Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging in valvular heart disease

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) has rapidly gained acceptance as an accurate, reproducible and non‐invasive imaging method for assessment of a wide range of cardiovascular diseases. However, CMR has not been used widely for diagnostic purposes in valvular heart disease (VHD). Unlike echocardiography it has no body habitus‐related limitations and can thus be used to complement echocardiography. It is an especially good alternative for clinical follow‐up in patients with VHD, as it allows accurate measurement of valvular dysfunction and related ventricular burden. Additionally, CMR is an ideal method for evaluating complex congenital heart disease and determining the significance of its components. It can also be used to study the physiological course of valvular dysfunction and response to therapeutic interventions. In this review, we present a basic introduction to CMR methodology, including its advantages and potential problems, and the physiology and quantification in VHD. We also discuss clinical applications of CMR in VHD. Furthermore, we describe how a CMR study statement should be structured in order to increase clinical use of this valuable methodology in cardiology.
EMTP-type realization of model reduction algorithms for transient simulation of distribution networks

Model reduction is a popular trend in large-scale system simulations. It is also an effective way to improve the efficiency of distribution system simulations. In this paper, the realization of state-space-based model reduction methods in EMTP-type programs is presented. The state-space model of linear time-invariant distribution network is reduced and simulated with the detailed nodal model in EMTP-type programs. The combined state-space nodal analysis algorithm is adopted as the interface between the state-space models and the nodal models. Simulations are performed to show the feasibility and validity of the proposed method, and the improvement in efficiency with the application of model reduction.
Myogenic potential of human alveolar mucosa derived cells

ABSTRACT Difficulties related to the obtainment of stem/progenitor cells from skeletal muscle tissue make the search for new sources of myogenic cells highly relevant. Alveolar mucosa might be considered as a perspective candidate due to availability and high proliferative capacity of its cells. Human alveolar mucosa cells (AMC) were obtained from gingival biopsy samples collected from 10 healthy donors and cultured up to 10 passages. AMC matched the generally accepted multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells criteria and possess population doubling time, caryotype and immunophenotype stability during long-term cultivation. The single myogenic induction of primary cell cultures resulted in differentiation of AMC into multinucleated myotubes. The myogenic differentiation was associated with expression of skeletal muscle markers: skeletal myosin, skeletal actin, myogenin and MyoD1. Efficiency of myogenic differentiation in AMC cultures was similar to that in skeletal muscle cells. Furthermore, some of differentiated myotubes exhibited contractions in vitro. Our data confirms the sufficiently high myogenic potential and proliferative capacity of AMC and their ability to maintain in vitro proliferation-competent myogenic precursor cells regardless of the passage number.
Placental expression of a novel primate‐specific splice variant of sFlt‐1 is upregulated in pregnancies complicated by severe early onset pre‐eclampsia

Please cite this paper as: Whitehead C, Palmer K, Nilsson U, Gao Y, Saglam B, Lappas M, Tong S. Placental expression of a novel primate‐specific splice variant of sFlt‐1 is upregulated in pregnancies complicated by severe early onset pre‐eclampsia. BJOG 2011; DOI: 10.1111/j.1471‐0528.2011. 02962.x.
The SCL gene specifies haemangioblast development from early mesoderm

The SCL gene encodes a basic helix–loop–helix (bHLH) transcription factor that is essential for the development of all haematopoietic lineages. SCL is also expressed in endothelial cells, but its function is not essential for specification of endothelial progenitors and the role of SCL in endothelial development is obscure. We isolated the zebrafish SCL homologue and show that it was co‐expressed in early mesoderm with markers of haematopoietic, endothelial and pronephric progenitors. Ectopic expression of SCL mRNA in zebrafish embryos resulted in overproduction of common haematopoietic and endothelial precursors, perturbation of vasculogenesis and concomitant loss of pronephric duct and somitic tissue. Notochord and neural tube formation were unaffected. These results provide the first evidence that SCL specifies formation of haemangioblasts, the proposed common precursor of blood and endothelial lineages. Our data also underline the striking similarities between the role of SCL in haematopoiesis/vasculogenesis and the function of other bHLH proteins in muscle and neural development.
Turbulence in molecular clouds

As a fundamental process in molecular clouds, turbulence plays a crucial role in star formation. Important aspects of astro-physical turbulence in molecular clouds include energy injection, energy dissipation, and intermittency. Energy injection for turbulence may come from the shear of galactic disks, gravitational collapse, the feedback of stellar processes, and/or a combination of these processes. Although the dissipation scale is still to be measured with certainty, the turbulence dissipation rate can be determined from observation. Intermittency of turbulence has been observed in molecular clouds. Large area spectral line mapping of high spatial resolution (e.g., C 2 H and 13 CO spectral line mapping with QTT) will improve our understanding of energy injection scale and injection rate, energy dissipation rate, intermittency, and anisotropy of turbulence in molecular clouds.
A Measure of Texture Directionality

Determining the directionality (i.e., orientedness) of textures is considered here. The work has three major components. The first component is a new method that indicates if a texture is directional or not. The new method considers both local and global aspects of a texture’s directionality. Local pixel intensity differences provide most of the local aspect. A frequency domain analysis provides most of the global aspect. The second component is a comparison study (based on the complete set of Brodatz textures) of the method versus the known, competing methods for determining texture directionality. The third component is a user study of the
Polarization- and Transverse-Mode Dynamics in Optically Injected and Gain-Switched Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers

In this paper, we summarize our recent results on nonlinear polarization- and transverse-mode dynamics of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) induced by optical injection (OI) or current modulation. Due to the surface emission and cylindrical symmetry, VCSELs lack strong polarization anisotropy and may undergo polarization switching (PS). Furthermore, VCSELs may emit light in multiple transverse modes. This provides new features to the rich nonlinear dynamics induced in VCSELs by an external perturbation. We demonstrate for the case of orthogonal OI that new Hopf bifurcation on a two-polarization-mode solution delimits the injection locking (IL) region and that PS and IL of first-order transverse mode lead to a new resonance tongue for large positive detunings. Similarly, the underlying polarization-mode competition leads to chaotic-like behavior in case of gain switching and the presence of two transverse modes additionally reduces the possibility of regular dynamics.
Performance of Practical Subcarrier Allocation Schemes for OFDMA

In this paper, we consider the problem of adaptive resource allocation for OFDMA. Aiming at practical (low-complexity) algorithms we study disjoint subcarrier and power allocation. A number of low-complexity subcarrier allocation strategies are discussed. We study "user by user" subcarrier assignment (i.e. the iteration over users) based on a user ordering according to the user average power gains as well as "subcarrier by subcarrier" assignment (i.e. the iteration over subcarriers) employing subcarrier ordering according to different metrics. By employing the order statistics theory we prove that the iteration over users starting from the worst user outperforms other orderings in Rayleigh environment. Efficiency of strengthening the considered subcarrier allocation algorithms by a non-iterative power loading technique is also studied.
Evaluation of isolated DC/DC converter topologies for future HVDC aerospace microgrids

High performance power conversion equipment is currently gaining an increasing interest for aircraft applications. In particular, isolated bidirectional DC/DC converters are often proposed for modern HVDC aircraft distribution systems. For such reason an evaluation of several isolated DC/DC converter topology is carried out considering the proposed application, interfacing a 270V DC network with a 28V DC network. A trade off evaluation has been carried out for three different topologies and an experimental prototype has been manufactured for the selected conversion architecture. Simulation and experimental results are provided in order to validate the trade off and the design of the proposed converter.
The relationship of cognitive and motor response inhibition to age and IQ.

Abstract The relationship of age and IQ to response inhibition in children was investigated in two experiments. Two tasks were employed: a “walk slowly” task designed to measure motor inhibition and a simple matching task designed to measure cognitive inhibition. In Experiment I, the Ss were 20 “normal” children at ages 4, 5, 6, and 7 years of age. Response inhibition was found to increase with age. In Experiment II, the Ss were 48 institutionalized retardates, half between the ages of 8 to 12 and half between the ages of 13 to 17. Half of each age group had IQs between 40 and 55, and half had IQs between 56 and 70. Motor response inhibition varied as a function of age but not IQ, while cognitive inhibition varied as a function of IQ but not age.
The Impact of the Big 4 Consolidation on Audit Market Share Equality

SUMMARY: We investigate the Big 5 to Big 4 consolidation and its impact on audit market share equality. We extend the GAO’s (2008) study on audit firm industry market concentration to examine whether the remaining Big N firms’ market shares are more equal after the Big 4 consolidation. We also extend the GAO study to examine audit market shares at the city and city-industry levels. We find that while overall market concentration increases, the Big 4 have more equal market shares than the Big 5 had prior to the consolidation at all levels of analysis. The increase in market share equality may explain why there has been inconsistent evidence of an association between market concentration and competition after the consolidation (Feldman 2006; GAO 2008). However, we find that the largest four clients in each market we examine are more likely to share the same auditor after consolidation, which suggests the largest clients face constrained choices.
Clinical utility of simultaneous quantitation of 25-hydroxyvitamin D and 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D by LC-MS/MS involving derivatization with DMEQ-TAD.

CONTEXT The discovery of hypercalcemic diseases due to loss-of-function mutations in 25-hydroxyvitamin D-24-hydroxylase has placed a new demand for sensitive and precise assays for 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [24,25-(OH)2D]. OBJECTIVE We describe a novel liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry-based method involving derivatization with DMEQ-TAD {4-[2-(6,7-dimethoxy-4-methyl-3,4-dihydroquinoxalinyl)ethyl]-1,2,4-triazoline-3,5-dione} to simultaneously assay multiple vitamin D metabolites including 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OH-D) and 24,25-(OH)2D using 100 μL of serum with a 5-minute run time. DESIGN The assay uses a newly synthesized internal standard d6-24,25-(OH)2D3 enabling the quantitation of 24,25-(OH)2D3 as well as the determination of the ratio of 25-OH-D3 to 24,25-(OH)2D3, a physiologically useful parameter. SETTING We report data on more than 1000 normal and disease samples involving vitamin D deficiency or hypercalcemia in addition to studies involving knockout mouse models. RESULTS The assay showed good correlation with samples from quality assurance schemes for 25-OH-D (25-OH-D2 and 25-OH-D3) determination (-2% to -5% bias) and exhibited low inter- and intraassay coefficients of variation (4%-7%) and lower limits of quantitation of 0.25-0.45 nmol/L. In clinical studies, we found a strong correlation between serum levels of 25-OH-D3 and 24,25-(OH)2D3 (r(2) = 0.80) in subjects over a broad range of 25-OH-D3 values and a marked lack of production of 24,25-(OH)2D3 below 25 nmol/L of 25-OH-D. The ratio of 25-OH-D3 to 24,25-(OH)2D3, which remained less than 25 in vitamin D-sufficient subjects (serum 25-OH-D < 50 nmol/L) but was greatly elevated (80-100) in patients with idiopathic infantile hypercalcemia. CONCLUSIONS The new method showed good utility in clinical settings involving vitamin D deficiency; supplementation with vitamin D and idiopathic infantile hypercalcemia, as well as in animal models with ablation of selected cytochrome P450-containing enzymes involved in vitamin D metabolism.
Agonist Regulation of D2 Dopamine Receptor/G Protein Interaction

The D2 dopamine receptor has been expressed in Sf21 insect cells together with the G proteins Go and Gi2, using the baculovirus system. Expression levels of receptor and G protein (α, β, and γ subunits) in the two preparations were similar as shown by binding of [3H]spiperone and quantitative Western blot, respectively. For several agonists, binding data were fitted best by a two-binding site model in either preparation, showing interaction of expressed receptor and G protein. For some agonists, binding to the higher affinity site was of higher affinity in D2/Go than in the D2/Gi2 preparation. Some agonists exhibited binding data that were best fitted by a two-binding site model in D2/Go and a one-binding site model in D2/Gi2. Therefore, receptor/G protein interaction seemed to be stronger in the D2/Gopreparation. Agonist stimulation of [35S]GTPγS (guanosine 5′-3-O-(thio)triphosphate) binding in the two preparations also gave evidence for higher affinity D2/Go interaction. In the D2/Go preparation, agonist stimulation of [35S]GTPγS binding occurred at higher potency for several agonists, and a higher stimulation (relative to dopamine) was achieved in D2/Go compared with D2/Gi2. Some agonists were able to stimulate [35S]GTPγS binding in the D2/Gopreparation but not in D2/Gi2. The extent of D2 receptor selectivity for Go over Gi2 is therefore dependent on the agonist used, and thus agonists may stabilize different conformations of the receptor with different abilities to couple to and activate G proteins.
Rhizobium pseudoryzae sp. nov., isolated from the rhizosphere of rice.

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain J3-A127(T), was isolated from the roots of fresh rice plants (Oryza sativa). Cells were non-motile and no flagellum was detected. Comparison of 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the strain was phylogenetically related to species of the genus Rhizobium, with closest similarity to Rhizobium oryzae Alt 505(T) (96.4 %). The low levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (<90 %) found between the gyrB, atpD, recA and glnII gene sequences of strain J3-A127(T) and the type strains of recognized species of the genus Rhizobium also indicated that it represented a separate species. The temperature range for growth was 10-40 °C (optimum around 28 °C) and the pH range was 6.0-11.0 (optimum pH 7.0-8.0). Strain J3-A127(T) tolerated NaCl concentrations up to 5.0 % (w/v). The strain was catalase- and oxidase-positive. The main cellular fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C(18 : 1)ω7c and/or C(18 : 1)ω6; 46.7 %). The DNA G+C content of strain J3-A127(T) was 59.5 mol%. Strain J3-A127(T) did not form any nodules on four different legumes and the nodD and nifH genes were not detected by PCR. According to physiological and biochemical characteristics and genotypic data, strain J3-A127(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Rhizobium, for which the name Rhizobium pseudoryzae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is J3-A127(T) ( = ACCC 10380(T) = KCTC 23294(T)).
Model-based point cloud alignment with principle component analysis for robot welding

In this paper, we propose a fast pose estimate method to estimate the relative pose between a measured point cloud and a reference point cloud, in order to increase the speed and accuracy of the point cloud registration procedure. The method extracts feature points from the point cloud and find the principal components of the features points' coordinates. The relative pose of the measured point cloud is found by minimizing the principal components of the measured point cloud and that of the reference point cloud. After aligning the measured point cloud with the reference point, we apply the Iterative Closed Point registration procedure to find the final match. The method can find the rotation and transformation relationship of two similar point clouds in arbitrary positions in a short time. It can be applied to determine the positions of another similar target in the case of a given object pose.
Antibiotics for Bacterial Vaginosis or Trichomonas vaginalis in Pregnancy: A Systematic Review

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether antibiotic treatment for bacterial vaginosis or Trichomonas vaginalis during pregnancy decreases the risk of preterm birth and associated adverse outcomes. DATA SOURCES: Pre-MEDLINE and MEDLINE (1966–2003), EMBASE (1980–2003), and the Cochrane Library were searched using the keywords “bacterial vaginosis,” “Trichomonas,” “Trichomonas vaginalis,” “Trichomonas vaginitis,” “Trichomonas infections,” “pregnancy,” “pregnant,” “antibiotics,” and “antibiotic prophylaxis. ” METHODS OF STUDY SELECTION: The search produced 1,888 titles, of which 1,256 abstracts were reviewed further. Of these, 1,217 were ineligible. Inclusion criteria were the following: randomized controlled trials in which antibiotics were compared with no antibiotic or placebo, for women in the second or third trimester of pregnancy with symptomatic or asymptomatic bacterial vaginosis or Trichomonas vaginalis, intact membranes, and not in labor. Exclusion criteria were as follows: published in a language other than English, dropout rate of more than 20% of women in either group, and lack of usable outcomes. Of the 39 papers reviewed in detail, 14 studies were included in the meta-analysis. TABULATION, INTEGRATION, AND RESULTS: One of the authors reviewed titles obtained from the searches, and 2 reviewers independently reviewed the abstracts, excluded those that were ineligible, identified eligible papers, and abstracted the data. For women with bacterial vaginosis, antibiotics reduced the risk of persistent infection but did not reduce the risk of preterm birth or the incidence of associated adverse outcomes for the general population or for any subgroup analyzed. For women with Trichomonas vaginalis, metronidazole reduced the risk of persistent infection but increased the incidence of preterm birth. CONCLUSION: Contrary to the conclusions of 3 recent systematic reviews, we found no evidence to support the use of antibiotic treatment for bacterial vaginosis or Trichomonas vaginalis in pregnancy to reduce the risk of preterm birth or its associated morbidities in low- or high-risk women.
Phytochemical, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Properties of Parkia biglobosa (African Locust Bean) Pods

The use of plant materials for nutrient supply and therapeutic function has necessitated the exploration of the beneficial role of commonly consumed plant materials in multi-disease conditions. Present study investigated the phytochemical, antioxidant and antimicrobial potential of ethanolic extract of Parkia biglobosa pod. Preliminary phytochemical screening showed that it contained saponins, flavonoids, terpenoids, cardiac glycosides, glycosides, carotenoids, steroids, tannins and reducing sugar. In addition, the ethanolic extract also exhibited 1, 1- diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging and ferric ion reducing antioxidant activity which occurred at a concentration dependent manner. Furthermore, antimicrobial study showed that the extract is a potent antibacterial agent without antifungal activity at the concentrations investigated. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of the ethanolic pod extract was 12.80 mg/ml for Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aerugenosa and 25.60 mg/ml for Escherichia coli. This is the same value obtained for the Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC). This study has shown the potential application of ethanolic extract of Parkia biglobosa pod in antioxidant requiring and antibacterial treatment.
A primal-dual probabilistic setting for quadratic stability of uncertain systems

This paper introduces a theoretical framework for the development of randomized algorithms for quadratic stability of uncertain systems affected by structured and unstructured uncertainty. We propose a general duality setting which deals with a probabilistic version of the classical primal-dual problems. In particular, the probabilistic primal problem is defined so that a Linear Matrix Inequality has a solution with probability one and the probabilistic dual problem is formulated as a solvability problem for a certain matrix integral equation on the class of positive semidefinite symmetric matrix-valued functions. The main result of the paper establishes a rigorous equivalence between infeasibility of the primal problem and existence of a solution of the dual problem. In the second part of the paper, we study various applications of this result in the context of uncertain systems.
Apolipoprotein E polymorphism and gender difference in outcome after severe traumatic brain injury

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most common causes of death and dismal outcome among children and young adults. The morbidity and mortality differ but more aggressive monitoring and more designated neuro intensive care units have improved the results. Studies have demonstrated a connection between apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype and outcome after TBI, but few are prospective and none is from northern Europe. APOE has three alleles: ɛ2, ɛ3 and ɛ4.
Use of supervised injection facilities and injection risk behaviours among young drug injectors.

AIMS To study the use of supervised injection facilities (SIFs) as a predictor of safer injecting practices. DESIGN Cross-sectional study conducted with face-to-face interview using a structured questionnaire with computer-assisted personal interviewing. Dried blood spot samples were collected for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody testing. SETTING All participants were street-recruited by chain referral methods in Madrid and Barcelona. PARTICIPANTS A total of 249 young heroin drug injectors recruited by the ITINERE cohort study in two Spanish cities with SIFs. MEASUREMENTS The main outcome measures were self-reported injecting behaviours and SIFs attendance. RESULTS SIF users were more marginalized socially than non-users. They were also more often regular injectors (weekly or more versus sporadic) [odds ratio (OR) = 4.9, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.7-8.8], speedball users (OR = 2.5, 95% CI: 1.5-4.3) and anti-HCV-positive (OR = 3.1, 95% CI: 1.4-7.1). In the logistic regression analysis, using SIFs was associated independently with not borrowing used syringes (OR = 3.3, 95% CI: 1.4-7.7). However, no significant association was found between SIF use and not sharing injection equipment indirectly (OR = 1.1, 95% CI: 0.5-2.2). CONCLUSIONS SIFs attract highly disadvantaged drug injectors who engage none the less in less borrowing of used syringes than non-users of these facilities. The risks of indirect sharing should be emphasized when counselling SIF attendees.