Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preoperative intra aortic balloon pumps in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.

BACKGROUND The intra aortic balloon pump (IABP) is a mechanical assist device which improves cardiac function. The device has a well-established place in algorithms for managing low cardiac output following cardiac surgery. There is increasing evidence that certain cardiac surgery patients benefit from a period of preoperative augmentation with the intra aortic balloon pump. OBJECTIVES To determine the effect of the preoperative intra aortic balloon pump on mortality and morbidity in a number of different patients groups undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting. SEARCH STRATEGY Searches were performed of the following databases: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) on The Cochrane Library (Issue 1 2005), MEDLINE (2000-2005) and EMBASE (1998-2005). No language restrictions were applied. SELECTION CRITERIA Randomised or controlled trials of any size or length were included. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Papers were assessed for inclusion by two reviewers independently. Differences were settled by consensus with a third reviewer. Data were extracted and entered into RevMan 4.1, through which a meta-analysis of the data was performed. MAIN RESULTS Five randomised controlled trials were identified from a total of 765 studies (4 on-pump and 1 off-pump). Data from a total of 193 patients were included in the meta-analysis; all on-pump. Generally, the patients were designated as "high risk" . 105 patients were treated preoperatively with IABP and 88 patients served as controls. There were three hospital deaths in the intervention arm and 18 in the non-intervention arm (odds ratio (OR) 0.16; 95% confidence intervals (CI): 0.06 to 0.4; P<0.0001). Low cardiac index (<2.0 L/min/m2) was noted in 21 out of 105 patients in the treatment arm and 59 patients out of 88 in the non-treatment arm (OR 0.14; 95% CI: 0.08 to 0.25; P<0.00001). A large proportion of the control group had an IABP inserted postoperatively for low cardiac index (52 out of 88). An off-pump versus on-pump analysis was not possible due to the limited number of off-pump studies. However a single well-conducted randomised controlled trial suggested favourable effect of the preoperative IABP in off-pump patients. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS Available evidence suggests the preoperative intra aortic balloon pump may have a beneficial effect on mortality and morbidity in specific high risk patient groups undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting, however, the randomised evidence is from a number of small trials, with a high proportion of unstable patients, recruited at a single institution.
Finding Topical Experts in Question &amp; Answer Communities

Question and Answer (Q&A) communities (such as Stackoverflow) have become important places for information exchange and knowledge creation. Their success relies predominantly on two aspects of the feedback generated by their members: quality and speed. Of these, the former reflects on the reputation of the community, whilst the latter is indicative of the efficiency of the Q&A system to correctly answer a given question. In this paper, we present a three phase study for identifying and recommending topical experts in Q&A communities. The first phase investigates the most relevant criteria for identifying reputable members of the community (often experts in a given field), the second phase introduces an approach based on semantic annotations to ascertain their area of specialism, and the last phase presents a method to recommend experts to answer questions in their areas of expertise. Our evaluation (carried out using real-world data from the Biology Stack Exchange Q&A community) shows that the numbers of answers provided by each member can be used as reliable indicators of expertise, and semantic annotations can be successfully used to identify the topics in which they specialize. Furthermore, on average, 74% of the recommendations suggested by our method were successful.
Biological identifications through DNA barcodes

Although much biological research depends upon species diagnoses, taxonomic expertise is collapsing. We are convinced that the sole prospect for a sustainable identification capability lies in the construction of systems that employ DNA sequences as taxon ‘barcodes’. We establish that the mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) can serve as the core of a global bioidentification system for animals. First, we demonstrate that COI profiles, derived from the low–density sampling of higher taxonomic categories, ordinarily assign newly analysed taxa to the appropriate phylum or order. Second, we demonstrate that species–level assignments can be obtained by creating comprehensive COI profiles. A model COI profile, based upon the analysis of a single individual from each of 200 closely allied species of lepidopterans, was 100% successful in correctly identifying subsequent specimens. When fully developed, a COI identification system will provide a reliable, cost–effective and accessible solution to the current problem of species identification. Its assembly will also generate important new insights into the diversification of life and the rules of molecular evolution.
A Designing of Random Access Memory Using Different IO Standard Technology

In this work, we proposed simulation of RAM memory using different IO Standard technologies on 28nm feature size FPGA. LVTTL and Mobile-DDR IO standard is used for designing RAM circuit, power consumption by this Memory has been calculated by applying two different technologies i.e. Mobile-DDR and Low Voltage Transistor- Transistor Logic. Both IO Standards are compared with each other to find out the most power efficient one. We validated our circuit with different IO Standards and on Different frequency range to obtain a most power efficient circuit. In our work, there is 28.05% power reduction when LVTTL is replaced with Mobile-DDR on 1 GHz frequency and 47.93% power reduction at 4GHz operating frequency. To design this energy efficient memory circuit, we are using Verilog as HDL, Xilinx ISE 14.2 simulator with Artix-7 FPGA.
Knowledge mining of Traditional Chinese Medicine Constitution classification rules based on Artificial Fish School Algorithm

Human Constitution is a complex multi-factor, and is difficult to get accurate results using TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) Constitution classification and criterion. AFSA (Artificial Fish School Algorithm) is an optimization algorithm based on biological models. The coding scheme of the Classification rule is designed by using AFSA, the more accurate Classification Rule Model is constructed by learning the upper and lower boundaries of continuous attributes and putting forward a new fitness function of Classification Rule. The experiment shows that it can get concise and easily understandable rule set by using the mining algorithm based on ASFA, and the accuracy of mining results on rule set is higher.
Effect of heating rate on microstructure and electrical properties of microwave sintered CaCu3Ti4O12 ceramics

In the present work, the results of microstructure, dielectric and ferroelectric investigation of microwave sintered CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) ceramic with different heating rate are presented. Scanning electron micrographs revealed that grain size decreases from 1.167 μm to 0.744 μm with increased heating rate from 10oC/min. to 50oC/min which can be explained on the basis of phenomenological kinetic equation for grain growth. Dielectric response also found to influence by heating rate. The CCTO ceramic sintered with 50oC/min. exhibited highest dielectric constant (ɛr~3915) with nominal losses (0.10) at room temperature in broad frequency range from 10Hz-10Hz. Cole-Cole plots revealed the change in grain boundary resistivity mainly caused by the oxygen vacancy activities and affected by varying sintering heating rate. An anomaly observed for 50oC/min heating rate due to trapping of oxygen at grain boundaries. The remnant polarization and coercive field for CCTO ceramic sintered with 50oC/min were 0.1 μC /cm and 1.477 kV /cm respectively. Remnant polarization found to decrease while the coercive field increases with increasing heating rate applying these are micro-structural dependent. Copyright © 2017 VBRI Press.
Cooperative recruitment of HMGB1 during V(D)J recombination through interactions with RAG1 and DNA

During V(D)J recombination, recombination activating gene (RAG)1 and RAG2 bind and cleave recombination signal sequences (RSSs), aided by the ubiquitous DNA-binding/-bending proteins high-mobility group box protein (HMGB)1 or HMGB2. HMGB1/2 play a critical, although poorly understood, role in vitro in the assembly of functional RAG–RSS complexes, into which HMGB1/2 stably incorporate. The mechanism of HMGB1/2 recruitment is unknown, although an interaction with RAG1 has been suggested. Here, we report data demonstrating only a weak HMGB1–RAG1 interaction in the absence of DNA in several assays, including fluorescence anisotropy experiments using a novel Alexa488-labeled HMGB1 protein. Addition of DNA to RAG1 and HMGB1 in fluorescence anisotropy experiments, however, results in a substantial increase in complex formation, indicating a synergistic binding effect. Pulldown experiments confirmed these results, as HMGB1 was recruited to a RAG1–DNA complex in a RAG1 concentration-dependent manner and, interestingly, without strict RSS sequence specificity. Our finding that HMGB1 binds more tightly to a RAG1–DNA complex over RAG1 or DNA alone provides an explanation for the stable integration of this typically transient architectural protein in the V(D)J recombinase complex throughout recombination. These findings also have implications for the order of events during RAG–DNA complex assembly and for the stabilization of sequence-specific and non-specific RAG1–DNA interactions.
Swine immunity to an attenuated Salmonella typhimurium mutant containing a recombinant plasmid which codes for production of a 31-kilodalton protein of Brucella abortus

Salmonella typhimurium chi 4064, an attenuated delta cya delta crp mutant of S. typhimurium SR-11, was shown to be avirulent in swine. S. typhimurium chi 4064 was used as a carrier for plasmid pBA31-R7, which codes for the expression of a 31-kDa protein from Brucella abortus (BCSP31). Given orally, S. typhimurium chi 4064(pBA31-R7) colonized the intestine and mesenteric lymph nodes of 5- to 6-week-old crossbred swine. Orally immunized animals developed serum and intestinal antibody responses to the B. abortus 31-kDa protein and to salmonella endotoxin as measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Similarly immunized swine did not develop delayed-type hypersensitivity following a subcutaneous injection of recombinant BCSP31. However, swine parenterally immunized with recombinant BCSP31 incorporated in Freund incomplete adjuvant did develop a delayed-type hypersensitivity response to the homologous antigen. The data indicated that oral presentation of antigen to swine in the context of recombinant S. typhimurium effective stimulated mucosal and systemic antibody-mediated immunity but failed to sensitize swine for either an antigen-specific delayed-type hypersensitivity or a blastogenic response to the cloned BCSP31.
Serotonergic Regulation of Excitability of Principal Cells of the Dorsal Cochlear Nucleus

The dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) is one of the first stations within the central auditory pathway where the basic computations underlying sound localization are initiated and heightened activity in the DCN may underlie central tinnitus. The neurotransmitter serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT), is associated with many distinct behavioral or cognitive states, and serotonergic fibers are concentrated in the DCN. However, it remains unclear what is the function of this dense input. Using a combination of in vitro electrophysiology and optogenetics in mouse brain slices, we found that 5-HT directly enhances the excitability of fusiform principal cells via activation of two distinct 5-HT receptor subfamilies, 5-HT2A/2CR (5-HT2A/2C receptor) and 5-HT7R (5-HT7 receptor). This excitatory effect results from an augmentation of hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated channels (Ih or HCN channels). The serotonergic regulation of excitability is G-protein-dependent and involves cAMP and Src kinase signaling pathways. Moreover, optogenetic activation of serotonergic axon terminals increased excitability of fusiform cells. Our findings reveal that 5-HT exerts a potent influence on fusiform cells by altering their intrinsic properties, which may enhance the sensitivity of the DCN to sensory input.
Increasing Anticarcinoma Activity of an Anti-erbB2 Recombinant Immunotoxin by the Addition of an Anti-EpCAM sFv

Purpose: erbB2, the product of the Her2-neu gene, is a well-established therapeutic target for antibody-based biologicals, but anti-erbB2 antibody-toxin fusion proteins are limited in their activity. The goal of this study was to determine if genetically adding an sFv targeting epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) to an anti-Her2 sFv immunotoxin would result in enhanced antitumor activity. Experimental Design:In vitro studies were done in which the new bispecific immunotoxin DTEpCAM23 was compared with monospecific immunotoxins (DTEpCAM and DT23) to quantitate immunotoxin activity. Mixtures of monospecific immunotoxins were tested to determine if they were as effective as the bispecific immunotoxin. Binding and internalization studies were also done. In vivo, bispecific immunotoxins were given i.t. to athymic nude mice bearing HT-29 human colon cancer flank tumors and i.p. to mice with i.p. tumors. Results: DTEpCAM23 bispecific immunotoxins showed far greater activity than monospecific immunotoxin (sometimes over 2,000-fold) against most tumor lines. Bispecific immunotoxin was superior and selective in its activity against different carcinoma cell lines. Bispecific immunotoxin had greater activity than monospecific immunotoxin indicating an advantage of having both sFv on the same single-chain molecule. Binding and internalization studies did not explain the differences between bispecific immunotoxin and monospecific immunotoxin activity. Orientation of the sFvs on the molecule had a significant effect on in vitro and in vivo properties. The bispecific immunotoxins were more effective than the monospecific immunotoxin in the flank tumor mouse model. Conclusions: The synthesis of bispecific immunotoxin created a new biological agent with superior in vitro and in vivo activity (over monospecific immunotoxin), more broad reactivity, more efficacy against tumors in vivo, and diminished toxic effects in mice.
G20210A mutation in prothrombin gene and risk of myocardial infarction, stroke, and venous thrombosis in a large cohort of US men.

BACKGROUND A single base pair mutation in the prothrombin gene has recently been identified that is associated with increased prothrombin levels. Whether this mutation increases the risks of arterial and venous thrombosis among healthy individuals is controversial. METHODS AND RESULTS In a prospective cohort of 14 916 men, we determined the prevalence of the G20210A prothrombin gene variant in 833 men who subsequently developed myocardial infarction, stroke, or venous thrombosis (cases) and in 1774 age- and smoking status-matched men who remained free of thrombosis during a 10-year follow-up (control subjects). Gene sequencing was used to confirm mutation status in a subgroup of participants. Overall, carrier rates for the G20210A mutation were similar among case and control subjects; the relative risk of developing any thrombotic event in association with the 20210A allele was 1.05 (95% CI, 0.7 to 1.6; P=0.8). We observed no evidence of association between mutation and myocardial infarction (RR=0.8, P=0.4) or stroke (RR=1.1, P=0.8). For venous thrombosis, a modest nonsignificant increase in risk was observed (RR=1.7, P=0.08) that was smaller in magnitude than that associated with factor V Leiden (RR=3.0, P<0. 001). Nine individuals carried both the prothrombin mutation and factor V Leiden (5 controls and 4 cases). One individual, a control subject, was homozygous for the prothrombin mutation. CONCLUSIONS In a large cohort of US men, the G20210A prothrombin gene variant was not associated with increased risk of myocardial infarction or stroke. For venous thrombosis, risk estimates associated with the G20210A mutation were smaller in magnitude than risk estimates associated with factor V Leiden.
Multicenter Comparison of Processes of Care Between Stroke Units and Conventional Care Wards in Australia

Background and Purpose— Approximately 23% of Australian hospitals provide Stroke Units (SUs). Evidence suggests that clinical outcomes are better in SUs than with conventional care. Reasons may include greater adherence to processes of care (PoC). The primary hypothesis was that adherence to selected PoC is greater in SUs than in other acute care models. Methods— Prospective, multicenter, single-blinded design. Models of care investigated: SUs, mobile services, and conventional care. Selected PoC were related to care models and participant outcomes. Data were collected at acute hospitalization (median 9 days) and at medians of 8 and 28 weeks after stroke. Results— 1701 patients were screened from 8 hospitals, 823 were eligible, and 468 participated. Response rate was 96% at final follow-up. Mean age was 73 years (SD 14). Overall PoC adherence rates for individual care models were SU 75%, mobile service 65%, and conventional care 52% (P <0.001). The adjusted odds of participants being alive at discharge if adhering to all or all but 1 PoC was significant (aOR 3.63; 95% CI: 1.04 to 12.66; P =0.043). Important trends at 28 weeks were found for being at home (aOR 3.09; 95% CI: 0.96 to 9.87; P =0.058) and independent (aOR 2.61; 95% CI: 0.96 to 7.10; P =0.061), with complete PoC adherence. Conclusion— Adherence to key PoC was higher in SUs than in other models. For all patients, adherence to PoC was associated with improved mortality at discharge and trends found with independence at home, providing support for the need to increase access to stroke units.
A grammatical evolution algorithm for generation of Hierarchical Multi-Label Classification rules

Hierarchical Multi-Label Classification (HMC) is a challenging task in data mining and machine learning. Each instance in HMC can be classified into two or more classes simultaneously. These classes are structured in a hierarchy, in the form of either a tree or a directed acyclic graph. Therefore, an instance can be assigned to two or more paths from the hierarchical structure, resulting in a complex classification problem with hundreds or thousands of classes. Several methods have been proposed to deal with such problems, including several algorithms based on well-known bio-inspired techniques, such as neural networks, ant colony optimization, and genetic algorithms. In this work, we propose a novel global method called GEHM, which makes use of grammatical evolution for generating HMC rules. In this approach, the grammatical evolution algorithm evolves the antecedents of classification rules, in order to assign instances from a HMC dataset to a probabilistic class vector. Our method is compared to bio-inspired HMC algorithms in protein function prediction datasets. The empirical analysis conducted in this work shows that GEHM outperforms the bio-inspired algorithms with statistical significance, which suggests that grammatical evolution is a promising alternative to deal with hierarchical multi-label classification of biological data.
Evaluation and Design of Non-cryptographic Hash Functions for Network Data Stream Algorithms

Non-cryptographic hash function is the core algorithm in network data stream technologies, its performance plays a crucial role in data stream algorithms. In this paper, two new quality criteria active flow metric and homology hash value correlation metric are firstly proposed for evaluating hash functions used in data stream algorithms. Experiments towards the metrics defined on 15 representative hash functions are performed using the real IPv6 network data captured from CERNET backbone. Bitwise operators are common candidates for implementing hash functions. We experimentally prove that XOR can introduce the most entropy to hash values compared with other 3 operators. On the basis of operator analysis, we design a novel hash function utilizing Genetic Programming for data stream algorithm and network measurement. It can compete with the state of the art hash functions.
Web service approaches for providing enriched data structures to generalisation operators

Web service technologies can be used to establish an interoperable framework between different generalisation systems. In a previous article three categories of generalisation web services were identified, including support services, operator services and processing services. This paper focuses on the category of support services. In a service‐based generalisation system, the purpose of support services is to assist the generalisation process by providing auxiliary measures, procedures and data structures that allow the representation of structural cartographic knowledge. The structural knowledge of the spatial and semantic context and the modelling of structural and spatial relationships is critical for the understanding of the role of cartographic features and thus for automated generalisation. Support services should extract and model this knowledge from the raw data and make it available to other generalisation operators. On the one hand the structural knowledge can be expressed by enriching map features with additional geometries or attributes. On the other hand, there exist various hierarchical and non‐hierarchical relationships between map features, many of which can be represented by graph data structures. After a brief introduction to the interoperable web service framework, this paper proposes a taxonomy of generalisation support services and discusses its elements. It is then shown how the complex output of such services can be represented for use with web services and stored in a reusable fashion. Finally, the utilisation of support services is illustrated on four implementation examples of support services that also highlight the interactions with the generalisation operators that use these auxiliary services.
Scalable low-complexity B-spline discrete wavelet transform architecture

A scalable discrete wavelet transform architecture based on the B-spline factorisation is presented. In particular, it is shown that several wavelet filters of practical interest have a common structure in the distributed part of their B-spline factorisation. This common structure is effectively exploited to achieve scalability and to save multipliers compared with a direct polyphase B-spline implementation. Since the proposed solution is more robust to coefficient quantisation than direct polyphase B-spline, it features further complexity reduction. Synthesis results are reported for a 130-nm CMOS technology to enable accurate comparison with other implementations. Moreover, the performance of the new wavelet transform architecture, integrated in a complete JPEG2000 model, has been collected for several images.