Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Emergency cardiac mechanical assistance: place of mucosal gastric tonometry as prognostic indicator*

Background and objectives: The death of patients treated by ventricular assist device is usually related to multiorgan failure for which a disorder of splanchnic circulation is blamed. Gastric tonometry (measurement of gastric intra‐mucosal pressure of CO2) has already been studied in many fields and especially in cardiac surgery. The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic value of gastric tonometry monitoring after implantation of a ventricular assist device. Methods: In this prospective study, all consecutive patients scheduled for a ventricular assist device were included. Gastric tonometry was added to standard monitoring. Data were collected (lactate, gastric CO2 (PgCO2) during cardiopulmonary bypass, at admission to ICU, 24 and 48 h later and when norepinephrine was stopped. Preoperative biologic and haemodynamic data were also collected. The primary endpoint was death. Results: Fifty‐six patients (50 men and 6 women) were included. In 91% of the cases, the mechanical assistance was biventricular. The objective of the assistance was a bridge to transplant in 93% (n = 27). Twenty‐seven deaths (48%) occurred during the study, 59% (n = 16) of them took place before the cardiac transplantation (mean time = 18 ± 16 days after assist device insertion). Many factors were found to be associated with death: weight (P = 0.018), red cells administration (P = 0.025), length of surgery (P = 0.016), PgCO2 on admission to ICU (P = 0.040) and norepinephrine dose at 24 h. Conclusions: Gastric tonometry has a prognostic value in the early postoperative hours after the implantation of a ventricular assist device.
The Influence of Trauma and Ischemia on Carbohydrate Metabolites Monitored in Hamster Flap Tissue

To monitor hypoperfusion of the peripheral tissues in critical illness caused by injury, we measured the concentrations of glucose, pyruvate, and lactate in traumatized and ischemic hamster flap tissue with the use of microdialysis. The interruption of the anatomic blood supply led to a drastic decrease in microvascular blood flow (laser Doppler flowmetry) and partial tissue oxygen tension (dye fluorescence quenching technique) in the ischemic part of the flap (both P < 0.01). In the traumatized area, blood flow, oxygen tension, and pyruvate were similar to the healthy control tissue throughout the experiments, whereas pyruvate was reduced in the ischemic tissue (P < 0.05 versus baseline and other tissues). Lactate was increased in both parts of the flap (P < 0.01 versus baseline and other groups for ischemic, not significant for traumatized). The sensitivity to detect ischemic hypoxia was 62% for lactate and 93% for lactate/pyruvate ratio (L/P) (P < 0.01). The specificity to discern ischemia-related from trauma-related changes was 71% for lactate and 70% for L/P (not significant). Our results suggest that L/P is more accurate than lactate for monitoring ischemia-related hypoxia after trauma. However, the rate of increased values originating from normally perfused but traumatized tissue was high for both markers.
Chrisman-Snook ankle ligament reconstruction outcomes--a local experience.

INTRODUCTION Chrisman-Snook reconstruction is a surgical method of treating chronic lateral ankle instability. This study aims to examine the outcome and possible factors including joint hypermobility that may influence the outcome in our local population. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty-four ankles with chronic lateral ankle instabilities were treated with the Chrisman-Snook reconstruction procedure between May 1995 and November 1997. Fifteen were available for review at an average follow-up period of 35.3 months, ranging from 26 to 51 months. The patients were young and the average age was 24 years. The lateral ligaments were reconstructed by rerouting half the peroneus brevis tendon, based distally, through the lateral malleolus and anchoring it to the calcaneum. Functional results were assessed using the Kaikkonen ankle stability score. Joint hypermobility was assessed by the Beighton et al score. RESULTS Excellent results were achieved in ten cases, good in four, and fair in one. None had poor results. Best outcomes tended to occur in patients with joint hypermobility. Complications included decreased sensation in a small area of the lateral foot. CONCLUSIONS Chrisman-Snook reconstruction is a surgical option for young patients who have failed conservative treatment for chronic ankle instability. In our local population with a higher incidence of joint hypermobility, it gave good results with few serious complications.
Satellite images registration approach using Lorentzian norm with an artificial immune system

Image registration is an important operation in many aerospace imaging applications, so that, in this paper a promising approach is proposed for satellite images registration. In this approach, we propose to use the Lorentzian norm as a fitness function with an artificial immune system optimization (AIS) technique to reduce the registration outlier and avoid trapping into local minima. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach it is compared with the state-of-the-art Lukas-Kanade registration approach for many data sets.
Cultural orientations and product innovation in the Ghanaian banking sector

ABSTRACT The Ghanaian banking sector plays a major role in the socio-economic development of the country. However, the banks are faced with many challenges which include growing customers’ demands, inadequate innovation practices and poor financial performance. With the advent of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs), there are calls for the banks to be more innovative. The paper explores the influence of organizational cultural orientations on product innovation. It also examines the moderating effect of extrinsic motivators on such relationships. Hypotheses were formulated and tested using data collected from the banking sector in Ghana. The findings are that innovate-oriented and compete-oriented cultures have a direct positive influence on product innovation. Both Informational Extrinsic Motivators (IEMs) and Controlling Extrinsic Motivators (CEMs) moderate the relationship between innovate-oriented, compete-oriented cultures and product innovation such that they diminish the positive relationship that exists between such variables. The paper offers theoretical contribution and managerial implications which are discussed.
Marital Status, Marital Strain, and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease or Total Mortality: The Framingham Offspring Study

Objective: To determine if marriage and marital strain are related to the 10-year coronary heart disease (CHD) incidence or total mortality. Research has demonstrated associations between marital strain and prognosis of heart disease, but little research has addressed the association between specific aspects of marital strain and incident CHD. Methods: From 1984 to 1987, 3682 participants (mean age 48.5 ± 10.1 (standard deviation) years; 52% women) of the Framingham Offspring Study were examined; measures of marital status, marital strain, and risk factors for CHD were collected at the baseline examination. The present study describes the 10-year follow-up for incident CHD and total mortality. Results: After adjusting for age, systolic blood pressure, body mass index, cigarette smoking, diabetes, and total cholesterol/high density cholesterol, the married men compared with unmarried men were almost half as likely to die during follow-up (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.54; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.34–0.83). Women who “self-silenced” during conflict with their spouse, compared with women who did not, had four times the risk of dying (HR = 4.01; 95% CI: 1.75–9.20). Men with wives who were upset by work were 2.7 times more likely to develop CHD (HR = 2.71; 95% CI: 1.22–6.03). Marital happiness, satisfaction, and disagreements were not related to the development of CHD or death in men or women. Conclusions: Our study suggests that marital communication, conflict, and strain are associated with adverse health outcomes. Further research into the influence of marital stress on health is merited. CHD = coronary heart disease; HR = hazard ratio; CI = confidence interval.
On the optimal choice of the exposure conditions and the nanoparticle features in magnetic nanoparticle hyperthermia

Purpose: Two points are particularly relevant for the clinical use of magnetic nanoparticle hyperthermia: the optimisation of both the exposure conditions and the magnetic nanoparticle characteristics, and the assessment of the limits of scalability of the treatment. To answer these two points a criterion for the individuation of the magnetic field parameters and of the magnetic nanoparticle features that minimise the therapeutic concentration of nanoparticles to be used in magnetic nanoparticle hyperthermia is developed. Methods: The proposed criterion is based on the estimation of the levels of heat generation rate, due to the electromagnetic field, to be supplied to both the cancerous and the neighbouring healthy tissues for achieving the therapeutic heating of the tumour with a desired degree of spatial selectivity. These quantities are determined by exploiting the Pennes bioheat transfer model. Results: The reliability of the criterion has been proven by means of an extensive numerical analysis, performed by considering tumours of spherical shape embedded in tissues of cylindrical shape. Several cases, including tumours of different sizes and position have been considered. Conclusions: By exploiting the proposed criterion a study of the clinical scalability of the therapeutic approach is presented.
Genetic basis of local adaptation and flowering time variation in Arabidopsis lyrata

Understanding how genetic variation at individual loci contributes to adaptation of populations to different local environments is an important topic in modern evolutionary biology. To date, most evidence has pointed to conditionally neutral quantitative trait loci (QTL) showing fitness effects only in some environments, while there has been less evidence for single‐locus fitness trade‐offs. At QTL underlying local adaptation, alleles from the local population are expected to show a fitness advantage. Cytoplasmic genomes also can have a role in local adaptation, but the role of cytonuclear interactions in adaptive differentiation has remained largely unknown. We mapped genomic regions underlying adaptive differentiation in multiple fitness components and flowering time in diverged populations of a perennial plant Arabidopsis lyrata. Experimental hybrids for this purpose were grown in natural field conditions of the parental populations in Norway and North Carolina (NC), USA, and in the greenhouse. We found QTL where high fitness and early flowering were associated with local alleles, indicating a role of different selection pressures in phenotypic differentiation. At two QTL regions, a fitness component showing local adaptation between the parental populations also showed signs of putative fitness trade‐offs. Beneficial dominance effects of conditionally neutral QTL for different fitness components resulted in hybrid vigour at the Norwegian site in the F2 hybrids. We also found that cytoplasmic genomes contributed to local adaptation and hybrid vigour by interacting with nuclear QTL, but these interactions did not show evidence for cytonuclear coadaptation (high fitness of local alleles combined with the local cytoplasm).
Simulation model to predict the fate of ciprofloxacin in the environment after wastewater treatment

The extent hospital effluent contributes to antimicrobial presence in the environment and its impact on resistance dissemination remains unknown. To investigate the fate of the antimicrobial ciprofloxacin in hospital effluent a Monte Carlo simulation model was developed to model levels from hospital use to wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent release, in addition to modeling resistance formation potential, hazard quotient (HQ) and swimmer exposure. The mean predicted concentration (PC) of ciprofloxacin in hospital effluent, urban effluent, WWTP effluent, sludge, soil and sea water was 579, 6.06, 2.59, 3.48, 0.006 and 0.15 mg/m3, respectively. A parallel surveillance study confirmed levels of ciprofloxacin above or below the limit of detection. The model predicted levels would never exceed the ECOSAR toxicity value. The model predicted a 98% probability of ciprofloxacin exhibiting a HQ > 1 (low toxicity concern). The mean ciprofloxacin PC in WWTP effluent was less than the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The probability of conditions in WWTP effluent being favorable for resistance at 20% and 80% of the MIC was 3% and 72%, respectively. In all instances, when the MIC was bound, the probability for resistance formation within soil and sea water was < 1%. The probability of a swimmer being exposed to a level of ciprofloxacin greater than the acceptable daily intake was negligible. The study concluded that release of hospital effluent into the environment may lead to concentrations of ciprofloxacin which are of low toxicity concern but may be conducive to resistance formation and allow for the dissemination of resistance.
Aflatoxin formation and gene expression in response to carbon source media shift in Aspergillus parasiticus

Aflatoxins are toxic and carcinogenic polyketide metabolites produced by fungal species, including Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus. The biosynthesis of aflatoxins is modulated by many environmental factors, including the availability of a carbon source. The gene expression profile of A. parasiticus was evaluated during a shift from a medium with low concentration of simple sugars, yeast extract (YE), to a similar medium with sucrose, yeast extract sucrose (YES). Gene expression and aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1, and G2) were quantified from fungal mycelia harvested pre- and post-shifting. When compared with YE media, YES caused temporary reduction of the aflatoxin levels detected at 3-h post-shifting and they remained low well past 12 h post-shift. Aflatoxin levels did not exceed the levels in YE until 24 h post-shift, at which time point a tenfold increase was observed over YE. Microarray analysis comparing the RNA samples from the 48-h YE culture to the YES samples identified a total of 2120 genes that were expressed across all experiments, including most of the aflatoxin biosynthesis genes. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) identified 56 genes that were expressed with significant variation across all time points. Three genes responsible for converting norsolorinic acid to averantin were identified among these significantly expressed genes. The potential involvement of these genes in the regulation of aflatoxin biosynthesis is discussed.
The Bilateral Effects of Platform-Sponsored Collateral in Peer-To-Peer (P2P) Lending: Evidence from China

ABSTRACT Using a unique large dataset collected from one of the oldest and largest P2P lending platforms in China, namely PPDAI, this article tests the bilateral effects of a special type of platform-sponsored collateral on lenders and borrowers. Both theoretically and empirically, we find that smart lenders disaggregate the surety and riskiness-signaling effects of such collateral. Our evidence indicates that lenders in China’s P2P market are smart: they anticipate that platform-collateralized loans are riskier than the non-collateralized ones in the second or higher rounds of fundraising. For the borrowers, platform-sponsored collateral increases the overall borrowing capacity owing to its surety effect. Therefore, combining the two aspects, platform-sponsored collateral increases the overall efficiency of the P2P lending market given the safety of the platform per se.
Prediction of drop impact reliability of BGA solder joints on FPC

Recently, Flexible Printed Circuit (FPC) is extensively used in portable electronic products because of its excellent flexibility and twistability. Compared with rigid boards, FPC usually experiences much larger deformation in its usages. However, most available packaging-components at the moment are rigid, FPC-contained products may cause failures under accidental mechanical conditions, such as drop, bending and twisting. Many literatures have been published on the reliability of rigid boards, while much less results were reported for the research of drop performance of FPCs [1,2,3]. In this paper, the mechanical reliability of a BGA mounted on FPC under drop impact has been studied by simulations. To make the model more close to the practical products, one plastic cuboid with the size of 89mm×69.5mm×8mm taken as the housing is involved in the simulation model. The FPC mounted with a BGA is fixed in the cuboid through four screw bars and dropped from 1.5 meters height to the concrete ground. Drop direction, BGA layout location and solder joint shape and size, as the three main factors are used in the reliability study. In practical drop reliability tests, six orthogonal drop tests are taken. As well as considered that the simulation sample is rectangle, the simulations of different drop directions are divided into two groups according to if the long housing edge or short housing edge impact with ground firstly. To simulate the different drop impact angle based on the orthogonal drop, several drop cases were built by setting the angle from 0º to 90º between the ground and model. In all of above drop cases, the single difference is the drop direction. To study the impaction of BGA location, simulation cases with the BGA moved from edge to center had been simulated also. The height and the diameter of solder joint is another important factor to the connection reliability. To predict its impaction, solder joint height varied from 0.15mm to 0.23mm and diameter varied from 0.25mm to 0.35mm were considered in the models. Through the corresponding simulations, analysis and comparison, it is found that the strain rate could be up to a peak of 105/s, but most of the time, the strain rate locates in the range of 102/s. The max stress decreases with the increasing of the solder joint height. Drop reliability can be improved by increasing the height of solder joints. The max stress increases when the diameter of the solder joint increased from 0.25mm to 0.3mm, while decreases when the diameter increased from 0.3mm to 0.35mm. Drop reliability can be only improved when the diameter is larger than 0.3mm.
Terradynamically streamlined shapes in animals and robots enhance traversability through densely cluttered terrain

Many animals, modern aircraft, and underwater vehicles use fusiform, streamlined body shapes that reduce fluid dynamic drag to achieve fast and effective locomotion in air and water. Similarly, numerous small terrestrial animals move through cluttered terrain where three-dimensional, multi-component obstacles like grass, shrubs, vines, and leaf litter also resist motion, but it is unknown whether their body shape plays a major role in traversal. Few ground vehicles or terrestrial robots have used body shape to more effectively traverse environments such as cluttered terrain. Here, we challenged forest-floor-dwelling discoid cockroaches (Blaberus discoidalis) possessing a thin, rounded body to traverse tall, narrowly spaced, vertical, grass-like compliant beams. Animals displayed high traversal performance (79 ± 12% probability and 3.4 ± 0.7 s time). Although we observed diverse obstacle traversal strategies, cockroaches primarily (48 ± 9% probability) used a novel roll maneuver, a form of natural parkour, allowing them to rapidly traverse obstacle gaps narrower than half their body width (2.0 ± 0.5 s traversal time). Reduction of body roundness by addition of artificial shells nearly inhibited roll maneuvers and decreased traversal performance. Inspired by this discovery, we added a thin, rounded exoskeletal shell to a legged robot with a nearly cuboidal body, common to many existing terrestrial robots. Without adding sensory feedback or changing the open-loop control, the rounded shell enabled the robot to traverse beam obstacles with gaps narrower than shell width via body roll. Such terradynamically ‘streamlined’ shapes can reduce terrain resistance and enhance traversability by assisting effective body reorientation via distributed mechanical feedback. Our findings highlight the need to consider body shape to improve robot mobility in real-world terrain often filled with clutter, and to develop better locomotor-ground contact models to understand interaction with 3D, multi-component terrain.
Polymer–ultrathin graphite sheet–polymer composite structured flexible nonvolatile bistable organic memory devices

We present data, which were obtained before bending and after bending, for the electrical bistabilities, memory stabilities, and memory mechanisms of three-layer structured flexible bistable organic memory (BOM) devices, which were fabricated utilizing the ultrathin graphite sheets (UGS) sandwiched between insulating poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) polymer layers. The UGS were formed by transferring UGS (about 30 layers) and using a simple spin-coating technique. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements were performed to investigate the microstructural properties of the PMMA/UGS/PMMA films. Current–voltage (I–V) measurements were carried out to investigate the electrical properties of the BOM devices containing the UGS embedded in the PMMA polymer. Current–time (I–t) and current–cycle measurements under flat and bent conditions were performed to investigate the memory stabilities of the BOM devices. The memory characteristics of the BOM maintained similar device efficiencies after bending and were stable during repeated bendings of the BOM devices. The mechanisms for these characteristics of the fabricated BOM are described on the basis of the I–V results.
Dust-concentration measurement based on Mie scattering of a laser beam

To realize automatic measurement of the concentration of dust particles in the air, a theory for dust concentration measurement was developed, and a system was designed to implement the dust concentration measurement method based on laser scattering. In the study, the principle of dust concentration detection using laser scattering is studied, and the detection basis of Mie scattering theory is determined. Through simulation, the influence of the incident laser wavelength, dust particle diameter, and refractive index of dust particles on the scattered light intensity distribution are obtained for determining the scattered light intensity curves of single suspended dust particles under different characteristic parameters. A genetic algorithm was used to study the inverse particle size distribution, and the reliability of the measurement system design is proven theoretically. The dust concentration detection system, which includes a laser system, computer circuitry, air flow system, and control system, was then implemented according to the parameters obtained from the theoretical analysis. The performance of the designed system was evaluated. Experimental results show that the system performance was stable and reliable, resulting in high-precision automatic dust concentration measurement with strong anti-interference ability.