Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) but not platelet-albumin-bilirubin (PALBI) grade is associated with severity of acute ischemic stroke (AIS)

Abstract Introduction Inflammation plays an important role in stroke. Many inflammatory markers in peripheral blood are proved to be associated with stroke severity or prognosis. But few comprehensive models or scales to evaluate the severity of stroke have been reported. Systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and platelet-albumin-bilirubin (PALBI) grade as new markers of inflammation have shown their positive association with liver cancer. The relation between SII, or PALBI and stroke remains uncertain. Objective To investigate the relationship between SII, PALBI grade and stroke severity. Methods Patients with ischemic stroke with hospital admission <24 h after symptom onset were prospectively included in a stroke registry. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were collected immediately after admission in all patients. The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) was used to assess stroke severity upon admission. Minor stroke was defined as NIHSS score < =5, moderate-to-severe stroke as NIHSS score >5. SII, calculated as platelet × neutrophil/lymphocyte was divided into four groups according to interquartile range: lowest SII (SII < 353.9 × 109/L), low SII (353.9–532.8 × 109/L), high SII (532.8–783.9 × 109/L), and highest SII (>783.9 × 109/L) group. Results A total of 362 patients with ischemic stroke were included, and between minor and moderate-to-severe stroke significant difference was found in SII (p < 0.0001), NLR (p < 0.0001), and PLR (p = 0.001), respectively. After multivariate regression analyses, SII groups (Odd ratio = 1.351, 95% confidence interval 1.084–1.684, p = 0.007) not PALBI was an independent risk factor for stroke severity. Conclusion We found that SII but not PALBI, which both are markers of inflammation, was independently associated with stroke severity.
Challenges for Synthesising Data in a Network of Registries for Systemic Psoriasis Therapies

Background: Large disease registries are the preferred method to assess long-term treatment safety. If psoriasis registries collaborate in a network, their power to assess safety is increased. Objective: To identify heterogeneity in psoriasis registries and methodological challenges for synthesising the data they provide. Methods: We surveyed the registries in PSONET and identified and addressed the challenges to collaborative analysis for the network in several round table meetings. Results: Eight out of 10 registries had a prospective comparator cohort with similar disease characteristics but not on biologics. Registries differed in the coding and validation or follow-up of adverse events and in the way they sampled their population. Fifteen challenges to registries collaborating were identified in the areas of operational governance, structural conduct, bias and analysis. Conclusions: Participation in PSONET, a network of psoriasis registries, helps identify and solve common issues, enhancing the individual registries, and provides larger sets of more powerful safety data in a diverse population. Challenges to interpreting data collectively include heterogeneity in sampling, variable penetration of biologics and compatibility of different datasets.
High resolution optical mapping of cardiac action potentials in freely beating rabbit hearts

Optical mapping of action potentials (APs) has become important tools for the cardiac electrophysiology. However, cardiac contraction unavoidably produces motion artifacts (MA) in optical signal. We developed a method to suppress motion artifacts without arresting the hearts. METHODS: Using a dual-wavelength optical mapping system, APs were recorded on the surface of an isolated rabbit heart. Transmembrane APs were simultaneously recorded using glass microelectrodes. We eliminated MA in a frontal plane by a motion tracking technique. Subsequently, a dual-wavelength ratiometric method was used to remove MA in a vertical direction to a frontal plane. RESULTS: MA were effectively removed from optical signals. Action potential duration measured from optical signals corresponded with those measured from microelectrodes (r2=0.9677). Our method enables us to map action potentials in freely beating hearts.
Increased Abundance of Proteins Involved in Phytosiderophore Production in Boron-Tolerant Barley1[C][W]

Boron (B) phytotoxicity affects cereal-growing regions worldwide. Although B-tolerant barley (Hordeum vulgare) germplasm is available, molecules responsible for this tolerance mechanism have not been defined. We describe and use a new comparative proteomic technique, iTRAQ peptide tagging (iTRAQ), to compare the abundances of proteins from B-tolerant and -intolerant barley plants from a ‘Clipper’ × ‘Sahara’ doubled-haploid population selected on the basis of a presence or absence of two B-tolerance quantitative trait loci. iTRAQ was used to identify three enzymes involved in siderophore production (Iron Deficiency Sensitive2 [IDS2], IDS3, and a methylthio-ribose kinase) as being elevated in abundance in the B-tolerant plants. Following from this result, we report a potential link between iron, B, and the siderophore hydroxymugineic acid. We believe that this study highlights the potency of the iTRAQ approach to better understand mechanisms of abiotic stress tolerance in cereals, particularly when applied in conjunction with bulked segregant analysis.
Morinda Lucida: Antioxidant and Reducing Activities of Crude Methanolic Stem Bark Extract

The antioxidant activity of Morinda lucida (Benth.) stem bark was investigated. Air dried stem bark of Morinda lucida was powdered and extracted with 95 % v/v methanol and the extract concentrated at 40oC using rotary evaporator. The total phenolic composition of methanolic extract of air - dried stem bark was estimated using spectrophotometric method. Phenolic composition was calculated to be approximately 80 %. Antioxidant activity of the extract was determined using its ability to prevent the oxidation of â-carotene. Ferric reducing ability of extract was also determined. Antioxidant and ferric reducing activities exhibited by plant extract were concentration dependent. Plant extract achieved a maximum antioxidant activity of 6% within 40minutes. The total phenolic content, antioxidant activity and reducing power of the extract had direct relationship.
Recent incidence trends for breast cancer in women and the relevanceof early detection: An update

The incidence of breast cancer in women has been rising dramatically inthe United States since 1982, based on data collected by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program of the National CancerInstitute. An additional three years of incidence and mortality data areincluded in this update of the earlier analyses; however, the focus of thisreport remains on examining the steeply increasing incidence trend between1982 and 1986. Over this period, incidence rates for in situ and localizedinvasive tumors increased among women age 50 and older, while rates forregional and distant tumors remained stable. The incidence of localizedtumors less than 1.0, 1.0 to 1.9, and 2.0 to 2.9 cm in size increased morerapidly than that of tumors 3.0 cm and greater among women over age 50.Survival rates also improved among cases diagnosed over this time period.These descriptive data suggest that early detection may be playing a rolein the recent increase in the incidence of breast cancer in women, althoughother factors cannot be ruled out. Conclusions regarding improved cancercontrol await confirmation by reduced breast cancer mortality.
Interaction Effects in the Design of Computer Simulation Experiments for Architecting Systems‐of‐Systems

This paper demonstrates the applicability and benefits of optimal design of experiments (ODOE) for architecting systems‐of‐systems (SoSs). All experiments depend on appropriate models for their design and analysis. In keeping with the sparsity‐of‐effects principle, a general linear model with main‐effects‐plus‐two‐factor‐interactions (MEPTFI) is assumed to realistically characterize the relationship between the SoS elements and the response of interest. The designed experiment requires additional simulations to account for the two‐factor interaction effects, and the main effects cannot be interpreted as defining the optimal solution. The optimal performance architecture is determined by optimizing the fitted MEPTFI model. The proposed method is applied to the problem of architecting a SoS to protect against small boat attacks. A statistical analysis confirms that the MEPTFI model has excellent predictive capability. It also proves the fallacy of the applicability of the standard Taguchi method for architecting SoSs by demonstrating that it gives misleading results because of the omission of active interactions. The ODOE method can be implemented using commercially available general‐purpose statistics software. Given its mathematical formulation, it can be generalized to solve systems engineering and architecting problems that require complex models beyond the MEPTFI model.
Neonatal fluid and electrolytes profile effect on amphotericin B associated nephrotoxicity in neonatal tertiary care unit of Karachi-Pakistan

ABSTRACT Objectives Amphotericin-B (d-AmB) has a broader anti-fungal spectrum and is used for neonatal invasive-fungal-infections especially invasive-candidiasis (IC). To prevent d-AmB-induced nephrotoxicity, renal protective effect of fluid and electrolyte management has been established among adults; in this study, the authors determined this effect among neonates. Methods In this retrospective cohort study, the authors reviewed neonatal medical records, admitted to neonatal intensive care unit and received d-AmB therapy. Patients were divided into, renal-insufficiency-group (RIG) and the non-renal-insufficiency-group (NIG). Results A total of 90 cases were analyzed, 41 composed RIG and 49 NIG. Renal insufficiency (RI) was developed on 1.7 (0.84) and 7.8 (1.21) days of d-AmB therapy in 26 (63%) and 15 (37%) cases respectively. Bivariate and multivariate analysis demonstrate that >4 m Eq/kg/d sodium intake across all-time points was significantly (p < 0.0001) associated with reduced risk of RI [(phase-I: AOR: 0.96; 95% CI: 0.91–0.99), (phase-II: AOR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.68–0.92) and (phase-III: AOR: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.86–0.95)]. While adequate fluid intake reduced the likelihood of RI if started before and initial 2 days of d-AmB therapy. Conclusions Adequate hydration before and 48 hours after d-AmB therapy and >4 mEq/kg/day sodium intake before and through d-AmB therapy may protect neonatal RI.
A rare case of primary squamous cell carcinoma of the stomach

Introduction: Given that stomach is lined by glandular epithelium, the most common type of gastric malignancy is adenocarcinoma, which accounts for more than 90% of primary gastric carcinomas. Primary squamous cell carcinoma of the stomach is an extremely rare entity with an incidence of 0.04–0.07% among all gastric carcinomas. In this study, we report a case of a 66-year-old male and review literature about this uncommon disease. Case Report: A 66-year-old male presented to our outpatient department and complained about epigastric pain. Gastroscopy found a protruding mass (about 3.0x4.0 cm) with central ulceration on the greater curvature of the middle gastric body. He was finally diagnosed with primary squamous cell carcinoma of the stomach based on pathological examination of biopsies. The patient declined further examination and therapy, lost to follow-up after discharge. Conclusion: Primary squamous cell carcinoma of the stomach is an extremely rare entity. This type of tumor is aggressive and prone to metastasize to lymph nodes and liver, it is critical to make a correct diagnosis at early stage and place the patients on appropriate management. (This page in not part of the published article.) International Journal of Case Reports and Images, Vol. 8 No. 6, June 2017. ISSN – [0976-3198] Int J Case Rep Images 2017;8(6):385–389. www.ijcasereportsandimages. com Chen et al. 385 CASE REPORT PEER REVIEWED | OPEN ACCESS A rare case of primary squamous cell carcinoma of the stomach Xu Chen, Chengxin Luo, Hu Zhang
The Impact of Brand Value on Financial Performance

This paper examines the relationship between brand value and stock performance of companies by using the historical stock performance of global brand stocks to test whether strong brands outperform the market index. A company is considered a brand stock if it is included in the annually published Interbrand Global Top 100 Brands ranking list. We investigate whether numeric brand values assigned by Interbrand have an effect on the brand portfolio return and the possible short-term announcement effects around the time of the surveyâ€™s publication, and longer-term returns for companies. The conclusions are summarized as follows: The finding indicates that brand portfolio outperforms S&P index in various holding periods. Brand portfolio generates a significantly positive risk adjusted alpha. This result is in line with prior research results. The brand portfolios have the ability of selecting proper stocks. There are positive evidences that market reaction to a firmâ€™s presence in the top firms that are made public, and that investors of the stock of such firms earn abnormal returns during an announcement window. After evaluate the empirical specification based on both CARs and BHARs, the abnormal returns still exist during the announcement window.
Fecal leukocyte proteins in inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome.

UNLABELLED The aim of this prospective study was to compare five different leukocyte proteins in feces of patients with chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and healthy persons who underwent prophylactic colonoscopy. METHODS The leukocyte proteins calprotectin, lactoferrin, lysozyme, myeloperoxidase, and PMN-elastase were determined with immunoassays in fecal samples of three consecutive feces (e.g. three days) in 40 healthy persons, 39 patients with chronic IBD (of these 21 with Crohn's disease and 18 with ulcerative colitis), and 40 patients with IBS. RESULTS ROC curves calculated for healthy persons and patients with IBD yielded the following areas under the curves (AUCs): PMN-elastase 0.916, calprotectin 0.872, myeloperoxidase 0.750, lysozyme 0.726, and lactoferrin 0.693. The AUCs of PMN-elastase and calprotectin were not significantly different (p = 0.327), whereas PMN-elastase or calprotectin vs. the other proteins were significantly different (p < 0.001). PMN-elastase and calprotectin correlated with the endoscopically classified severity of inflammation. All fecal leukocyte markers in IBS were found in the range of the healthy persons. Data on storage stability of leukocyte proteins in fecal supernatants are given. CONCLUSION Fecal PMN-elastase and calprotectin support the differentiation of chronic IBD from IBS and correlate with the severity of inflammation.
Numerical and Experimental Investigation for Stability Lobes Prediction in Thin Wall Machining

A Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Fourier transform approach to obtain frequency response function (FRF) is presented in this paper. The aim in this paper is to eliminate the need for the classical impact experimental approach used in extracting structure’s FRF. The numerical and experimental FRFs have been used to obtain stable regions in machining of thin walled structures, which gives a good comparison. Examples are presented and compared with experimental results with a satisfactory agreement.
i-SLOD: Towards an Infrastructure for Enabling the Dissemination and Analysis of Sentiment Data

This paper proposes a new data infrastructure for massive opinion analysis, called i-SLOD, from a Business Intelligence (BI) perspective. This infrastructure aims to allow analysts to re-use the existing review data about products and services publicly available in the Web. It should also take advantage from the external relationships of i-SLOD data in order to perform new exploratory analyses now unfeasible with traditional BI tools. We consider the adoption of Linked Open Data (LOD) technology to build this infrastructure. In this way, i-SLOD data will be published as distributed linked open data by using the RDF and OWL formats. Moreover, we propose to apply automatic semantic annotation to perform the basic tasks in iSLOD, mainly the extraction of opinion facts from raw text, and linking opinion data to the i-SLOD and other related LOD datasets.
MEA recording system circuit implementation

This paper presents a Micro-Electrode Array (MEA) recording system with novel concept of a multiplexer coupled prior to the amplifier and filtering stages. It is described all the recording system, since the pre-amplifier, analog channel multiplexing, amplifier and filter, and AD conversion. For the AD conversion, it was used a commercial module called BeagleBoneBlack, which is an open source board, based on a 32-bit microprocessor, making it much easier to search for neuronal signals from the in-vitro culture on MEA. As result, it is presented the first one second recording data at 1 kHz frequency of Wistar rat embryo hippocampal neuron culture. One importance of such an in-vitro culture recording in human factor is in pharmacological drug tests, before its approval for medicinal use.
Support vector machine-based boundary recovery of a medical image segment in low resolution

Abstract. A novel support vector machine (SVM)-based boundary recovery procedure for segmented medical objects in low-resolution images is proposed. The proposed procedure consists of two steps: segmentation and boundary interpolation steps. First, we initially estimate a coarse object region using an active contour-based segmentation method. Boundary recoveries from the first step exhibit considerably blocky artifacts and are easily misled by noise. Then, a reliable boundary recovery is achieved in the next step by the proposed support vector machines based interpolation scheme. In simulation, the proposed algorithm shows more reliable and better performance in the presence of noise and adequately preserves shapes and smooth boundaries that are essential characteristics of medical objects. We illustrate it using real-life data sets in regard to nonconvex tube detection in wall shear stress, lumen detection in carotid stenosis, micro-calcifications detection in digital mammography, and nonmedical fields as well.
Efficacy of Incontinence-Associated Dermatitis Intervention for Patients in Intensive Care: An Open-Label Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To determine the feasibility of an adequately powered trial testing a long-acting cyanoacrylate skin protectant to prevent incontinence-associated dermatitis in critically ill patients. METHODS This open-label pilot randomized controlled feasibility study was conducted in the adult ICU of an Australian quaternary referral hospital. Patients were allocated to either an intervention group or a control group (usual care). The intervention was the application of a skin protectant (a durable, ultra-thin, transparent, waterproof, no-removal barrier film). Data collected by trained research nurses included demographic and clinical variables, skin assessment, and incontinence-associated dermatitis presence and severity. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. RESULTS Of the 799 patients screened, 85% were eliminated because of a short ICU stay or other exclusion criteria. The mean proportion of patients not meeting any of the exclusion criteria was 22% on each screening day. Protocol fidelity was followed for 90% of intervention participant study days. Retention of participants was 86% (31 participants out of 36), 15 in the intervention group and 16 in the control group. Enrolled patients had a mean age of 59 years, 50% were obese, 67% were male, and 36% were smokers. Two patients (11%) in the intervention group developed incontinence-associated dermatitis, compared with three (17%) in the control group. CONCLUSIONS This study reports no significant findings between the two groups. Difficulty in recruitment and feasibility issues might be overcome with changes to inclusion criteria and study design.
Classification of structured descriptions

Many speech and language processing problems have been successfully cast as classification problems - associating a token with a label from a prespecified label set. However, in all these applications, the set of labels is regarded as a flat list of symbols with no inherent internal structure and no co-constraints among the labels. We present a classification task using structured word labels, called supertags, and discuss methods that exploit the structure of these labels in the context of natural language generation. Supertags encode predicate-argument information along with syntactic ordering constraints that can be exploited for realizing a sentence. We report the accuracy of supertagging models for a node using features derived from its local tree context and attributes of the supertags.
ISAR Imaging of Targets With Complex Motion Based on Discrete Chirp Fourier Transform for Cubic Chirps

In inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging of targets with complex motion such as the high maneuvering airplanes and fluctuating ships with oceanic waves, the azimuth echo signals can be modeled with cubic chirps after translational motion compensation, and then, the azimuth focusing quality will be deteriorated by the time-varying chirp rate. In this paper, a parameter estimation method of cubic chirps is proposed based on the discrete chirp Fourier transform (DCFT), which is generated from DCFT for quadratic chirps. Several properties of DCFT for cubic chirps are derived, and we show that the modified DCFT (MDCFT) is more appropriate to deal with the practical applications (e.g., ISAR imaging) than the original DCFT. Therefore, we put forward the imaging algorithm based on MDCFT, and then, simulation results confirm the validity of the proposed algorithm.
Morphologic predictors of lymph node status in rectal cancer with use of high-spatial-resolution MR imaging with histopathologic comparison.

PURPOSE To evaluate signal intensity and border characteristics of lymph nodes at high-spatial-resolution magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in patients with rectal cancer and to compare these findings with size in prediction of nodal status. MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty-two patients who underwent total mesorectal excision of the rectum to determine if they had rectal carcinoma were studied with preoperative thin-section MR imaging. Lymph nodes were harvested from 42 transversely sectioned surgical specimens. The slice of each lymph node was carefully matched with its location on the corresponding MR images. Nodal size, border contour, and signal intensity on MR images were characterized and related to histologic involvement with metastases. Differences in sensitivity and specificity with border or signal intensity were calculated with CIs by using method 10 of Newcombe. RESULTS Of the 437 nodes harvested, 102 were too small (<3 mm) to be depicted on MR images, and only two of these contained metastases. In 15 (68%) of 22 patients with nodal metastases, the size of normal or reactive nodes was equal to or greater than that of positive nodes in the same specimen. Fifty-one nodes were above the area imaged, and seven of these contained metastases. The diameter of benign and malignant nodes was similar; therefore, size was a poor predictor of nodal status. If a node was defined as suspicious because of an irregular border or mixed signal intensity, a superior accuracy was obtained and resulted in a sensitivity of 51 (85%) of 60 (95% CI: 74%, 92%) and a specificity of 216 (97%) of 221 (95% CI: 95%, 99%). CONCLUSION Prediction of nodal involvement in rectal cancer with MR imaging is improved by using the border contour and signal intensity characteristics of lymph nodes instead of size criteria.