Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Additive effects of soluble TWEAK and inflammation on mortality in hemodialysis patients.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is characterized by an exceptionally high mortality rate, primarily due to cardiovascular disease. Reduced soluble TNF-like weak inducer of apoptosis (sTWEAK) plasma levels have been reported both in patients with subclinical atherosclerosis and CKD. DESIGN, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS A cross-sectional study was conducted in 218 prevalent patients (121 men; 63 +/- 14 yr) undergoing hemodialysis (HD). sTWEAK levels in relation with the patients' outcome were studied. RESULTS sTWEAK plasma levels were 208 [(165 to 272) pg/ml, median interquartile range], significantly lower than healthy controls (P < 0.0001). sTWEAK was negatively associated with inflammatory markers, such as C-reactive protein and IL-6. Overall mortality was assessed after an average follow-up of 31 mo, during which 81 patients died. After controlling for potential confounding variables, patients in the upper tertile of sTWEAK plasma levels had an increased risk of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. A significant interaction effect between sTWEAK and IL-6 levels was found [synergy index: 2.19 (0.80, 5.93)]. Thus, the association of sTWEAK with mortality was strongest in patients with inflammation (defined as IL-6 > 7.0 pg/ml), in whom high sTWEAK strongly predicted cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. These results were confirmed in a second cohort of HD patients. CONCLUSIONS The concurrent presence of elevated sTWEAK plasma concentrations and an inflammatory environment have additive effects on mortality in HD patients. Further studies on the potential different role of sTWEAK in health and disease are warranted.
The Most and Least Frequent Vocabulary Learning Strategies of High School English Language Learners

This study emphasized the most and least frequent vocabulary learning strategies that English language teachers encourage students to use, and the strategies that students actually use to build their vocabulary. Finding out whether the students’ most used strategies were teacher-encouraged or independently-learned was another point of interest. The participants included 20 male and 23 female learners of English of ages 18 to 22, all of them students in the Arts program at a Southern Congolese high school. They completed a Likert-scale questionnaire of 34 statements and four short-answer questions. Statistical and content analysis methods were employed. The study revealed contextual guessing and dictionary use to be the most frequently encouraged and used strategies, whereas pronunciation and flashcards were the least frequently encouraged and used. These strategies showed no significant difference between the teacher-encouraged and the student-used strategies, which provided evidence about the important role that language teachers play in students’ learning in general, and in strategy in particular. Furthermore, the majority of participants attributed their frequently-used strategies to their teachers’ practices and advice. Further discussion stresses the potential reasons why pronunciation receives less attention.
Large Scale Max-Margin Multi-Label Classification with Priors

We propose a max-margin formulation for the multi-label classification problem where the goal is to tag a data point with a set of pre-specified labels. Given a set of L labels, a data point can be tagged with any of the 2L possible subsets. The main challenge therefore lies in optimising over this exponentially large label space subject to label correlations. Existing solutions take either of two approaches. The first assumes, a priori, that there are no label correlations and independently trains a classifier for each label (as is done in the 1-vs-All heuristic). This reduces the problem complexity from exponential to linear and such methods can scale to large problems. The second approach explicitly models correlations by pairwise label interactions. However, the complexity remains exponential unless one assumes that label correlations are sparse. Furthermore, the learnt correlations reflect the training set biases. We take a middle approach that assumes labels are correlated but does not incorporate pairwise label terms in the prediction function. We show that the complexity can still be reduced from exponential to linear while modelling dense pairwise label correlations. By incorporating correlation priors we can overcome training set biases and improve prediction accuracy. We provide a principled interpretation of the 1-vs-All method and show that it arises as a special case of our formulation. We also develop efficient optimisation algorithms that can be orders of magnitude faster than the state-of-the-art.
Topographical organization of the projections from the reticular thalamic nucleus to the intralaminar and medial thalamic nuclei in the cat

The topography of the projections from the reticular nucleus of the thalamus (RT) to the intralaminar and medial thalamic nuclei were studied in the cat by the method of retrograde transport of horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Single small injections of the enzyme were made in the different intralaminar nuclei‐mediodorsal, ventromedial, midline, and habenular‐and in anterior group nuclei. The location and density of the neuronal labeling in the different parts of the RT were studied in each case.
Comparison of three joint simulator wear debris isolation techniques: acid digestion, base digestion, and enzyme cleavage.

Quantification of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) wear debris remains a challenging task in orthopedic device analysis. Currently, the weight loss method is the only accepted practice for quantifying the amount of wear generated from a PE component. This technique utilizes loaded soak controls and weight differences to account for polymeric material lost through wear mechanisms. This method enables the determination of the amount of wear in the orthopedic device, but it provides no information about debris particulate size distribution. In order to shed light on wear mechanisms, information about the wear debris and its size distribution is necessary. To date, particulate isolation has been performed using the base digestion technique. The method uses a strong base, ultracentrifugation, and filtration to digest serum constituents and to isolate PE debris from sera. It should be noted that particulate isolation methods provide valuable information about particulate size distribution and may elucidate the mechanisms of wear associated with polymeric orthopedic implants; however, these techniques do not yet provide a direct measure of the amount of wear. The aim of this study is to present alternative approaches to wear particle isolation for analysis of polymer wear in total joint replacements without recourse to ultracentrifugation. Three polymer wear debris isolation techniques (the base method, an acid treatment, and an enzymatic digestion technique) are compared for effectiveness in simulator studies. A requirement of each technique is that the wear particulate must be completely devoid of serum proteins in order to effectively image and count these particles. In all methods the isolation is performed through filtration and chemical treatment. Subsequently, the isolated polymer particles are imaged using scanning electron microscopy and quantified with digital image analysis. The results from this study clearly show that isolation can be performed without the use of ultracentrifugation and that these methods provide a viable option for wear debris analysis.
Oral corticosteroid sparing with omalizumab in severe allergic (IgE-mediated) asthma patients

Abstract Background: Long-term oral corticosteroid (OCS) therapy and related adverse events are associated with a significant burden on patients and healthcare resources. Methods: This subgroup analysis of a randomized, open-label, parallel-group study evaluated the OCS-sparing effect of omalizumab (OMA) added to optimized asthma therapy (OAT), compared with OAT alone. Patients (12–75 years) with severe allergic asthma, uncontrolled despite GINA 2004 Step 4 therapy, received OMA or OAT for 32 weeks. The change from baseline in OCS use by Week 32 in patients requiring maintenance OCS at baseline was assessed in terms of percent OCS dose change and numbers of patients with reduced/stopped or maintained/increased OCS. Results: Eighty-two patients were receiving maintenance OCS at baseline (OMA/OAT n = 59, OAT n = 23). Change from baseline in mean maintenance OCS dose at Week 32 was significantly greater in the OMA/OAT group compared with the OAT group (−45% vs. + 18.3%, p = 0.002). In the OMA/OAT group, 37 patients (62.7%) reduced/stopped OCS use at Week 32, compared with seven patients (30.4%) receiving OAT (p = 0.013). Improvements in other efficacy outcomes were seen at Week 32 in the OMA/OAT group, irrespective of OCS use. An investigator global evaluation of treatment effectiveness at Week 16 was an effective predictor of persistent treatment response at 32 weeks for the majority of OMA/OAT patients (93%), also irrespective of OCS use. Conclusion: In this open-label study of patients with severe allergic asthma, OMA/OAT therapy reduced maintenance OCS use, compared with OAT alone. Improvements in efficacy measures were observed in the OMA/OAT group, irrespective of OCS change. Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT00264849.
Typing with eye-gaze and tooth-clicks

In eye-gaze-based human-computer interfaces, the most commonly used mechanism for generating activation commands (i.e., mouse clicks) is dwell time (DT). While DT can be relatively efficient and easy to use, it is also associated with the possibility of generating unintentional activation commands -- an issue that is known as the Midas' touch problem. To address this problem, we proposed to use a "tooth-clicker" (TC) device as a mechanism for generating activation commands independently of the activity of the eyes. This paper describes a pilot study that verifies the feasibility of using an eye-gaze tracker (EGT) and a TC to type on an on-screen keyboard, and compares the performance of the EGT-TC system with that of the EGT with two different DT thresholds (880 ms and 490 ms). The six subjects that participated in the study were able to attain typing speeds using the EGT-TC system that were slower than but comparable to the typing speeds that they attained using the EGT with the shorter DT threshold.
A methodology and a case-study for network-on-chip based MP-SoC architectures

The many-core design paradigm requires flexible and modular hardware and software components to provide the required scalability of next-generation on-chip multiprocessor architectures. A multidisciplinary approach is necessary to consider all the interactions between the different components of the design. In this work a complete design methodology is proposed, tackling at once the aspects of hardware architecture, programming model and design automation. The proposed design flow has been used in the implementation of a multiprocessor Network-on-Chip based system, the NoCRay graphic accelerator. The system uses 8 Tensilica LX processors and has been physically implemented on a Xilinx Virtex-4 LX-160 FPGA reporting a 17.3M equivalent gate-count. Performance are compared with a commercial general purpose processor and show good results considering the low frequency of the prototype.
BREN: Body Reflection Essence-Neuter Model for Separation of Reflection Components

We propose a novel reflection color model consisting of body essence and (mixed) neuter, and present an effective method for separating dichromatic reflection components using a single image. Body essence is an entity invariant to interface reflection, and has two degrees of freedom unlike hue and maximum chromaticity. As a result, the proposed method is insensitive to noise and proper for colors around CMY (cyan, magenta, and yellow) as well as RGB (red, green, and blue), contrary to the maximum chromaticity-based methods. Interface reflection is separated by using a Gaussian function, which removes a critical thresholding problem. Furthermore, the method does not require any region segmentation. Experimental results show the efficacy of the proposed model and method.
Noise robust exemplar matching for speech enhancement: applications to automatic speech recognition

We present a novel automatic speech recognition (ASR) scheme which uses the recently proposed noise robust exemplar matching framework for speech enhancement in the front-end. The proposed system employs a GMM-HMM back-end to recognize the enhanced speech signals unlike the prior work focusing on template matching only. Speech enhancement is achieved using multiple dictionaries containing speech exemplars representing a single speech unit and several noise exemplars of the same length. These combined dictionaries are used to approximate the noisy segments and the speech component is obtained as a linear combination of the speech exemplars in the combined dictionaries yielding the minimum total reconstruction error. The performance of the proposed system is evaluated on the small vocabulary track of the 2 nd CHiME Challenge and the AURORA-2 database and the results have shown the effectiveness of the proposed approach in improving the noise robustness of a conventional ASR system. Index Terms: exemplar matching, noise robustness, speech enhancement, front-end denoising, automatic speech recognition
Recognizing Rotated Faces from Two Orthogonal Views in Mugshot Databases

Tolerance to pose variations is one of the key remaining problems in face recognition. It is of great interest in airport surveillance systems using mugshot databases to screen travellers' faces. This paper presents a novel pose-invariant face recognition approach using two orthogonal face images from mugshot databases. Virtual views under different poses are generated in two steps: shape modeling and texture synthesis. In the shape modeling step, a feature-based multilevel quadratic variation minimization approach is applied to generate smooth 3D face shapes. In the texture synthesis step, a non-Lambertian reflectance model is explored to synthesize facial textures taking into account both diffuse and specular reflections. A view-based face recognizer is used to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed pose-invariant face recognition. The experimental results show that the proposed method provides a new solution to the problem of recognizing rotated faces
Augmented Reality using a Neural Network

In this paper, we present a simple augmented reality system using a neural network inspired by the biological vision system. It uses a feature-based recognition system developed in the C# programming environment. It uses OpenCV for feature detection and extraction, a self-organizing map (SOM) for picture recognition, and Microsoft WPF 3D for rendering 3D objects on the screen. This paper describes the characteristics of augmented reality system. For image recognition, the global representation of images are used as image features. We explore different global features that can be used to improve the recognition and discuss how the self-organizing map (SOM) is trained using these global features using an unsupervised learning algorithm. The SOM is a two-layer neural network comprising the input layer and the competition layer that is a grid of neurons. Each neuron is represented by a vector that has the same dimension as an input feature vector. During the training, the SOM groups the similar pictures together in the competition layer and chooses a neuron for each group. We describe the process of building an augmented reality system using the self-organizing map. Using a webcam as a visual sensor, the system is presented with a sequence of input images that are processed frame by frame. On receiving an input image, the system detects a rectangle of interest in the input image by analyzing contours from the edges extracted with an edge detection algorithm in OpenCV. From the picture within the rectangle of interest, a feature vector is extracted and later fed into the neural network for picture recognition. Picture recognition is done by choosing the best representative neuron that represents a group of pictures in the competition layer, and then choosing the most similar picture in the group. Once a picture is recognized, a 3D object corresponding to the picture is rendered on the screen using WPF 3D.
Extra-individual sources of social support as described by adults with mild intellectual disabilities.

The extra-individual social support responses provided by adults with intellectual disabilities on a social support survey were examined. Felton and Berry (1992) argued that extra-individual social support, support from larger than individual entities, is a valid source of social support for older adults. We hypothesized that extra-individual support would also be relevant to adults with intellectual disabilities. Results showed that 43% of participants with intellectual disabilities listed extra-individual support sources in their social networks or as providers of one of several support functions. The most popular forms of extra-individual support were those from "staff" and "work. " Findings are discussed in terms of implications for social support measurement for persons with intellectual disabilities.
Ultrastructural and physiological responses of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) plantlets to gradient saline stress

Salinity is one of the major abiotic stresses that impacts plant growth and reduces the productivity of field crops. Compared to field plants, test tube plantlets offer a direct and fast approach to investigate the mechanism of salt tolerance. Here we examined the ultrastructural and physiological responses of potato (Solanum tuberosum L. c.v. “Longshu No. 3”) plantlets to gradient saline stress (0, 25, 50, 100, and 200 mM NaCl) with two consequent observations (2 and 6 weeks, respectively). The results showed that, with the increase of external NaCl concentration and the duration of treatments, (1) the number of chloroplasts and cell intercellular spaces markedly decreased, (2) cell walls were thickened and even ruptured, (3) mesophyll cells and chloroplasts were gradually damaged to a complete disorganization containing more starch, (4) leaf Na and Cl contents increased while leaf K content decreased, (5) leaf proline content and the activities of catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) increased significantly, and (6) leaf malondialdehyde (MDA) content increased significantly and stomatal area and chlorophyll content decline were also detected. Severe salt stress (200 mM NaCl) inhibited plantlet growth. These results indicated that potato plantlets adapt to salt stress to some extent through accumulating osmoprotectants, such as proline, increasing the activities of antioxidant enzymes, such as CAT and SOD. The outcomes of this study provide ultrastructural and physiological insights into characterizing potential damages induced by salt stress for selecting salt-tolerant potato cultivars.
A new measure of patient satisfaction with mammography. Validation by factor analytic technique.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The success of national breast screening programmes hinges on women's adherence. By monitoring patients' perceptions, potential barriers to attendance may be detected, measured and possibly alleviated. Consequently a new questionnaire MGQ, measuring patients' experience of and satisfaction with mammography, has been developed. As discomfort is a predictor of non-attendance, a dimension measuring physical and psychological discomfort was included. METHODS The internal structure of observed variables was tested using factor analysis as part of the validation process. The study was conducted in six radiological departments in Norway including 550 patients presenting for mammography. The analysis suggested eight factors explaining 56.7% of the variance. RESULTS Construct validity was supported since the factor scales covered all hypothesized dimensions and all but one subdimension. The factors were internally consistent and externally independent, indicating that distinct aspects of patients' experience with mammography may be assessed and thus possibly improved. CONCLUSIONS A relationship between pain and re-attendance was suggested as pain and worries about the next mammography belonged to the same factor. This underlines the importance of including a discomfort dimension when monitoring patient satisfaction with mammography.
Tissue Doppler Analysis of Postnatal Circulatory Dysfunction in Recipient Infants of Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome

Background: A recipient infant of twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) may often suffer from severe circulatory dysfunction postnatally, but an adequate method that can assess early cardiac failure has not been established. Objectives: To examine the clinical utility of tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) echocardiography for management of circulatory dysfunction in preterm TTTS. Methods: Out of 172 very low birth weight (VLBW) infants admitted from 2004 to 2007, five recipient infants of monochorionic diamniotic twins were defined as recipient group (n=5). Three to five control infants matched for gestational age, birth weight, gender were selected from the remaining VLBW infants in the same study period (control group, n=20). Serial echocardiographic examinations including TDI were performed from birth to days 7, then peak systolic velocities (S), early diastolic velocities (Ea), late diastolic velocities (Aa), and myocardial performance index (MPI) were measured at the lateral annulus of mitral and tricuspid valves. Results: There were no significant differences in longitudinal changes of mitral S, Ea, Aa. Values of left ventricular MPIs assessed by TDI in the recipient group before 24 hours after birth appeared to be significantly higher than those in the control group. Early values of tricuspid S and Ea values in the recipients significantly decreased compared to those in the controls. Right ventricular MPIs of recipient infants before 24 hours were also significantly higher than those in the control infants. Conclusions: These preliminary comparisons suggested that early circulatory disturbances of the recipient infants with preterm TTTS might be accurately assessed by TDI.
Anonymity and Attitude Scores among Ten-and Eleven-Year Old Children.

A number of commentators argue that the guaranteed anonoymity of the respondent is an essential aspect of the accurate measurement of attitude by means of questionnaires. This assertion was tested among 300 ten- and eleven-year old children in relationship to a questionnaire measuring attitude towards religion. No significant difference in attitude scores was found between the situations of anonymity and the direct identification of the response forms.
Experimental assessment of the effects of gastrointestinal parasites on offspring quality in chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica)

SUMMARY Parasites reduce host fitness and consequently impose strong selection pressures on their hosts. It has been hypothesized that parasites are scarcer and their overall effect on hosts is weaker at higher latitudes. Although Antarctic birds have relatively low numbers of parasites, their effect on host fitness has rarely been investigated. The effect of helminth parasitism on growth rate was experimentally studied in chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica) nestlings. In a total of 22 two-nestling broods, 1 nestling was treated with anthelminthics (for cestodes and nematodes) while its sibling was left as a control. Increased growth rate was predicted in de-wormed nestlings compared to their siblings. As expected, 15 days after treatment, the experimental nestlings had increased body mass more than their siblings. These results show a non-negligible negative effect of helminth parasites on nestling body condition that would presumably affect future survival and thus fitness, and it has been suggested there is a strong relationship between body mass and mortality in chinstrap penguins.