Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mid‐term outcome after carotid artery stenting depends on presence of coronary artery disease

BACKGROUND. Longer‐term outcome of patients following carotid artery revascularization depends predominantly on cardiac events rather than neurological events. AIM. To assess the longer‐term outcomes of patients with known coronary artery morphology undergoing carotid artery stenting. METHOD. In a prospective observational study including 549 consecutive patients undergoing carotid artery stenting, a coronary angiography was performed in a single session unless a recent angiogram was available. Following the intervention, patients were followed prospectively to determine neurological events as well as major adverse coronary events (MACE) during long‐term follow‐up. RESULTS. Coronary artery disease was present in 378 patients including 92 patients without current significant stenosis. The MACE rate was 6.4% in patients without coronary artery disease compared to 28.3% in patients with coronary artery disease (P<0.00001). Cardiac and all‐cause mortality were statistically significantly higher in patients with a significant coronary stenosis than in patients without coronary artery disease (P<0.001 and P<0.01). Cardiac mortality and all‐cause mortality were 2.3% and 7.6% in patients without coronary artery disease (patient group I), 7.6% and 13.0% in patients with coronary artery disease but no current significant stenosis (patient group II), and 10.5% and 16.1% in patients with significant coronary stenosis (patient group III). Neurological events, however, were distributed equally among the three patient groups. CONCLUSIONS<1/emph>. In the longer term, outcomes in patients undergoing carotid artery stenting depend on concomitant coronary artery disease rather than neurological events, cardiac mortality and even all‐cause mortality depending on a significant coronary artery stenosis.
USING AGGLOMERATIVE HIERARCHICAL CLUSTERING

Many agencies construct catalogs of the hundreds of seismic events that occur daily around the world. The Ground-Based Nuclear Explosion Monitoring Research and Development (GNEMRD) program merges these catalogs together into a composite catalog containing multiple descriptions of the same seismic event, one from each catalog of interest. The merging process requires associating seismic events in individual catalogs (herein called origins), that are independent estimates of the same seismic event. In this paper we describe application of classical cluster analysis techniques that provide a straightforward and robust solution to this merging problem. The resulting algorithm is much simpler to tune than the rule-based methodology used by EvLoader, which is the application currently used to merge catalogs in the GNEMRD program. For this study, we used a simple agglomerative hierarchical clustering technique to create clusters of similar origins where the various origins in a cluster represent different estimates of the seismic parameters of the same actual seismic event. Similarity between origins is calculated using a difference measure based on latitude, longitude, depth, time, and catalog author. Uncertainty in locations is accounted for by dividing distances between origins and differences in origin time by uncertainty estimates from the catalogs. To enforce the assumption that each catalog contains only a single origin for each event, origins from the same catalog are assigned infinite difference, regardless of other parameter values. To evaluate our new method, we processed a dataset from December 2004 to May 2005 that contains approximately 65,000 origins from 34,000 events recorded in a total of 15 different catalogs including standard global catalogs (e.g., International Data Centre [IDC], PDE) as well as various regional catalogs. We compare our results with the results generated by processing with the existing rule-based algorithm used in the EvLoader software. The vast majority of the event groupings generated by the clustering algorithm are equivalent to the event groupings created by EvLoader. Some of the event groupings that are different arise from differences in how time versus depth across origins is interpreted, and we examine these in some detail. We conclude that the new agglomerative clustering methodology produces better results and is significantly easier to tune; hence, we plan to incorporate the new algorithm into EvLoader in the near future. 2008 Monitoring Research Review: Ground-Based Nuclear Explosion Monitoring Technologies
Analysis of Long-Term Changes in a Mediterranean Marine Ecosystem Based on Fishery Landings

In the Mediterranean Sea, structured and standardized monitoring programs of marine resources were set only in the last decades, so the need to analyze changes in marine communities over longer time scale has to rely on different sources. In this work, we used seven decades (1945-2014) of disaggregated landing statistics for the Northern Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean) to infer changes in the ecosystem. Analysis of landings composition was enriched with the application of a suite of ecological indicators (e.g., trophodynamic indicators, such as the primary production required to sustain the catches - PPR; size-based indicators, such as the large species indicator - LSI; other indicators, such as the elasmobranchs-bony fish ratio – E/B ratio). Indicators were further compared with main ecosystem drivers, i.e., fishing capacity, nutrient loads and climate change. Species most vulnerable to fishing (i.e., elasmobranchs and large-sized species) dramatically declined at the beginning of the industrialization of fishery that occurred right afterwards World War II, as can be inferred by the negative drop of LSI and E/B ratio in the mid-1950s. However, until the mid-1980s landings and PPR increased due to improvements in fishing activities (e.g., the introduction of more efficient fishing gears) increasing fishing capacity, high productivity of the ecosystem. Overall, long-term effects of fishing were buffered by an increase in productivity in the period of high nutrient discharge (up to mid-1980s), but still drove significant changes in fish community structure. From the mid-1980s, a reduction in nutrient load caused a decline in productivity but the food-web structure was already modified and unable to support, or recover from, such unbalanced situation, resulting in the collapse of landings. This collapse is coherent with alternative stable states hypothesis, typical of complex real systems, that implies drastic interventions that go beyond fisheries management and include regulation of nutrient release for recovery. The work highlights that, despite poor capabilities to track species dynamics, landings and applied indicators might help to shed light on the long-term dynamics of marine communities, thus contributing to place current situation in an historical framework with potential for supporting management.
Design and simulation of a 3-bit DMTL phase shifter for wideband applications

This paper presents a wideband distributed coplanar waveguide (CPW) phase shifter for S-band operation. A 3-bit distributed MEMS transmission line (DMTL) phase shifter is developed by periodically loading MEMS shunt switches on a CPW transmission line (TL). A total of 105 MEMS shunt switches are utilized in the design to provide phase shifts of 0°, 45°, 90°, 135°, 180°, 225°, 270° and 315° at 2.45 GHz. Two large metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors are implemented on the CPW centre conductor as DC blocking capacitors to separate the DC actuation voltage between three bit segments during operation. The high resistivity silicon substrate (ρ=10 Ω·cm) and 2 μm thick aluminium centre conductor are employed to reduce the insertion loss due to the transmission line (TL). The simulated reflection coefficients are better than −10 dB across the operating band with an average insertion loss of −2.94 dB at 2.45 GHz. The CPW transmission line has been meandered using 60° mitered bends to optimise the size of the phase shifter to result in overall size of 30 mm × 10 mm. The simulated pull-in voltage of the doubly clamped beams implemented in the design is 17.18 V. The proposed DMTL phase shifter is suitable for use in smart antenna applications, radar systems and ultra-wideband (UWB) microwave medical applications.
Adjudin‐mediated germ cell depletion alters the anti‐oxidant status of adult rat testis

Successful spermatogenesis is dependent on the proper attachment of developing germ cells to Sertoli cells. Manipulation of these interactions by drugs like Adjudin can hamper the development of germ cells and lead to conditions of temporary infertility. Although studies have shown the contraceptive potential of Adjudin, much is not known about its action in the testis. In this study, we sought to investigate the effect of Adjudin on the oxidative status of mammalian testis. Adult male rats were administered with a single dose of Adjudin (50 mg/kg body weight) by oral gavage and were killed at 1, 2, 4, 7, 15, or 30 days of treatment. Adjudin caused a significant increase in the production of hydrogen peroxide and lipid peroxidation from 4 to 7 days after treatment. There was a significant decrease in the activities of anti‐oxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione S‐transferase from 4 to 7 days after treatment with Adjudin. However, the state of oxidative stress was less pronounced from 15 to 30 days after Adjudin treatment. The level of androgen binding protein (ABP) remained unchanged following Adjudin treatment. These results show that there is an induction of oxidative stress accompanying adherens junction restructuring which suggests a role for reactive oxygen species in the regulation of these testicular junctions. However, transient elevation in reactive oxygen species levels did not affect androgen transport. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 76: 31–37, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
N-WASP-mediated invadopodium formation is involved in intravasation and lung metastasis of mammary tumors

Invadopodia are proteolytic membrane protrusions formed by highly invasive cancer cells, commonly observed on substrate(s) mimicking extracellular matrix. Although invadopodia are proposed to have roles in cancer invasion and metastasis, direct evidence has not been available. We previously reported that neural Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome protein (N-WASP), a member of WASP family proteins that regulate reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton, is an essential component of invadopodia. Here, we report that N-WASP-mediated invadopodium formation is essential in breast cancer invasion, intravasation and lung metastasis. We established stable cell lines based on MTLn3 rat mammary adenocarcinoma cells that either overexpressed a dominant-negative (DN) N-WASP construct or in which N-WASP expression was silenced by a pSuper N-WASP shRNA. Both the N-WASP shRNA and DN N-WASP cells showed a markedly decreased ability to form invadopodia and degrade extracellular matrix. In addition, formation of invadopodia in primary tumors and collagen I degradation were reduced in the areas of invasion (collagen-rich areas in the invasive edge of the tumor) and in the areas of intravasation (blood-vessel-rich areas). Our results suggest that tumor cells in vivo that have a decreased activity of N-WASP also have a reduced ability to form invadopodia, migrate, invade, intravasate and disseminate to lung compared with tumor cells with parental N-WASP levels.
BRDF and geometry capture from extended inhomogeneous samples using flash photography

We present a technique which allows capture of 3D surface geometry and a useful class of BRDFs using extremely simple equipment. A standard digital camera with an attached flash serves as a portable capture device, which may be used to sample geometry to very high resolution, as well as supplying samples over a large portion of the 4D space on which the BRDF is defined. Importantly, it allows capture of extended samples which may have spatially varying (inhomogeneous) BRDF. We demonstrate the system by capturing the geometry of complex materials with varying albedo and BRDF. We show in-situ capture of materials such as a brick wall and a human hand. The limitations of the system are that samples should be roughly planar, and that the BRDF should have some diffuse component in order that a first approximation to the normals can be computed. However, given the simplicity and ease of use of the system (it takes a few minutes to carefully capture a hand), and the ability to capture extended surfaces without any range capture device such as a laser scanner we argue that it is a valuable addition to the range of real-world BRDF capture systems in the literature. We extend standard photometric stereo techniques by moving both the camera and the light source. By incorporating automatic parallax correction we allow the capture of surfaces which are quite far from planar.
African American ethnicity as a risk factor for respiratory complications following adenotonsillectomy.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether African American ethnicity is a risk factor for major respiratory complications following adenotonsillectomy (T&A). DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. SETTING A Canadian tertiary care center. PATIENTS Children aged 0 to 18 years who underwent T&A at our institution from 2002 to 2006 with planned or unplanned postoperative admissions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES We evaluated the association between ethnicity and our main outcome measure, major perioperative respiratory complications of T&A. Parental report of ethnicity was available for 23% of our cohort. At our institution, African American children undergo a routine preoperative sickle cell test (TestSC). Data on TestSC were included for all children. We established that having a TestSC was an accurate proxy for African American ethnicity (sensitivity, 96%; specificity, 93%; positive predictive value, 77%; negative predictive value, 99%). RESULTS Seventy-four of 594 children experienced major respiratory complications (12.5%). Compared with children who did not have major respiratory complications, those who did had a TestSC (P = .01), were 2 years or younger (P < .001) and had lower weight-for-age z scores (P = .04), moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea (P = .003), and comorbidities (P < .001). When controlling for these variables in a multivariate analysis, children of African American ethnicity (TestSC used as a proxy) were at higher risk of having major perioperative respiratory complications (adjusted odds ratio, 1.82 [95% CI 1.05-3.14]) (P = .003). CONCLUSIONS Children of African American ethnicity (TestSC used as a proxy) are nearly twice as likely to experience major respiratory complications related to T&A. Ethnicity may be an additional independent risk factor for clinicians to consider when planning for T&A.
Hyperandrogenism in oligomenorrhoea with minimal or nil ‘unwanted hair growth’

Aim. To detect whether oligomenorrhoea with minimal or nil ‘unwanted hair growth’ is a hyperandrogenic problem. Materials and methods. Fifty-nine women with oligomenorrhoea with modified Ferriman Gallway score (m FG) = <5 (Group A), 40 women with oligomenorrhoea with m FG score = > 6 (Group B) and 22 eumenorrhoeic non-hirsute ‘control’ women (Group C) were studied. Body mass index, Waist–hip ratio were noted during clinical examination. Serum testosterone, Sex hormone binding globulin, fasting insulin levels were measured in each woman. Free androgen index (FAI) was calculated. Results. No significant differences were noted in the clinical parameters. Though serum testosterone levels were within the normal ranges in Group A and Group B, they were significantly higher than that of Group C. Groups A and B had significantly higher FAI values and fasting insulin levels than Group C. Between Groups A and B there were no significant differences in any of the androgenic parameters studied. Conclusion. Oligomenorrhoea without definite hirsutism is an androgen excess disorder. Definition of biochemical hyperandrogenism needs more clarity. Hirsutism is not a sensitive indicator of hyperandrogenism. The role of insulin in this type of hyperandrogenism needs further studies.
Hydroxyl radical footprints and half-site arrangements of binding sites for the CysB transcriptional activator of Salmonella typhimurium

CysB is a transcriptional activator for the cysteine regulon and negatively autoregulates its own gene, cysB. Transcription activation also requires an inducer, N-acetyl-L-serine. CysB is known to bind to activation sites just upstream of the -35 regions of the positively regulated cysJIH, cysK, and cysP promoters and to a repressor site centered at about +1 in the cysB promoter. Additional accessory sites have been found in positively regulated promoters. The hydroxyl radical footprinting experiments reported here indicate that the activation sites CBS-J1, CBS-K1, and CBS-P1 in the cysJIH, cysK, and cysP promoters are composed of two convergently oriented 19-bp half-sites separated by 1 or 2 bp. N-Acetyl-L-serine stimulates binding to these sites as well as to the accessory sites CBS-J2 and CBS-P2, both of which share a similar topology with activation sites. A second topology is found in the accessory site CBS-K2 and the repressor site CBS-B, which contain divergently oriented 19-bp half-sites separated by one or two helical turns. N-Acetyl-L-serine inhibits binding to these two sites. A third topology is present in the cysK and cysP promoters, where an additional half-site is oriented toward the activation site and separated from it by one helical turn. Here, CysB binds to all three half-sites, bending the DNA, and N-acetyl-L-serine decreases the extent of bending. The marked dissimilarities of these half-site arrangements and of their responses to N-acetyl-L-serine suggest that CysB, a homotetramer, binds to them with different combinations of subunits.
Optimization of Locations of Grain Logistics Centers Based on improved Genetic Algorithm

Grain logistics center is the pivot of a grain logistics system. To define the location of grain logistics distribution center is the key of grain logistics system analysis. In this paper, according to the characteristics and requirements in the selection of the location, a mathematical model applied to the location selection was established on the basis of lowest transportation cost. Genetic Algorithm was then used to solve the model, and the optimal solution of the model was obtained by selecting the encode method and genetic operator correctly, thus verifying the correctness of the model. The instance demonstrates that the algorithm can effectively get the grain logistics center optimal solution.
Spermidine Determines the Sensitivity to the Calmodulin Antagonist, Chlorpromazine, for the Circadian Conidiation Rhythm but Not for the Mycelial Growth in Neurospora crassa

The gene that suppresses the phenotype of the cpz-2mutation, which results in changing the sensitivity to chlorpromazine in relation to mycelial growth and circadian rhythms, was cloned in Neurospora crassa.This gene is not the cpz-2 gene itself but rather is identical to the spe-3gene that encodes spermidine synthase in Neurospora. The intracellular content of spermidine was lowered in the cpz-2strain compared to that of the wild-type strain. By integration of the spe-3 gene or by the addition of spermidine into culture medium, the temperature sensitivity of mycelial growth was lost and the conidiation rhythm became sensitive to chlorpromazine in the cpz-2 strain, as was observed in the wild-type strain, but the hypersensitivity of mycelial growth on chlorpromazine in the cpz-2strain was not affected. Therefore, it appears that spermidine determines only the sensitivity of the conidiation rhythm to chlorpromazine.
A simplified equation for adult BMI growth, and its use to adjust BMI for age.

References 1 Creamer J, Puchades A. An appraisal letter of the article: ‘Alcohol imagery and branding, and age classification of films popular in the UK’. Int J Epidemiol 2012;41:887. 2 Lyons A, McNeill A, Gilmore I, Britton J. Alcohol imagery and branding, and age classification of films popular in the UK. Int J Epidemiol 2011;40:1411–19. 3 Livingstone S, Bovill M. Young people, new media: report of the research project Children Young People and the Changing Media Environment. Research report. London: Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science, 1999; http:// eprints.lse. ac.uk/21177/1/Young_people_new_media_ %28LSERO%29.pdf (13 January 2012, date last accessed). 4 British Film Institute. 2011 Statistical Yearbook. London: British Film Institute, 2011; http://statisticalyearbook11. ry.com/? id1⁄482736 (13 January 2012, date last accessed).
Analysis of dynamic wireless charging using tunable self-oscillating method

ABSTRACT In this paper, Tunable Self-Oscillating Switching (TSOS) technique for Dynamic Wireless Charging (DWC) of Electric Vehicle (EV) is investigated. TSOS is a suitable option for DWC, which has parameter variation and requires fast frequency tracking. The system consists of a high-frequency full-bridge inverter, a series–series compensated loosely coupled transformer that is created by Unequal Double D (UDD) coils and a Li-Ion battery as the load that is connected to the output of the full-bridge rectifier. To achieve high efficiency and energy transfer and realise zero voltage switching, the phase of total impedance in steady state condition is investigated. To limit the overshoot of current in the system, a variable phase control method is proposed. Also, an investigation on the proper point to start the charger is performed to decrease the overshoot of current and increase the efficiency. Using this method, overshoot of current could be limited to 50% and energy efficiency could be at least 92.68%. To analyse this method, simulation is done in the Simulink/MATLAB, and to verify the results, a laboratory prototype is implemented. Abbreviations:TSOS: Tunable Self-Oscillating Switching; DWC: Dynamic Wireless Charging; EV: Electric Vehicle; DD: Double D; UDD: Unequal Double D; IPT: Inductive Power Transfer; CT: Current Transformer; MCU: Micro Controller Unit; SOS: Self-Oscillating Switching; ZVZCS: Zero Voltage and Zero Current Switching; EMI: Electromagnetic Interference; SS: Series–Series; PLL: Phase-Locked Loop; DC: Direct Current
Factors Predictive of Improved Outcomes With Multimodality Local Therapy After Palliative Chemotherapy for Stage IV Esophageal Cancer

Objectives:We reviewed survival outcomes and factors associated with improved outcomes for patients with stage IVB esophageal cancer who received multimodality therapy with initial chemotherapy followed by concurrent chemoradiation (CRT)±surgery. Methods:We retrospectively identified 96 patients with stage IVB esophageal carcinoma (with positive nonregional lymph nodes and/or distant organ metastasis) treated at a single institution with chemotherapy followed by concurrent CRT, with or without surgery. The Cox proportional hazard model was used to test associations between overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), locoregional relapse, distant metastasis–free survival, and potential predictive factors. Results:Median patient age at diagnosis was 59 years. The median OS time among all patients was 21.0 months, and 1-, 2-, and 5-year OS rates were 84.4%, 46.8%, and 17.9%, respectively; corresponding DFS time and rates were 8.1 months and 37%, 24.6%, and 24.6%, respectively. On multivariate analysis, factors that predicted improved OS with aggressive multimodal therapy included young age; lack of anorexia, fatigue at diagnosis; distant nodal metastasis without organ metastasis at diagnosis; and radiographic response to initial chemotherapy. A subset of 14 patients who had surgery after chemotherapy and concurrent CRT also had better median OS (not reached vs. 20 mo for 82 patients who did not receive surgery, P=0.001), DFS (14.6 vs. 5.9 mo, P=0.021), and distant metastasis–free survival (26.7 vs. 9.2 mo, P=0.042). Conclusions:Aggressive local therapy with radiation and potentially surgery after initial palliative chemotherapy can improve prognosis for a select group of patients with stage IVB esophageal cancer.