Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Monitoring and Sedation Differences in the Management of Severe Head Injury and Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Among Neurocritical Care Centers

Background: The emergence of specialized neurocritical care (NCC) centers has been associated with an improved survival of patients with severe traumatic brain injury or subarachnoid hemorrhage. However, there are no established guidelines on sedation strategy or the frequency of evaluating the level of consciousness using the neurological wake-up test (NWT) in sedated NCC patients. Objectives: The aim was to compare the (1) monitoring techniques, (2) sedation principles, and (3) the use of the NWT in patients with severe traumatic brain injury or subarachnoid hemorrhage in 16 NCC centers. Method: A systematic survey of all 16 centers providing NCC in Scandinavia was performed using a questionnaire regarding the routine primary choice of sedative and analgesic compounds, monitoring techniques, and the frequency of the NWT, sent to the director of each center during 1999, 2004, and 2009. Results: The response rate was 100%. Except for one center in 1999, all included centers routinely used monitoring of intracranial and cerebral perfusion pressure. In contrast, newer monitoring techniques such as microdialysis, jugular bulb oximetry, and brain tissue oxygenation were infrequently used throughout the survey period. Approximately half of the NCC centers used propofol infusion as the primary sedative, whereas the remaining centers used midazolam infusion, and there was a marked variation in the choice of analgesia in each evaluated year. The NWT was never used in 50% of centers and ≥six times daily in one center from 1999 to 2009. Most differences among the NCC centers remained unchanged over the evaluated 10-year period. Discussion: Although Scandinavian countries have similar healthcare systems, there were marked differences among the participating NCC centers in the choice of monitoring tools and sedatives and the routine use of the NWT. These differences likely reflect different clinical management traditions and a lack of evidence-based guidelines in routine NCC.
Remittances and Happiness of Migrants and Their Home Households: Evidence Using Matched Samples

Abstract This paper explores how remittances influence happiness among migrants and their households of origin. It is based on a novel data set of matched samples of Bangladeshi migrant households (living in the UK and Malaysia) and their origin families in Bangladesh. Empirical findings suggest that remittances play a significant role in stimulating migrants’ happiness. We also find that the households of origin’s life satisfaction not only depends on receiving remittances from the emigrants, but also other factors such as number of migrants from the household living abroad and the migrants’ country of destination.
An advanced data leakage detection system analyzing relations between data leak activity

In order to prevent the data leakage by the internal staff, the companies protect important information of the company by inputting the behavior pattern related to the data leakage into the system in advance and by defining the employee as the staff who leaked the data, whose behavior pattern is detected when such inputted behavior pattern is detected. However, in the case of the existing system, if the data is leaked according to the pattern of the security log occurrence which is not inputted into the system, whether of the data leakage cannot be properly detected. Therefore, this study proposes a system to prevent the leakage of data in a data leakage pattern that is not input to the system by defining a set of security logs that can appear simultaneously at the time of data leakage through association analysis algorithm as a data leakage judgment scenario. As a result of experimenting the function of the system suggested, this study judged whether of data leakage with higher accuracy than the data leak detection system which does not apply association analysis algorithm, also it showed lower percentage of false positive and false Negative. This suggests that the proposed system is less likely to misjudge data leakage.
Nucleofection Mediates High‐Efficiency Stable Gene Knockdown and Transgene Expression in Human Embryonic Stem Cells

High‐efficiency genetic modification of human embryonic stem (hES) cells would enable manipulation of gene activity, routine gene targeting, and development of new human disease models and treatments. Chemical transfection, nucleofection, and electroporation of hES cells result in low transfection efficiencies. Viral transduction is efficient but has significant drawbacks. Here we describe techniques to transiently and stably express transgenes in hES cells with high efficiency using a widely available vector system. The technique combines nucleofection of single hES cells with improved methods to select hES cells at clonal density. As validation, we reduced Oct4 and Nanog expression using siRNAs and shRNA vectors in hES cells. Furthermore, we derived many hES cell clones with either stably reduced alkaline phosphatase activity or stably overexpressed green fluorescent protein. These clones retained stem cell characteristics (normal karyotype, stem cell marker expression, self‐renewal, and pluripotency). These studies will accelerate efforts to interrogate gene function and define the parameters that control growth and differentiation of hES cells.
Economic load dispatch using intelligent optimization with fuzzy control

In this paper, Differential Evolution (DE) that incorporates fuzzy control and k-nearest neighbors algorithm is proposed to tackle the economic load dispatch problem. To provide the self-terminating ability, a technique called Iteration Windows (IW) is introduced to govern the number of iteration in each searching stage during the optimization. The size of IW is controlled by a fuzzy controller, which uses the information provided by the k-nearest neighbors system to analyze the population during the searching process. The controller keeps controlling the IW till the end of the searching process. A wavelet based mutation process is embedded in the DE searching process to enhance the searching performance. The weight F of DE is also controlled by the fuzzy controller to further speed up the searching process. The proposed method is employed to solve the Economic Load Dispatch with Valve-Point Loading (ELD-VPL) Problem. It is shown empirically that the proposed method can terminate the searching process with a reasonable number of iteration and performs significantly better than the conventional methods in terms of convergence speed and solution quality.
Using semantic distance for the efficient coding of medical concepts

OBJECTIVE To use the notion of semantic distance to find the nearest neighbors of a medical concept in a controlled vocabulary. MATERIAL AND METHOD 392 concepts from the cardiovascular chapter of the ICD-10 were projected on the axes of SNOMED III. Distances were measured on each axis and the resulting distance was found using a Lp norm. RESULTS The distance between a set of ischemic diseases and a set of non-ischemic diseases was significant (p < 0.0001). Our method was validated by finding the k nearest neighbors of ten different diagnoses from the ICD-10 cardiovascular chapter. DISCUSSION The availability of SNOMED-RT should improve our method. Several more steps are necessary to provide an ideal coding tool.
A New Approach for the Rapid Detection of Common and Atypical Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Alleles

A strong protection against the development of alcoholism is exerted by a point mutation in the gene coding for low Km aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), i.e. ALDH2. We report a non-radioactive method for determining the common and atypical human mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) genotypes. This method is based on the fact that the base change (G-->A) in Exon 12 of the ALDH2 gene abolishes an Eco57 I restriction site (CTGAAG-->CTAAAG). A GC-clamp attached oligonucleotide was designed to yield a 176 base pair product by the polymerase chain reaction. After amplification, the resulting fragment containing the normal nucleotide sequence is cut by Eco57 I into two segments (131 base pairs + 45 base pairs) while the fragment containing the mutated sequence remains intact (176 base pairs). These are visualized by staining with ethidium bromide on agarose gels without blotting, hybridization or autoradiography.
Microbubble characterization through acoustically induced deflation

Ultrasound contrast agents (UCA) populations are typically polydisperse and contain microbubbles with radii over a given range. Although the behavior of microbubbles of certain sizes might be masked by the behavior of others, the acoustic characterization of UCA is typically made on full populations. In this paper, we have combined acoustic and optical methods to investigate the response of isolated lipid-shelled microbubbles to low-pressure (49 and 62 kPa peak negative pressure) ultrasound tone bursts. These bursts induced slow deflation of the microbubbles. The experimental setup included a microscope connected to a fast camera acquiring one frame per pulse transmitted by a single-element transducer. The behavior of each bubble was measured at multiple frequencies, by cyclically changing the transmission frequency over the range of 2 to 4 MHz during subsequent pulse repetition intervals. The bubble echoes were captured by a second transducer and coherently recorded. More than 50 individual microbubbles were observed. Microbubbles with radii larger than 3 ? m did not experience any size reduction. Smaller bubbles slowly deflated, generally until the radius reached a value around 1.4 ? m, independent of the initial microbubble size. The detected pressure amplitude backscattered at 2.5 cm distance was very low, decreasing from about 5 Pa down to 1 Pa at 2 MHz as the bubbles deflated. The resonant radius was evaluated from the echo amplitude normalized with respect to the geometrical cross section. At 2-MHz excitation, deflating microbubbles showed highest normalized echo when the radius was 2.2 ? m while at higher excitation frequencies, the resonant radius was lower. The relative phase shift of the echo during the deflation process was also measured. It was found to exceed ? /2 in all cases. A heuristic procedure based on the analysis of multiple bubbles of a same population was used to estimate the undamped natural frequency. It was found that a microbubble of 1.7 ? m has an undamped natural frequency of 2 MHz. The difference between this size and the resonant radius is discussed as indicative of significant damping.
CRITICAL CARE ISSUES FOR THE NEPHROLOGIST: Low‐dose Dopamine in the Intensive Care Unit

For much of the last four decades, low‐dose dopamine has been considered the drug of choice to treat and prevent renal failure in the intensive care unit (ICU). The multifactorial etiology of renal failure in the ICU and the presence of coexisting multisystem organ dysfunction make the design and execution of clinical trials to study this problem difficult. However, in the last decade, several meta‐analyses and one large randomized trial have all shown a lack of benefit of low‐dose dopamine in improving renal function. There are multiple reasons for this lack of efficacy. While dopamine does cause a diuretic effect, it does very little to improve mortality, creatinine clearance, or the incidence of dialysis. Evidence is also growing of its adverse effects on the immune, endocrine, and respiratory systems. It may also potentially increase mortality in sepsis. It is the opinion of the authors that the practice of using low‐dose dopamine should be abandoned. Other drugs and treatment modalities need to be explored to address the serious issue of renal failure in the ICU.
An Exploratory Analysis of the Longitudinal Impact of Principal Change on Elementary School Achievement

Recent reform initiatives, such as the Title I School Improvement Grants and Race to the Top, recommended a principal change to jump-start school turnaround. Yet, few educational researchers have examined principal change as way to improve schools in a state of systematic reform; furthermore, no large-scale quantitative study has determined the immediate or longitudinal impact of principal change on school performance. Using 9 years of school performance data, this study examined the impact of principal change on elementary schools’ scholastic achievement in reading and mathematics. Specifically, it examined whether a principal change was associated with initial improvement and longitudinal improvement of school reading and mathematics achievement. Findings suggest that principal changes did not substantially influence initial student achievement or school performance trajectory. Furthermore, these findings suggest that making a principal change does not predispose a school for improving school performance.
Improved targeting of radiolabeled streptavidin in tumors pretargeted with biotinylated monoclonal antibodies through an avidin chase.

UNLABELLED Radiolabeled streptavidin can be accumulated in tumors pretargeted with biotinylated anti-tumor antibodies. However, circulating biotinylated antibody and endogenous biotin may interfere with the tumor targeting of streptavidin. To reduce biotinylated antibody concentration in the blood, we injected avidin before streptavidin administration. The effects of avidin administration on the biodistribution and tumor targeting of radiolabeled streptavidin were examined. METHODS Biotinylated anti-human colon cancer monoclonal antibody (MAb) MLS128 was injected intravenously into nude mice bearing human colon cancer xenografts for pretargeting. After intraperitoneal injection of avidin, radioiodinated streptavidin was administered and its biodistribution and tumor accumulation was investigated. RESULTS Radioiodinated streptavidin specifically localized in the tumor pretargeted with biotinylated antibody. Avidin preadministration accelerated the tumor uptake and blood clearance of radioiodinated streptavidin. The tumor-to-blood radioactivity ratio at 6 and 24 hr after radiolabeled streptavidin injection were 1.23 +/- 0.29 and 3.04 +/- 0.86, respectively, in mice with avidin chase (mean +/- s.d., n = 7), and 0.82 +/- 0.17 and 2.29 +/- 0.29, respectively, in those without chase (mean +/- s.d., n = 7). CONCLUSION Localization of radiolabeled streptavidin in tumors pretargeted with biotinylated MAb could be improved by avidin chase. This approach may be useful for tumor radioimmunoimaging and radioimmunotherapy.
Prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms in chinese older persons with mild cognitive impairment-a population-based study.

OBJECTIVES To estimate the point prevalence and correlates of neuropsychiatric (NP) symptoms among older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and normal cognition (NC) in a Chinese community. DESIGN Cross-sectional study derived from a population-based prevalence study of MCI and dementia. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS This survey was conducted in Hong Kong from 2005 to 2006. Seven hundred eighty-eight community-dwelling older adults (450 NC and 338 MCI) were recruited. Cognitive and NP data were obtained. RESULTS The point prevalence of at least one NP symptom in NC and MCI were 29% and 36.7%, respectively (logistic regression controlled for age and education, odds ratio = 1.38, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01-1.89, Wald χ = 4.10, df = 1, p = 0.04). Agitation (1.8% versus 5.1%), apathy (7.6% versus 15.2%), and irritability (4.2% versus 8%) were more prevalent in subjects with MCI (p <0.05). Logistic regression analyses showed that apathy score was a significant factor associated with the status of NC or MCI (logistic regression, apathy, p = 0.031, Exp(B) = 1.23, 95% CI: 1.02-1.47; Hosmer and Lemeshow test, χ = 8.6, df = 8, p = 0.38, R = 0.23). CONCLUSIONS The authors reported the findings of one of the first population-based studies estimating the point prevalence of NP symptoms in Asian older adults with MCI. Taking into account of its prevalence and magnitude of effects, apathy is a clinically significant symptom in MCI. Its predictive value for conversion to dementia warrants further evaluation.
Pseudospectral method for optimal motion planning of a rigid underactuated spacecraft

This paper discusses the problem of optimal motion planning for a rigid underactuated spacecraft. Firstly, we derive the dynamic and kinematic equations of the spacecraft, and for given initial and terminal states, the performance index to be optimized is selected as minimizing the total fuel consumption. Moreover, the control input saturation restriction is transformed into an inequality constraint. Then, the optimal motion planning problem can be converted into a nonlinear programming problem using Legendre pseudospectral method at a set of discretization points. Simulation results demonstrate that the obtained optimal trajectories satisfy the constraint conditions well and the proposed approach can also be used on-line in application practice with its small computational amount and low computational complexity.
Assessment of the Myotoxicity of Pharmaceutical Buffers Using an In Vitro Muscle Model: Effect of pH, Capacity, Tonicity, and Buffer Type

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the myotoxicity of three buffers containing carboxylic acid groups (i.e., acetate, succinate, and citrate) as a function of their pH, capacity, and tonicity. The myotoxicity of these buffers in the range of pH 2–6 and 0.001–0.1 M buffer capacity was assessed using cumulative creatine kinase (CK) release from an isolated rodent muscle model following injection. Phenytoin and 0.9% NaCl injection were used as positive and negative controls, respectively. Buffer solutions were prepared. A lower pH and higher buffer capacity was linked to increased myotoxicity for the acetate buffers. However, for succinate and citrate buffers, pH appeared to influence the extent of myotoxicity, whereas buffer capacity did not seem to have an effect. When either NaCl or trehalose was used as a tonicity-adjusting agent at pH 6, isotonic 0.01 M buffer solutions dramatically lowered the cumulative CK release compared to those that were not isotonic. Isotonic succinate buffers displayed the lowest myotoxicity, whereas citrate buffers displayed the highest values. Citrate buffers containing three carboxylic acid groups showed higher myotoxicity than succinate buffers and acetate buffers at 0.001 and 0.01 M buffer capacities, whereas acetate buffer produced higher cumulative CK release than citrate and succinate buffers at 0.1 M buffer capacity. The myotoxicity of pharmaceutical buffers containing carboxylic acid groups appears to be directly affected by lowering the pH of the solution.
Correlates of HIV-1 shedding in cervicovaginal secretions and effects of antiretroviral therapies

Objectives: To evaluate the determinants of HIV-1 RNA shedding in cervicovaginal secretions and the effects of antiretroviral therapy in a group of infected women. Methods: A total of 122 women from whom paired peripheral blood and cervicovaginal lavage samples were available were enrolled in the study. HIV-1 RNA was quantified in the plasma and cell-free fraction of cervicovaginal lavages by the nucleic acid sequence-based amplification assay (lower limit of detection 80 copies/ml). Results: Seventy-one per cent of the women had detectable viral load in the cervicovaginal lavage and this appeared to be correlated to plasma viral load and to the degree of immunodeficiency as expressed by the absolute number of CD4 cells. Antiretroviral-treated patients had a lower risk of shedding the virus in the genital tract, but this association was limited to patients treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). However, in 25% of women with undetectable plasma viral load, a genital shedding of the virus was demonstrated. Conclusion: Plasma viral load may fail as a marker of infectivity of genital secretions. HAART treatment seems to be more efficacious in suppressing viral shedding at the genital level. The female genital tract represents a distinct compartment for HIV-1 replication/evolution.
Anti‐inflammatory role of obestatin in autoimmune myocarditis

Obestatin is a popular endogeneous peptide, known to have an autoimmune regulatory effect on energy metabolism and the gastrointestinal system. Studies regarding the anti‐inflammatory effects of obestatin are scarce. The aim of this study was to show the anti‐inflammatory effect of obestatin in an experimental model of autoimmune myocarditis in rats. Experimental autoimmune myocarditis was induced in Lewis rats by immunization with subcutaneous administration of porcine cardiac myosin, twice at 7‐day intervals. Intraperitoneal pretreatment with obestatin (50 μg/kg) was started before the induction of myocarditis and continued for 3 weeks. The severity of myocarditis was evidenced by clinical, echocardiographic and histological findings. In addition, by‐products of neutrophil activation, lipid peroxidation, inflammatory and anti‐inflammatory cytokines were measured in serum. Obestatin significantly ameliorated the clinical and histopathological severity of autoimmune myocarditis. Therapeutic effects of obestatin in myocarditis were associated with reduced lipid peroxidation, suppression of polymorphonuclear leukocyte infiltration and enhancement of glutathione synthesis, inhibition of serum inflammatory and activation of anti‐inflammatory cytokines. Histopathologically, the left ventricle was significantly dilated, and its wall thickened, along with widespread lymphocytic and histocytic infiltration. The myocardium was severely infiltrated with relatively large mononuclear cells. These histopathological changes were observed in lesser degrees in obestatin‐treated rats. This study demonstrated a novel anti‐inflammatory effect of obestatin in an experimental model of autoimmune myocarditis. Consequently, obestatin administration may represent a promising therapeutic approach for myocarditis and dilated cardiomyopathy in the future.
Aggregating Rich Hierarchical Features for Scene Classification in Remote Sensing Imagery

Scene classification is one of the most important issues in remote sensing image processing. To obtain a high discriminative feature representation for an image to be classified, traditional methods usually consider to densely accumulate hand-crafted low-level descriptors (e.g., scale-invariant feature transform) by feature encoding techniques. However, the performance is largely limited by the hand-crafted descriptors as they are not capable of describing the rich semantic information contained in various remote sensing images. To alleviate this problem, we propose a novel method to extract discriminative image features from the rich hierarchical information contained in convolutional neural networks (CNNs). Specifically, the low-level and middle-level intermediate convolutional features are, respectively, encoded by vector of locally aggregated descriptors (VLAD) and then reduced by principal component analysis to obtain hierarchical global features; meanwhile, the fully connected features are average pooled and subsequently normalized to form new global features. The proposed encoded mixed-resolution representation (EMR) is the concatenation of all the above-mentioned global features. Due to the usage of encoding strategies (VLAD and average pooling), our method can deal with images of different sizes. In addition, to reduce the computational consumption in the training stage, we directly extract EMR from VGG-VD and ResNet pretrained on the ImageNet dataset. We show in this paper that CNNs pretrained on the natural image dataset are more easily applied to the remote sensing dataset when the local structure similarity between two datasets is higher. Experimental evaluations on the UC-Merced and Brazilian Coffee Scenes datasets demonstrate that our method is superior to the state of the art.