilistic forecasting becomes critical to accurately quantifying the uncertainty involved in traditional point forecasts of wind power and to providing meaningful information to conduct risk management in power system operation. This paper proposes a novel direct quantile regression approach to efficiently generate nonparametric probabilistic forecasting of wind power generation combining extreme learning machine and quantile regression. Quantiles with different proportions can be directly produced via an innovatively formulated linear programming optimization model, without dependency on point forecasts. Multistep probabilistic forecasting of 10-min wind power is newly carried out based on real wind farm data from Bornholm Island in Denmark. The superiority of the proposed approach is verified through comparisons with other well-established benchmarks. The proposed approach forms a new artificial neural network-based nonparametric forecasting framework for wind power with high efficiency, reliability, and flexibility, which can be beneficial to various decision-making activities in power systems.
Sparse representation of photoplethysmogram using K-SVD for cuffless estimation of arterial blood pressure

The paper presents the application of sparse representation in feature extraction for the cuffless estimation of Blood Pressure (BP). The sparse coding dictionary learned from the signal of our interest can easily represent the signal in terms of sparse coefficients. Considering the similarity in the pulse shape of Photoplethysmogram (PPG) and Arterial Blood Pressure (ABP), the sparse coefficients that approximate the PPG are obtained and regression model is developed using Random Forests. The experiments were performed using Multiparameter Intelligent Monitoring in Intensive Care (MIMIC-II) database. The K-SVD method is used for dictionary learning and orthogonal matching pursuit to generate the feature vector. The proposed system is compared with the baseline system that employs Pulse transit time and time domain features from PPG as the features. The results suggests that with respect to the baseline system, the proposed system achieves reduction in the Mean Absolute Error and Root Mean Square Error by 11.68% and 9.97% respectively for systolic BP and 1.36% and 7.94% respectively for Diastolic BP. The performance of the above system can be further improved by subject dependent calibration of the system.
Multicore Fiber Optimization for Application to Chip-to-Chip Optical Interconnects

We present the design of a holey microstructured multicore optical fiber optimized to meet the stringent requirements of chip-to-chip optical interconnects, namely, be compatible with high-speed vertical-cavity surface-emission lasers, feature ultrahigh channel density, low crosstalk, and millimeter-bend resistance to sustain the tight bends required on an electronic circuit board. We show that the shortcomings of the standard hexagonal microstructure can be overcome by the use of seven-rod cores. We present the detailed simulation results of the crosstalk and bend loss as a function of all the important microstructure parameters that led to the optimized solution. We discuss the crosstalk dependence on the bending radius. To our knowledge, the multicore fiber presented here achieves the highest normalized core density proposed to date, low enough crosstalk for meter-long transmission at 10 Gb/s and bend loss <; 0.02 dB/loop at a 1-mm bend radius. Maximizing space-division multiplexing, it has the potential to allow Tb/s·cm2 optical interconnects without the need for wavelength-division multiplexing.
Impact of Direction of Unloading Influence on Template Rate of Perceived Exertion

Abstract Greer, BK, Young, PR, Thompson, B, Rickert, BJ, and Moran, MF. Impact of direction of unloading influence on template rate of perceived exertion. J Strength Cond Res 32(12): 3407–3413, 2018—It is suggested that exercisers engage in a process of teleoanticipation and create an exercise template based on previous experience with the exercise task that guides their perceptions of the amount of effort required for task completion. This study examined how altering workload intensity during a positive-pressure treadmill task may impact Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE). In a counterbalanced design, 15 collegiate cross-country runners (7 men and 8 women) performed 2 25-minute runs at a constant velocity, while body mass (BM) was either increased from 60 to 100% (low-to-high progression trial [INC]) or decreased from 100 to 60% (high-to-low progression trial) in 5-minutes increments. Oxygen consumption (V[Combining Dot Above]O2), heart rate (HR), and respiratory exchange ratio (RER) were collected. RPE was recorded at the end of each stage, and energy expenditure (EE) was calculated with V[Combining Dot Above]O2 and RER data. There were no significant differences between direction of loading conditions for V[Combining Dot Above]O2, EE, HR, and RER (p > 0.05). Between-trial differences in RPE at 100, 90, and 80% BM were statistically significant (p < 0.001), with higher RPEs observed during the INC. Differences in RPE observed between conditions cannot be explained by physiological mechanisms. These findings suggest that RPE is a multifaceted construct that can be impacted by subjectively based anticipatory factors such as exercise intensity.
Kinetics of (R)-[11C] rolipram and (S)-[11C] rolipram In the Dog Heart: Investigation of Four Compartment Models

The PET tracers (R)-[11C]rolipram and (S)-[11C]rolipram have been proposed to measure phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4) density as an indirect index of cAMP-mediated cell signaling, which is altered in many cardiac pathologies. The aim of this study was to determine which of the following models (if any) describe the kinetics of these tracers in normal dog hearts: a one-compartment model, a two-compartment model, and dual-input models comprising one or two compartments for rolipram and one compartment for labeled metabolites. Dynamic PET data were acquired from 6 healthy dogs with (R)-[11C]rolipram (10 studies) and (S)-[11C]rolipram (6 studies). Parameter estimates were obtained for 648 ROI's and median values determined. Distribution volumes were estimated from the parameter estimates. The one-compartment model did not fit the data acquired with either tracer adequately. Both the two-compartment model and the model comprising one compartment for the unchanged tracer and a parallel compartment to account for labeled metabolites provided good fits to the data obtained with (S)-[11C]rolipram (R-square: 0.99-1). The two-compartment model, with or without a parallel compartment to account for metabolites, described the kinetics of (R)-[11C]rolipram very well (R-square: 0.98-0.99). Estimates of the distribution volumes obtained with models that provided good fits to the data were very reproducible (CV: 10%-21%), suggesting that reliable measurement of PDE4 density in the heart may be possible.