Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
White matter microstructural damage and depressive symptoms in patients with mild cognitive impairment and cerebral small vessel disease: the VMCI‐Tuscany Study

Disruption of cortical‐subcortical circuits related to small vessel disease (SVD) may predispose to depression in the elderly. We aimed to determine the independent association between white matter (WM) microstructural damage, evaluated with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and depressive symptoms in a cohort of elderly subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and SVD.
3-D Translational Motion and Structure from Binocular Image Flows

Image flow fields from parallel stereo cameras are analyzed to determine the relative 3-D translational motion of the camera platform with respect to objects in view and to establish stereo correspondence of features in the left and right images. A two-step procedure is suggested. In the first step, translational motion parameters are determined from linear equations the coefficients of which consist of the sums of measured quantities in the two images. Separate equations are developed for cases when measurements of either the full optical flow or the normal flow are available. This computation does not require feature-to-feature correspondence. In addition, no assumption is made about the surfaces being viewed. In the second step of the calculation, with the knowledge of the estimated translational motion parameters, the binocular flow information is used to find features in one image that correspond to given features in the other image. Experimental results with synthetic and laboratory images indicate that the method provides accurate results even in the presence of noise. >
Limits to List Decoding Reed-Solomon Codes

In this paper, we prove the following two results that expose some combinatorial limitations to list decoding Reed-Solomon codes. 1) Given n distinct elements alpha1,. ,alphan from a field F, and n subsets S1,. ,Sn of F, each of size at most l, the list decoding algorithm of Guruswami and Sudan can in polynomial time output all polynomials p of degree at most k that satisfy p(alphai)isinSi for every i, as long as l 0 (agreement of k is trivial to achieve). Such a bound was known earlier only for a nonexplicit center. Finding explicit bad list decoding configurations is of significant interest-for example, the best known rate versus distance tradeoff, due to Xing, is based on a bad list decoding configuration for algebraic-geometric codes, which is unfortunately not explicitly known
Research on Implementation Technologies of Monitor Display System of Mobile Devices

In recent years, wireless network-based multimedia messaging has become a hot research in the field of information technology. Based on the analysis of specific issues On the mobile device video display system development, The new conversion and transformation algorithms are presented on the video display color space conversion and resolution conversion. For the limited resources of mobile monitoring equipment system and control environment to obtain better results, multi-threaded, double buffering optimization of the key technologies are proposed for wireless transmission of video information displayed on mobile devices, the scheduling and utilization efficiency of CPU and memory resources are achieved, and the realization of these optimization techniques are given in the Windows CE platform.
Comparison of vascular closure devices vs manual compression after femoral artery puncture: the ISAR-CLOSURE randomized clinical trial.

IMPORTANCE The role of vascular closure devices (VCD) for the achievement of hemostasis in patients undergoing transfemoral coronary angiography remains controversial. OBJECTIVE To compare outcomes with the use of 2 hemostasis strategies after diagnostic coronary angiography performed via transfemoral access-a VCD-based strategy with 2 types of devices, an intravascular device and an extravascular device, vs standard manual compression. The primary hypothesis to be tested was that femoral hemostasis achieved through VCD is noninferior to manual compression in terms of vascular access-site complications. A secondary objective was the comparison of the 2 types of VCD. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Randomized, large-scale, multicenter, open-label clinical trial. We enrolled 4524 patients undergoing coronary angiography with a 6 French sheath via the common femoral artery from April 2011 through May 2014 in 4 centers in Germany. Last 30-day follow-up was performed in July 2014. INTERVENTIONS After angiography of the access site, patients were randomized to hemostasis with an intravascular VCD, extravascular VCD, or manual compression in a 1:1:1 ratio. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Primary end point: the composite of access site-related vascular complications at 30 days after randomization with a 2% noninferiority margin. Secondary end points: time to hemostasis, repeat manual compression, and VCD failure. An α-level of . 025 was chosen for primary and secondary comparisons. RESULTS Of the 4524 enrolled patients, 3015 were randomly assigned to a VCD group (1509 received intravascular VCD and 1506 received extravascular VCD) and 1509 patients were randomly assigned to the manual compression group. Before hospital discharge, duplex sonography of the access site was performed in 4231 (94%) patients. The primary end point was observed in 208 patients (6.9%) assigned to receive a VCD and 119 patients (7.9%) assigned to manual compression (difference, -1.0% [1-sided 97.5% CI, 0.7%]; P for noninferiority<.001). Time to hemostasis was significantly shorter in patients with VCD (1 minute [interquartile range {IQR}, 0.5-2.0]), vs manual compression (10 minutes [IQR, 10-15]; P < .001). Time to hemostasis was significantly shorter among patients with intravascular VCD (0.5 minute [IQR, 0.2-1.0]), vs extravascular VCD (2.0 minutes [IQR, 1.0-2.0]; P <.001) and closure device failure was also significantly lower among those with intravascular vs extravascular VCD (80 patients [5.3%], vs 184 patients [12.2%]; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In patients undergoing transfemoral coronary angiography, VCDs were noninferior to manual compression in terms of vascular access-site complications and reduced time to hemostasis. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01389375.
Cancer drug discovery: recent innovative approaches to tumor modeling

ABSTRACT Introduction: Cell culture models have been at the heart of anti-cancer drug discovery programs for over half a century. Advancements in cell culture techniques have seen the rapid evolution of more complex in vitro cell culture models investigated for use in drug discovery. Three-dimensional (3D) cell culture research has become a strong focal point, as this technique permits the recapitulation of the tumor microenvironment. Biologically relevant 3D cellular models have demonstrated significant promise in advancing cancer drug discovery, and will continue to play an increasing role in the future. Areas covered: In this review, recent advances in 3D cell culture techniques and their application in tumor modeling and anti-cancer drug discovery programs are discussed. The topics include selection of cancer cells, 3D cell culture assays (associated endpoint measurements and analysis), 3D microfluidic systems and 3D bio-printing. Expert opinion: Although advanced cancer cell culture models and techniques are becoming commonplace in many research groups, the use of these approaches has yet to be fully embraced in anti-cancer drug applications. Furthermore, limitations associated with analyzing information-rich biological data remain unaddressed.
On the Role of the Propensity Score in Efficient Semiparametric Estimation of Average Treatment Effects

The role of propensity score in the efficient estimation of the average treatment effects is examined. If the treatment is ignorable given some observed characteristics, it is shown that the propensity score is ancillary for estimation of the average treatment effects but not for estimation of average treatment effects on the treated. Efficient semiparametric estimators take the form of relevant sample averages of the data completed by the nonparametric imputation method. Projection on the propensity score is not necessary for efficient semiparametric estimation of the average treatment effects on the treated even if the propensity score is known.
Complete Genome Sequence of Spiroplasma turonicum Strain Tab4cT, a Parasite of a Horse Fly, Haematopota sp. (Diptera: Tabanidae)

ABSTRACT Spiroplasma turonicum was isolated from a Haematopota sp. fly in France. We report the nucleotide sequence of the circular chromosome of strain Tab4cT. The genome information will facilitate evolutionary studies of spiroplasmas, including symbionts of insects and ticks and pathogens of plants, insects, crustaceans, and humans.
Large scale Nyström approximation for non-metric similarity and dissimilarity data Report

Processing large proximity data such as kernel matrices often includes approximation techniques like the Nyström approximation. Thereby the distance calculations are done on an approximated kernel matrix. This operation is based on the calculation of a pseudo-inverse matrix which itself can become costly for larger data sets. Recent work in this field extended the original Nyström approximation by a randomized subspace technique making large scale problems accessible for positive semi-definite proximity data. Domain specific proximity measures, employed e.g. in alignment algorithms in bio-informatics, are often used to compare complex data objects and to cover domain specific data properties. Lacking an underlying vector space, data are given as pairwise (dis-)similarities and the obtained proximity matrices are typically non-metric. In this contribution we analyse the large scale Nyström approximation for non-psd proximity data including dissimilarities and how it can be used to convert similarities to dissimilarities and vice versa. We provide an approach to explicit control the eigenvalue correction on the approximated matrices. Machine Learning Reports http://www.techfak. uni-bielefeld.de/∼fschleif/mlr/mlr.html Large scale Nyström approximation for non-metric similarity and dissimilarity data Figure 1: Left: Traveling in similarity and dissimilarity spaces at linear costs using the approach of [18]. The standard approach has in general a of complexityO(N)−O(N).
Recognizing human actions via silhouette image analysis

In this work, a spatio-temporal silhouette representation is put forward, called silhouette principal component image (SPCI), in order to descript motion and shape features for automatic human action recognition. SPCI is an image of grey scale and it collects the spatio-temporal sources through emphasizing the temporal variation of different body part. Based on SPCI, we also construct the phase and view variation models. The global shape-based motions descript the spatio-temporal features and variability models. The construction of optimized model for each action and view is based on the support vectors of motion descriptors from combined action models. In an evaluation of the proposed novel pattern of human action, we achieve high recognition rates on well established benchmark dataset. Our experimental results show that the proposed method of human action recognition is robust and efficient.
Atrial Arrhythmia Management with Sensor Controlled Atrial Refractory Period and Automatic Mode Switching in Patients with Minute Ventilation Sensing Dual Chamber Rate Adaptive Pacemakers

Although a long postventricular atrial refractory period fPVARP) may prevent the occurrence of pacemaker mediated tachycardias and inadvertent tracking of atrial arrhythmias in dual chamber (DDD) pacing, the maximum upper rate will necessarily be compromised. We tested the feasibility of using minute ventilation sensing in a dual chamber rate adaptive pacemaker (DDDR) to shorten the PVARP during exercise in 13 patients with bradycardias (resting PVARP = 463 ± 29 msec) to avoid premature upper rate behavior. Graded treadmill exercise tests in the DDD and DDDR modes at this PVARP resulted in maximum ventricular rates of 98 ± 8 and 142 ± 3 beats/min, respectively (P < 0.0001), due to chronotropic incompetence and upper rate limitation in the DDD mode, both circumvened with the use of sensor. In order to simulate atrial arrhythmias, chest wall stimulation was applied for 30 seconds at a rate of 250 beats/min at a mean unipolar atrial sensitivity of 0.82 mV. Irregular ventricular responses occurred in the DDD mode fthe rates at a PVARP of 280 and 463 ± 29 msec were, respectively 92 ± 5 and 66 ± 3 msec; P < 0.0001). In the DDDR mode at a PVARP of 463 ± 29 msec, regular ventricular pacing at 53 ± 2 beats/min occurred due to mode switching to VVIR mode in the presence of repetitive sensed atrial events within the PVARP. One patient developed spontaneous atrial fibrillation on follow‐up, which was correctly identified by the pacemaker algorithm, resulting in mode switch from DDDR to regular VVIR pacing and preservation of rate response. In conclusion, sensor controlled PVARP allows a long PVARP to be used at rest without limiting the maximum rate during exercise. In addition, to offer protection against retrograde conduction, a long PVARP and mode switching also limit the rate during atrial arrhythmias and allow regular ventricular rate responses according to the physiological demands.
Entamoeba histolytica Induces Intestinal Cathelicidins but Is Resistant to Cathelicidin-Mediated Killing

ABSTRACT The enteric protozoan parasite Entamoeba histolytica is the cause of potentially fatal amebic colitis and liver abscesses. E. histolytica trophozoites colonize the colon, where they induce inflammation, penetrate the mucosa, and disrupt the host immune system. The early establishment of E. histolytica in the colon occurs in the presence of antimicrobial human (LL-37) and murine (CRAMP [cathelin-related antimicrobial peptide]) cathelicidins, essential components of the mammalian innate defense system in the intestine. Studying this early step in the pathogenesis of amebic colitis, we demonstrate that E. histolytica trophozoites or their released proteinases, including cysteine proteinase 1 (EhCP1), induce intestinal cathelicidins in human intestinal epithelial cell lines and in a mouse model of amebic colitis. Despite induction, E. histolytica trophozoites were found to be resistant to killing by these antimicrobial peptides, and LL-37 and CRAMP were rapidly cleaved by released amebic cysteine proteases. The cathelicidin fragments however, did maintain their antimicrobial activity against bacteria. Degradation of intestinal cathelicidins is a novel function of E. histolytica cysteine proteinases in the evasion of the innate immune system in the bowel. Thus, early intestinal epithelial colonization of invasive trophozoites involves a complex interplay in which the ultimate outcome of infection depends in part on the balance between degradation of cathelicidins by amebic released cysteine proteinases and upregulation of proinflammatory mediators which trigger the inflammatory response.
A pesquisa narrativa: uma introdução

A Revista Brasileira de Linguistica Aplica (RBLA), em seu oitavo ano de existencia, passa agora a ser financiada pela FAPEMIG com a contrapartida da Faculdade de Letras e do Programa de Pos-Graduacao em Estudos Linguisticos da UFMG, que lhe dao todo o apoio de secretaria e comunicacao. A Revista, avaliada pela CAPES como Qualis A, esta na base de dados dos seguintes indexadores: MLA, Linguistics Abstracts, e Language Behavior. Todos os numeros podem ser acessados na pagina eletronica http://www.letras. ufmg.br/ rbla/ e a versao impressa continua sendo distribuida aos socios que se encontram em dia com as anuidades da ALAB. Este numero tem por tema a pesquisa narrativa e, ao introduzi-lo, entendo ser importante responder a duas perguntas. O que e uma narrativa? O que e pesquisa narrativa?
An analysis of the CCA approach for blind source separation and its adaptive realization

An analysis of the canonical correlation analysis (CCA) approach in blind source separation is provided. In particular, it is proved that by maximizing the autocorrelation functions of the recovered signals we can separate the source signals successfully. We show that the CCA approach represents the same generalised eigenvalue decomposition problem introduced in the matrix pencil method. Finally, an adaptive blind source extraction (BSE) algorithm is derived as an online realisation of the CCA approach. Simulation results verify the proposed approach
Desalineación y variables fundamentales: tasas de cambio de equilibrio en siete países latinoamericanos

“La tasa de cambio real (TCR) es uno de los precios relativos mas importantes de la economia. Desviaciones sostenidas de su nivel de equilibrio pueden llevar a desequilibrios macroeconomicos severos, cuya correccion "generalmente requerira politicas de manejo de la demanda y una devaluacion real" (Edwards 1994). Este trabajo examina el grado de desalineacion de la tasa de Cambio real en Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela y Estados Unidos. Seguimos un modelo en el cual la tasa de cambio real de equilibrio es el valor compatible con una posicion de balanza de pagos en la que, cualquier desequilibrio de la cuenta corriente es compensado por un flujo sostenible de capital extranjero (equilibrio externo) y el uso eficiente de recursos domesticos (equilibrio interno). Este trabajo modela la tasa de cambio real de equilibrio como el valor o la senda consistente con el equilibrio externo, esto es, una posicion de balanza de pagos en la que cualquier desequilibrio en cuenta corriente es compensado con un flujo sostenible de capital internacional, y con el equilibrio interno, esto es, la utilizacion eficiente del capital y el trabajo domesticos. El resto del documento esta estructurado de la siguiente forma. En la seccion 2 se presenta un modelo ilustrativo de los determinantes de la tasa de cambio. La seccion 3 vincula los conceptos de equilibrio economico y cointegracion para el problema bajo analisis. En la seccion 4 se estudian los principios econometricos que tienen que ver con la estimacion del equilibrio no observado de largo plazo. En la seccion 5 se describen los datos y en la seccion 6 se presentan los resultados empiricos. El documento termina con algunas conclusiones en la seccion. ”
Development and Psychometric Testing of the Turkish-Version Oral Chemotherapy Adherence Scale.

BACKGROUND To ensure the quality of patient care, the bioavailability of drugs, and the success of the treatment, it is imperative that nurses evaluate the adherence of patients to pharmaceutical treatments using standard measurement tools that are integrated into the treatment process. No scale that uses psychometric analyses to evaluate this adherence in patients who are on oral chemotherapy is currently available. PURPOSE This study developed and tested the validity and reliability of a Turkish version of the standardized Oral Chemotherapy AdherenceScale (OCAS), a tool that may be used by healthcare personnel to better evaluate patient adherence to their therapies. METHODS We developed and examined the validity and reliability of the OCAS using a sample of 306 patients with cancer who were receiving oral chemotherapy. A literature review was conducted to generate the items. An expert panel evaluated content validity; preimplementation was used to evaluate face validity, factor analysis was used to evaluate construct validity, and criterion validity was evaluated using the Medication Adherence Self-Efficacy Scale. RESULTS The Cronbach's alpha calculated for OCAS (19 items) was . 738. A highly significant and positive correlation was observed between the test-retest scores of the participants. A positive significant correlation was observed between the total scores of the participants obtained from OCAS and Medication Adherence Self-Efficacy Scale. As a result of the factor analysis performed for the construct validity of the scale, three factors were defined that accounted for approximately 43% of the total variance. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE The OCAS has acceptable psychometric properties and is appropriate for use in research and clinical practice settings to evaluate patient adherence to their therapies.
Recombinant antibodies specific for the Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein 2

Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment are key elements of malaria control programs in endemic areas. A major step forward in recent years has been the production and use of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) in settings where microscopy is impracticable. Many current RDTs target the Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein 2 (PfHRP2) released in the plasma of infected individuals. These RDTs have had an indisputably positive effect on malaria management, but still present several limitations, including the poor characterization of the commercial monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) used for PfHRP2 detection, variable sensitivity and specificity, and high costs. RDT use is further limited by impaired stability caused by temperature fluctuations during transport and uncontrolled storage in field-based facilities. To circumvent such drawbacks, an alternative could be the development of well-characterized, stabilized recombinant antibodies, with high binding affinity and specificity. Here, we report the characterization of the cDNA sequences encoding the Fab fragment of F1110 and F1546, two novels anti-PfHRP2 mAbs. FabF1546 was produced in the Escherichia coli periplasm. Its properties of binding to the parasite and to a recombinant PfHRP-2 antigen were similar to those of the parental mAb. As the affinity and stability of recombinant antibodies can be improved by protein engineering, our results open a novel approach for the development of an improved RDT for malaria diagnosis.
Automated Diagnosis of Cardiac Health Suganya

Electrocardiogram (ECG) is the P, QRS, T wave representing the electrical movement of the heart. The fine changes in amplitude and interval of ECG cannot be interpreted exactly by the naked eye, hence imposing the need for a computer assisted diagnosis tool. Automatically classified five types of ECG beats of MIT-BIH arrhythmia records. The five types of beats are Normal (N), Right Bundle Branch Block (RBBB), Left Bundle Branch Block (LBBB), Atrial Premature Contraction (APC) and Ventricular Premature Contraction (VPC). We have match up to the performances of three approaches. The first approach apply principle components of segmented ECG beats, the second approach apply principle components of error signals of linear prediction model, whereas the third approach apply principle components of Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) coefficients as features. These features from three approaches were independently classified by feed forward neural network (NN) and Least SquareSupport Vector Machine (LS-SVM). To attain the highest accuracy with the first approach using principle components of segmented ECG beats with average sensitivity of 99.90%, specificity of 99.10%, PPV of 99.61% and classification accuracy of 98.11%. The system built-up is clinically set to arrange for collection screening programs. KEYWORDS—Electrocardiogram, MIT-BIH arrhythmia database, Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), Neural network (NN), Support Vector Machine (SVM).