Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Correlation of serum B lymphocyte stimulator and β2 microglobulin with autoantibody secretion and systemic involvement in primary Sjögren’s syndrome

Background: In primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS), extraglandular involvement might result from more intense stimulation of autoreactive B cells. Thus markers of B cell activation could be useful in the clinical assessment of this disease. Objective: To investigate the association of serum B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS) and β2 microglobulin with autoantibody production and extraglandular involvement in pSS. Methods: Serum concentrations of BLyS and β2 microglobulin were analysed in 177 patients with pSS according to the American–European consensus group criteria. Serum β2 microglobulin was determined serially in 25 patients. Results: Autoantibody secretion (presence of anti-SSA antibody alone or of both anti-SSA and anti-SSB) was associated with increased serum BLyS and β2 microglobulin. No correlation was found between BLyS and β2 microglobulin levels (p = 0.36). Serum concentrations of β2 microglobulin and C reactive protein and positive anti-SSB antibody results were associated with extraglandular involvement on univariate analysis (p<10−4, p = 0.003, and p = 0.004, respectively). Serum β2 microglobulin was also significantly increased in patients with extraglandular involvement without autoantibodies (mean (SD): 1.75 (0.7) v 1.39 (0.5) mg/l, p = 0.039). Multivariate analysis showed that extraglandular involvement was associated only with increased serum β2 microglobulin (p = 0.035, odds ratio = 2.78 (95% confidence interval, 1.07 to 7.22)). Among the 25 patients who had serial determinations of serum β2 microglobulin, the concentrations were increased in all those with disease flare and decreased in three following treatment. Serum BLyS, gamma globulin, IgG, and rheumatoid factor levels were not associated with features of systemic involvement. Conclusions: Serum β2 microglobulin and BLyS reflect B cell activation in different ways in pSS. Serum β2 microglobulin assessment could be helpful as an activity marker in pSS.
Low-offset comparator using capacitive self-calibration

A new high-precision self-calibrated comparator for high resolution converters is presented. It uses a bridged-capacitor array as the calibration digital-to-analog converter (DAC) for high power efficiency and low noise. Post-layout simulations in a 1.8V 0. 18μm CMOS show that the comparator achieves a less than 50μV offset for a 14-bit target resolution while consumes only 45μW at the frequency period of 300ns.
Effect of low-dose versus higher-dose antenatal iron supplementation on child health outcomes at 36 months of age in Viet Nam: longitudinal follow-up of a cluster randomised controlled trial

Introduction Intermittent iron-folic acid supplementation (IFA) is currently recommended for pregnant women in populations where anaemia prevalence among pregnant women is <20% or if daily iron is not acceptable. The effect of providing lower doses of antenatal elemental iron through intermittent regimes on longer-term health outcomes in childhood is unclear. Methods A prospective cohort study conducted between May 2012 and May 2014 in Viet Nam among children of 36 months of age, born to women previously enrolled in a cluster randomised controlled trial of antenatal micronutrient supplementation (daily IFA (60 mg elemental iron) vs twice-weekly IFA (60 mg elemental iron) vs twice-weekly multiple micronutrient (MMN) supplementation (60 mg elemental iron)). Primary outcomes were height-for-age z-scores (HAZ), according to WHO growth standards and cognitive composite scores (Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, third edition) at 36 months of age. Results A total of 1017 children born to mothers enrolled in the cluster randomised trial were assessed at 36 months of age. Adjusted mean differences (MDs) in HAZ were –0.14 (95% CI –0.28 to –0.01) and –0.15 (95% CI –0.29 to –0.01) in children born to mothers who received twice-weekly IFA or MMN compared with those who received daily IFA. Children born to mothers who received twice-weekly MMN had lower composite motor scores compared with those who received daily IFA (MD –2.07, 95% CI –4.11 to –0.03). There were no differences in composite cognitive scores in the twice-weekly compared with daily regimens. Conclusions Low-dose antenatal IFA supplementation (120 mg elemental iron per week) resulted in lower HAZ and motor composite scores in children compared with higher-dose antenatal IFA supplementation (420 mg elemental iron per week). This highlights the importance of adequate iron stores during pregnancy and the need for careful monitoring when lower-dose antenatal iron regimens are used. Trial registration number Australia New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: 12610000944033.
Memantine (Namenda) for Neuropathic Pain

Neuropathic pain is common in the palliative care population; unless adequately treated, the pain can lead to chronic anxiety, depression, and social impairment. Many treatments have been proposed for neuropathic pain; however, it remains underdiagnosed, under-treated, and often requires long-term therapy with risk of adverse effects. Memantine (Namenda), an N-Methyl, D-aspartate receptor inhibitor currently marketed for the treatment of dementia, has been proposed as a medication for the treatment of neuropathic pain for its mechanism, safety, lack of serious adverse effects, and relatively rapid onset of action. However, clinical trials have not been promising so far and its routine use in neuropathic pain is not currently recommended.
A low‐power four‐stage amplifier for driving large capacitive loads

A four‐stage amplifier with a new and efficient frequency compensation topology is presented in this paper. The new compensation scheme applies a Miller capacitor as the main negative feedback, a resistor and a capacitor in series as a load for one of the intermediate stages, and two feedforward paths. In order to design the amplifier and acquire circuit parameters, small signal analyses have been carried out to derive the signal transfer function and the pole‐zero locations. The proposed amplifier was designed and implemented in a standard 90 nm CMOS process with two heavy capacitive loads of 500 pF and 1 nF. The simulation results show that when driving a 500 pF load, the amplifier has a gain‐bandwidth product of 18 MHz consuming only 40.9 μW. With a 1 nF capacitive load, the proposed amplifier achieves 15.1 MHz gain‐bandwidth product and dissipates 55.2 μW from a single 0.9 V power supply. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Within-season variation in the body composition of Asian youth professional soccer players

Body composition is an important aspect of soccer fitness. There is a dearth of longitudinal data on the intraseasonal variation in the body composition parameters of youth professional soccer players especially of Asian origin. This study assessed the body composition profile of the Asian youth professional soccer players (n=20; Mean ± SD, age 17.5 ± 0.3 years, stature 1.73 ± 0.04 m, body mass 67.2 ± 7.5 kg) through the entire season. Body mass, percentage body fat (% BF), lean body mass (LBM) and bone mineral density (BMD) of outfield youth professional soccer players was determined using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) during the pre-season, early in-season and end mid-season respectively. Results showed that the Asian youth professional soccer players had similar anthropometric characteristics compared to Asian adult elite players but were shorter and lighter than European youth players. There was a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in the % BF and a significant increase (p < 0.05) in LBM during the pre-season period. However, negative adaptations during the competition phase indicated that training and competition load was insufficient to improve or maintain the adaptations in the % BF and LBM. The whole body BMD significantly increased through the soccer season. Area-specific BMD of the pelvis and the lower limbs showed positive osteogenic adaptations during the soccer season. Our results showed that the body composition parameters of Asian youth professional soccer players change through the soccer season. Such data can expand the bases of comparison between different soccer playing populations and add to the prospects of research on soccer performance. Further studies on the effect of body composition parameters on different aspects of soccer performance are desirable.
Surface-acoustic-wave pressure and temperature sensors

A sensitive sensor for the measurement of pressure and temperature is created by fabricating a surface-acoustic-wave (SAW) delay path on the surface of a thin diaphragm which, in turn, is in contact with the medium to be measured. The SAW delay path and associated electroacoustic transducers are utilized as the feedback circuit in a miniature electronic oscillator. Since the SAW time delay varies almost linearly with diaphragm temperature and pressure induced strain, the oscillator frequency is also a predominantly linear function of pressure and temperature. A frequency output sensor is desirable both for high-measurement resolution and for compatibility with digital data processors. Sensor configurations are discussed which can be optimized for independent measurement of either temperature or pressure.
Elementary operator criterion of entanglement of quantum states

Positive linear maps and completely positive linear maps are found to be very important in quantum mechanics, quantum computation and quantum information. In fact they can be used to recognize entangled states, and every quantum channel is represented as a trace preserving completely positive linear map. In quantum mechanics, a quantum system is associated with a separable complex Hilbert space H, i.e., the state space. A quantum state is described as a density operator ρ ∈ T (H) ⊆ B(H) which is positive and has trace 1, where B(H) and T (H) denote the von Neumann algebras of all bounded linear operators and the trace-class of all operators T with ‖T‖1 = Tr((T †T ) 12 ) < ∞, respectively. ρ is a pure state if ρ2 = ρ; ρ is a mixed state if ρ2 6= ρ. The state space H of a composite quantum system is the tensor product of the state spaces of the component quantum systems Hi, that is H = H1 ⊗H2 ⊗ . ⊗Hk. In this lecture we are mainly interested in bipartite systems, that is, the case k = 2. Let H and K be finite dimensional and let ρ be a state acting on H⊗K. ρ is said to be separable if ρ can be written as
Probabilistic Post­Facto Detection of Man­in­the­Middle Attacks on Unauthenticated Diffie­Hellman

This dissertation details a prototype protocol for exposing a man­in­the­middle attacker on Diffie­Hellman key exchanges at a scale where out­of­band verification of matching shared secrets is infeasible. This verification is accomplished by creating a hash value of the shared secrets as seen at each end point and comparing the outputs, where a mismatch in hash values indicates a potential man­in­the­middle. The exchange that each hash value must be able to be identified without divulging the actual identities of the participants. Two systems for this are created and evaluated, each using a different method of identifying the exchanges in an online database and analysing the results of comparing hash values. One version uses random integers as part of the identifier, where the count of random value choice collision for matching hashes can be compared with the expected count based on the size of the random range. The second has servers create a UUID to record batches of DH exchanges and later compares this local log with the online version, which includes client versions of the exchange. The random session version works well in the case where a number of participants provide information, offsetting the inaccuracy of the random numbers. While choice of the range and number of exchanges under a particular range is up to a human operator to decide, little modification is required to the underlying protocol. The UUID version works with fewer participants, though requires more involvement of the human operators and some modifications to the underlying protocol.
In Vitro Simulation of Thrombolysis Inhibition

Hyperfibrinolysis is a serious clinical complication. The inhibitory concentrations 50% of antifibrinolytics were analyzed in the microtiter plate clot lysis assay, using 50 µL of plasma clots, 10 µL of antifibrinolytic drug, 10 µL of 354 IU/mL (final) urokinase, 4.46 µg/mL (final) tissue-type plasminogen activator or 0.6 mg/mL plasmin, and 50 µL of pooled normal plasma as clot supernatant. The inhibitory concentrations 50% of lysine against urokinase or tissue-type plasminogen activator is 2.0 or 4.2 mM, against ε-amino-caproic acid 0.7 or 1.5 mM, against tranexamic acid 0.03 or 0.17 mM, respectively. The inhibitory concentrations 50% of lysine, ε-amino-caproic acid, or tranexamic acid against plasmin is 7.4, 0.4, or 0.04 mM. The inhibitory concentrations 50% of aprotinin against urokinase or tissue-type plasminogen activator is about 60 KIU/mL, against plasmin 19 KIU/mL. Lysine might be a new antifibrinolytic drug with a clinically interesting rapid pharmacokinetic. This data help correct dosing of antifibrinolytics to patients with hyperfibrinolysis.
New Journal of Physics A Stark decelerator on a chip

A microstructured array of 1254 electrodes on a substrate has been configured to generate an array of local minima of electric field strength with a periodicity of 120 μm about 25 μm above the substrate. By applying sinusoidally varying potentials to the electrodes, these minima can be made to move smoothly along the array. Polar molecules in low-field seeking quantum states can be trapped in these traveling potential wells. Recently, we experimentally demonstrated this by transporting metastable CO molecules at constant velocities above the substrate (Meek et al 2008 Phys. Rev. Lett. 10
THE MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF AEGYPTIANELLA BACTERIFERA: AN INTRAERYTHROCYTIC RICKETTSIA OF FROGS FROM CORSICA

Study of ultrathin sections and freeze-fracture replicas of erythrocytes containing Aegyptianella bacterifera (Rickettsiales; Anaplasmataceae) revealed that the organisms develop within a membrane bound vacuole in the erythrocyte cytoplasm. The organisms divide by binary fission to produce about 12 rickettsiae in a mature inclusion. The organisms have gram-negative cell envelopes. The distribution of intramembranous particles within the outer and plasma membranes of A. bacterifera is similar to that of other rickettsiae and gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli. The definition of the genus Aegyptianella should be broadened to include rickettsiae measuring up to 5 μm in length prior to division which develop within membrane bound inclusions in erythrocytes of their hosts.
HMM/GMM classification for articulation disorder correction among algerian children

In this paper, we propose an automatic classification for Arabic phonemic substitution using a Hidden Markov Model/Gaussian Mixture Model (HMM/GMM) systems. The main objective is to help Algerian children in the correction of articulation problems. Five cases are analyzed in the experiments, 20 Arabic words are recorded by a 20 Algerian children, with age range between 4 and 6 years old. Signals are recorded and stored as wave format with 16kHz as sampling rate, 12 Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC), with their first and second derivates, respectively 3 and 33 are extracted from each signal and used to the training and recognition phases. The proposed system achieved its best accuracy recognition 85.73%, with 58stats HMM when the output function is modelled by a GMM with 8Gaussian components.
Is Another Potential PKA Phosphorylation Target of Cdc 25 B in G 2 / M Transition of Fertilized Mouse Eggs *

Jianying Xiao, Chao Liu, Junjie Hou, Cheng Cui, Didi Wu, Huiyu Fan, Xiaohan Sun, Jun Meng, Fuquan Yang, Enhua Wang , and Bingzhi Yu ** From the Institute of Pathology and Pathopysiology, Department of Biochemical and Molecular Biology, and **The Key Laboratory of Medical Cell Biology, Ministry of Education of China, China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province 110001, China, the Department of Biochemical and Molecular Biology, Liaoning Medial University, Jinzhou, Liaoning Province 121001, China, and the Proteomic Platform, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Hyperion, "The Fall of Hyperion", and Keats's Poetics

Now we have come full circle, back to the passage with which we began: "This spiritual love acts not, nor can exist/ Without Imagination" (11. 188-189). But what is this "spiritual love"? To answer, we need to consider the preceding pas sage, beginning with the splendid lines: "By love subsists/All lasting grandeur, by pervading love;/That gone, we are as dust" (XIV, 168-170). There follows what at first blush one might think of as something like the medieval "ladder of love," beginning with the fields in spring-time, the "rising flowers," the "tender ways" of the lamb and its mother (11. 170-173), ascending to the love of lover and beloved (11. 175 180), and then to "a still higher love" (1. 181), directed to the "Almighty's Throne" (1. 187). However, I believe this seem ing progression is not merely an ascent from lower to higher love. This "higher love" is not, on a more careful reading, simply directed to God. Return for a moment to the love of the lover for "the One who is thy choice of all the world" (1. 178). This love is said to be "with delight/Impassioned, but delight how pitiablel/Unless this love by a still higher love/ Be hallowed" (XIV, 179-182).
Channel Estimation and Data Detection for Insufficient Cyclic Prefix MIMO-OFDM

In this paper, we propose an iterative structure for channel estimation and data detection for multiple-input–multiple-output orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing systems (MIMO-OFDM) with insufficient cyclic prefix (CP) and a limited number of pilot subcarriers. Insufficient CP leads to increased intersymbol interference (ISI) and intercarrier interference (ICI). The interference corrupts pilot subcarriers used for channel estimation and affects the detection process. We propose a multistep channel estimation process, which is assisted by a small number of pilot subcarriers. First, the channel covariance matrix and the number of channel paths are acquired from the channel least square estimates at the pilot subcarriers. We then formulate a maximum likelihood process to approximate the time-domain channel. For data detection, a high-performance bidirectional M-algorithm (BDMA) is proposed for trellis-based equalization. Simulation results show that the channel estimate mean square error converges to the Cramer–Rao bound (CRB) after a few iterations. In addition, the achieved bit error rate (BER) can reach that of the sufficient CP case, even when the delay spread is much longer than the CP.1
How Multinational Corporation Can Promote Sustainability with CSR and SHE in Purchasing

Purchasing by private large corporations put forth significant environmental impact in their investments of supplies and services. An increasing number of private large firms are adopting and implementing CSR (social responsibility) framework and a number of underlying policies and principles, such as SHE (safety, health, and environment). The purpose of this thesis is to examine how private multinational corporations could implement CSR and SHE considerations in their purchasing process. The research has been conducted at a large pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca R&D site in Lund, Sweden, to obtain the objective for this thesis. The findings suggest actions such as further training of buyers in regards to CSR/SHE, introduction of CSR/SHE clauses in contracts, increased focus on strategic sourcing of key suppliers including CSR/SHE criteria, and the development of an integrated purchasing-supply management system added by CSR and SHE requirements, which is monitored by the purchasing department in close collaboration with specialized assistance from SHE management. This thesis also discusses the issue of that large firms of the private sector are promoting sustainable development through “greening” the market, by introducing CSR and SHE into their purchasing activities, and it discussed the business benefits the private sector large firms are gaining, in terms of financial savings, market opportunities, brand image improvement, etc, by implementing these concerns into their businesses. Sofia Haider, Lund, Sweden 11/19/02
High‐order multiband encoding in the heart

Spatial encoding with multiband selective excitation (e.g., Hadamard encoding) has been restricted to a small number of slices because the RF pulse becomes unacceptably long when more than about eight slices are encoded. In this work, techniques to shorten multiband RF pulses, and thus allow larger numbers of slices, are investigated. A method for applying the techniques while retaining the capability of adaptive slice thickness is outlined. A tradeoff between slice thickness and pulse duration is shown. Simulations and experiments with the shortened pulses confirmed that motion‐induced excitation profile blurring and phase accrual were reduced. The connection between gradient hardware limitations, slice thickness, and flow sensitivity is shown. Excitation profiles for encoding 32 contiguous slices of 1‐mm thickness were measured experimentally, and the artifact resulting from errors in timing of RF pulse relative to gradient was investigated. A multiband technique for imaging 32 contiguous 2‐mm slices, with adaptive slice thickness, was developed and demonstrated for coronary artery imaging in healthy subjects. With the ability to image high numbers of contiguous slices, using relatively short (1–2 ms) RF pulses, multiband encoding has been advanced further toward practical application. Magn Reson Med 48:689–698, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Estimation of Total Phenols and Flavonoids in Extracts of Actaea spicata Roots and Antioxidant Activity Studies

Actaea spicata Linn. (Ranunculaceae) has been traditionally used for the treatment of various ailments such as rheumatism, inflammation, nerve diseases, lumbago, scrofula and chorea, but no systematic phytochemical and pharmacological work has ever been carried out on this potential plant. Preliminary phytochemical screening showed presence of phenols and flavonoids in A. spicata. Thus, the present investigation was undertaken to estimate total phenols and flavonoids in methanol extract of A. spicata roots, and its ethyl acetate fraction. In vitro antioxidant activity was also evaluated in the methanol extract and ethyl acetate fraction using DPPH method. Ethyl acetate fraction was found to contain twice the content of flavonoids and phenols in comparison to methanolic extract, whereas phenolic content in methanol extract was approximately similar to ethyl acetate fraction. A significant antioxidant activity, i.e., mean percentage inhibition of DPPH radical was observed in methanol extract and ethyl acetate fraction at the concentration of 10 μg/ml and 5 μg/ml respectively. Finally, it was suggested that polyphenols are responsible for antioxidant activity of A. spicata.