Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The analgesic efficacy of continuous presternal bupivacaine infusion through a single catheter after cardiac surgery: A commentary

Pain relief after cardiothoracic surgery is important, several choices of providing it are available. Either opioid agents (intravenous bolus or infusion or intrathecal), or oral supplements, or neuraxial blocks (paravertebral block, thoracic epidural anesthesia) or intra-pleural local anesthetic are commonly used to achieve this. [1] Sometimes combinations of more than one technique could also be used to augment the action of each other. Side-effects mitigate the free use of one or combinations of techniques. The side-effects may be related to the technique: Epidural hematoma as a result of thoracic epidural anesthesia,[2] accidental intrathecal deposition during paravertebral block[3] or the agents used in providing the pain relief. [4] The use of opioids are associated with side-effects; some serious such as respiratory depression and others less serious, such as nausea, vomiting, itching, and constipation. Despite the potential side-effects, opioids seem to enjoy popularity, due to the ease of their administration; good pain relief and sedation are to be expected from its use. With a view to avoid the side effects and to enhance patient safety, one must look at opioid sparing techniques as well. The opioid sparing techniques are regional anesthetic blocks, intra-pleural local anesthetic deposition and presternal bupivacaine infusion through a catheter in surgical incision. It makes logical sense to use the last of the above mentioned techniques, because the others might cause neuraxial complications. Continuous presternal local anesthetic infusion appears to be an ideal technique at the outset, because it is devoid of complications that occur with the other alternatives-opioids and neuraxial blocks. It is surprising that a technique that looks so perfect has not been studied widely and applied in routine clinical practice. There only a few studies in cardiac surgical population-pediatric cardiac surgery,[5] minimally invasive cardiac surgery[6] and median sternotomy. [7] Surprisingly, the study by Chiu et al.[6] appears to be one of the few studies other than the current study. [8]
Understanding Pain for Better Clinical Practice: A Psychological Perspective

PART I: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PAIN PERCEPTION AND BEHAVIOR Chapter 1 The need to understand the psychology of pain Chapter 2 Models of pain perception Chapter 3 The biological-psychological interface: Pain perception Chapter 4 Attending to pain stimuli: Vigilance and Distraction Chapter 5 Emotions and the experience of pain Chapter 6 Interpreting pain signals: Cognitions Chapter 7 Learning to cope: Behavior in pain and health Chapter 8 An integrated model PART II: IMPLICATIONS FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE Chapter 9 Why does chronic pain develop? Chapter 10 Communicating with patients Chapter 11 Managing the first visit Chapter 12 Early identification of "at risk" patients: screening Chapter 13 Early intervention Chapter 14 The way forward Appendix Session manual for therapist's: Cognitive-behavioral early intervention for groups
Weighted averages on surfaces

We consider the problem of generalizing affine combinations in Euclidean spaces to triangle meshes: computing weighted averages of points on surfaces. We address both the forward problem, namely computing an average of given anchor points on the mesh with given weights, and the inverse problem, which is computing the weights given anchor points and a target point. Solving the forward problem on a mesh enables applications such as splines on surfaces, Laplacian smoothing and remeshing. Combining the forward and inverse problems allows us to define a correspondence mapping between two different meshes based on provided corresponding point pairs, enabling texture transfer, compatible remeshing, morphing and more. Our algorithm solves a single instance of a forward or an inverse problem in a few microseconds. We demonstrate that anchor points in the above applications can be added/removed and moved around on the meshes at interactive framerates, giving the user an immediate result as feedback.
An analysis of offset calibration based additional load capacitor imbalance for two-stage dynamic comparator

An intentional load capacitor imbalance can be used to calibrate the offset of a dynamic comparator. For a two-stage dynamic comparator, this additional imbalance load capacitor can be either added in the first stage or added in the second stage. This paper analyses this effect of the intentional load capacitor imbalance for the two cases. The input-referred offset voltage due to the imbalance load capacitor is derived, which is used to compensate the intrinsic offset of the comparator. This analytical work provides a theoretical basis for calibrating the total input-referred offset of a two-stage dynamic comparator based additional load capacitor imbalance. In addition, a simple and effective calibration algorithm is proposed. The two-stage dynamic comparator with calibration circuit is implemented in 0. 18μm CMOS process. The simulation results show that the total input-inferred offset decreases significantly after calibrating.
Professional Partnership between Universities and Schools: the Use of a Diagnostic Tool to support Development of Student Teachers’ Professional Skills

This paper describes a case study concerning a student teacher at risk of failing a teaching placement, who was supported by colleagues and university tutors through the use of a diagnostic tool in the form of a checklist. The checklist comprised a number of categories relating to aspects of teaching and learning within the classroom and was used consistently by staff to provide feedback to the student and as a basis for discussion and evaluation of his lessons. Scrutiny of the checklists, completed over a four week period, staff questionnaires and staff and student interviews indicate that the student and teaching staff found the tool user friendly and helpful in identifying areas of good practice and those requiring development. Other benefits for the student included the development of a pro-active approach to planning lessons and reflection on practice. The tool may be useful as a means of providing formative feedback and initiating dialogue relating to practice, particularly at an early stage of a teaching career.
Decreased nocturnal glucose variability in non-diabetic patients with sleep apnea: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND Obstructive sleep apnea has been sho be associated with impaired glucose metabolism and overt diabetes mellitus. However, the effect of hypoxic episodes on nocturnal glucose regulation in non-diabetic patients is unknown. OBJECTIVES To investigate the effect of hypoxemia and nocturnal glucose homeosatsis in non-diabetic patients with sleep apnea. METHODS Seven non-diabetic patients with moderate to severe sleep apnea were connected to a continuous glucose-monitoring sensor while undergoing overnight polysomnography. Mean SpO2 and percentage of time spent at SpO2 90% were recorded. The correlation between mean glucose levels, the difference between consecutive mean glucose measurements (glucose variability) and the corresponding oxygen saturation variables were determined in each patient during REM and non-REM sleep. RESULTS No consistent correlation was found forthe individual patient between oxygen saturation variables and glucose levels during sleep. However, a lower mean SpO2 correlated with decreased glucose variability during sleep (r = 0.79, P = 0.034). This effect was primarily evident during REM sleep in patients with significant, compared to those with mild, oxygen desaturations during sleep (> 30% vs. < 10% of sleeping tim spent with SpO2 < 90%) (P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS Severe nocturnal hypoxemia in non-diabetic patients with moderate to severe sleep apnea might affect glucose regulation primarily during REM sleep.
Historical Knowledge, Historical Error: A Contemporary Guide to Practice

In the past thirty years, historians have broadened the scope of their discipline to include many previously neglected topics and perspectives. They have chronicled language, madness, gender, and sexuality and have experimented with new forms of presentation. They have turned to the histories of non-Western peoples and to the troubled relations between "the West" and the rest. Allan Megill welcomes these developments, but he also suggests that there is now confusion among historians about what counts as a justified account of the past. In "Historical Knowledge, Historical Error", Megill dispels some of the confusion. Here, he discusses issues of narrative, objectivity, and memory. He attacks what he sees as irresponsible uses of evidence while accepting the art of speculation, which incomplete evidence forces upon historians. Along the way, he offers succinct accounts of the epistemological road historians have traveled from Herodotus and Thucydides through Leopold von Ranke and Alexis de Tocqueville, and on to Hayden White, Natalie Zemon Davis, and Lynn Hunt.
Simultaneous Object Detection, Tracking, and Event Recognition

The common internal structure and algorithmic organization of object detection, detection-based tracking, and event recognition facilitates a general approach to integrating these three components. This supports multidirectional information flow between these components allowing object detection to influence tracking and event recognition and event recognition to influence tracking and object detection. The performance of the combination can exceed the performance of the components in isolation. This can be done with linear asymptotic complexity.
Decision Makers as Statisticians : Diversity , Ambiguity and Robustness ∗

I study individuals who use frequentist statistical models to draw secure or robust inferences from i.i. d. data. The main contribution of the paper is a steady-state model in which distinct statistical models are consistent with empirical evidence, even as data increases without bound. Individuals may hold different beliefs and interpret their environment differently even though they know each other’s statistical model and base their inferences on identical data. The behavior modeled here is that of rational individuals confronting an environment in which learning is hard, rather than ones beset by cognitive limitations or behavioral biases. ∗ I thank Lance Fortnow, Drew Fudenberg, Ehud Kalai, Peter Klibanoff, Nenad Kos, Charles Manski, Mallesh Pai, and Jonathan Weinstein. † Department of Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston IL 60208. e-mail: <al-najjar@northwestern.edu>. Research page : http://www.kellogg. northwestern.edu/faculty/alnajjar/htm/index.htm
Fluids after cardiac surgery: A pilot study of the use of colloids versus crystalloids*

Objectives:To determine whether a starch solution for volume resuscitation in a flow-based protocol improves circulatory status better than a crystalloid solution, as defined by the need for catecholamines in patients the morning after cardiac surgery, and whether this can be performed without increased morbidity. Design:Concealed, randomized, double-blind, controlled trial. Participants:Two hundred sixty-two patients who underwent cardiac surgery at a tertiary care hospital. Interventions:Based on predefined criteria indicating a need for fluids, and a nurse-delivered algorithm that used central venous pressure and cardiac index obtained from a pulmonary artery catheter, patients were allocated to receive 250-mL boluses of 0.9% saline or a 250-molecular weight 10% solution of pentastarch. Results:Two hundred thirty-seven patients received volume boluses: 119 hydroxyethyl starches and 118 saline. Between 8:00 am and 9:00 am the morning after surgery, 13 (10.9%) of hydroxyethyl starch patients and 34 (28.8%) saline patients were using catecholamines (p = .001). Hydroxyethyl starch patients had less pneumonia and mediastinal infections (p = .03) and less cardiac pacing (p = .03). There were two deaths in each group. There was no difference in the daily creatinine, development of RIFLE risk criteria during hospital stay, or new dialysis. The numbers and volumes of packed red blood cells were similar in the two groups, but more hydroxyethyl starch patients received plasma transfusions (p = .05). Conclusions:Use of a colloid solution for volume resuscitation in a nurse-delivered flow-based algorithm, which included a pulmonary artery catheter, significantly improved hemodynamic status, an important factor for readiness for discharge from the intensive care unit.
BMC Systems

Background: Determining the interaction topology of biological systems is a topic that currently attracts significant research interest. Typical models for such systems take the form of differential equations that involve polynomial and rational functions. Such nonlinear models make the problem of determining the connectivity of biochemical networks from time-series experimental data much harder. The use of linear dynamics and linearization techniques that have been proposed in the past can circumvent this, but the general problem of developing efficient algorithms for models that provide more accurate system descriptions remains open. Results: We present a network determination algorithm that can treat model descriptions with polynomial and rational functions and which does not make use of linearization. For this purpose, we make use of the observation that biochemical networks are in general 'sparse' and minimize the 1-norm of the decision variables (sum of weighted network connections) while constraints keep the error between data and the network dynamics small. The emphasis of our methodology is on determining the interconnection topology rather than the specific reaction constants and it takes into account the necessary properties that a chemical reaction network should have – something that techniques based on linearization can not. The problem can be formulated as a Linear Program, a convex optimization problem, for which efficient algorithms are available that can treat large data sets efficiently and uncertainties in data or model parameters. Conclusion: The presented methodology is able to predict with accuracy and efficiency the connectivity structure of a chemical reaction network with mass action kinetics and of a gene regulatory network from simulation data even if the dynamics of these systems are non-polynomial (rational) and uncertainties in the data are taken into account. It also produces a network structure that can explain the real experimental data of L. lactis and is similar to the one found in the literature. Numerical methods based on Linear Programming can therefore help determine efficiently the network structure of biological systems from large data sets. The overall
Effect of Glucagon-like Peptide 2 on Tight Junction in Jejunal Epithelium of Weaned Pigs though MAPK Signaling Pathway

The glucagon-like peptide 2 (GLP-2) that is expressed in intestine epithelial cells of mammals, is important for intestinal barrier function and regulation of tight junction (TJ) proteins. However, there is little known about the intracellular mechanisms of GLP-2 in the regulation of TJ proteins in piglets’ intestinal epithelial cells. The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that GLP-2 regulates the expressions of TJ proteins in the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway in piglets’ intestinal epithelial cells. The jejunal tissues were cultured in a Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium/high glucose medium containing supplemental 0 to 100 nmol/L GLP-2. At 72 h after the treatment with the appropriate concentrations of GLP-2, the mRNA and protein expressions of zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1), occludin and claudin-1 were increased (p<0.05). U0126, an MAPK kinase inhibitor, prevented the mRNA and protein expressions of ZO-1, occludin, claudin-1 increase induced by GLP-2 (p<0.05). In conclusion, these results indicated that GLP-2 could improve the expression of TJ proteins in weaned pigs’ jejunal epithelium, and the underlying mechanism may due to the MAPK signaling pathway.
Domain specialization: a post-training domain adaptation for Neural Machine Translation

Domain adaptation is a key feature in Machine Translation. It generally encompasses terminology, domain and style adaptation, especially for human post-editing workflows in Computer Assisted Translation (CAT). With Neural Machine Translation (NMT), we introduce a new notion of domain adaptation that we call "specialization" and which is showing promising results both in the learning speed and in adaptation accuracy. In this paper, we propose to explore this approach under several perspectives.
A Novel Homozygous Mutation in the EC1/EC2 Interaction Domain of the Gap Junction Complex Connexon 26 Leads to Profound Hearing Impairment

To date, about 165 genetic loci or genes have been identified which are associated with nonsyndromal hearing impairment. In about half the cases, genetic defects in the GJB2 gene (connexin 26) are the most common cause of inner-ear deafness. The genes GJB2 and GJB6 are localized on chromosome 13q11-12 in tandem orientation. Connexins belong to the group of “gap junction” proteins, which form connexons, each consisting of six connexin molecules. These are responsible for the exchange of ions and smaller molecules between neighboring cells. Mutational analysis in genes GJB2 and GJB6 was brought by direct sequencing of the coding exons including the intron transitions. Here we show in the participating extended family a homozygous mutation c.506G>A, (TGC>TAC) p.Cys169Tyr, in the GJB2 gene, which could be proven for the first time and led to nonsyndromal severe hearing impairment in the afflicted patients. The mutation is located in the EC1/EC2 interaction complex of the gap junction connexon 26 complex and interrupts the K+ circulation and therefore the ion homeostasis in the inner ear. The homozygous mutation p.Cys169Tyr identified here provides a novel insight into the structure-function relationship of the gap junction complex connexin/connexon 26.
CHARACTERIZING EFFECTIVE FIBER WITH PARTICLE SIZE AND FIBER CONCENTRATION INTERACTIONS

17-53 ABSTRACT Both physical form and chemical nature of fiber is important to ruminant animals. A recently developed method for determining particle size distribution was used to characterize typical distributions for forages and total mixed rations (TMR) from the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. An effective fiber index (EFI) and modified effective fiber index (MEFI) are proposed which link physical and chemical characteristics. The EFI and MEFI are computed by weighting NDF concentrations by particle size distribution and effectiveness for contribution towards a rumen mat and rumination.
Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Intent and Uptake Among Female College Students

Abstract Objective: To examine human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine intent and the effect of an educational intervention on vaccine uptake among female college students. Participants: Females aged 18 to 26 attending a university health service gynecology clinic (n = 256). Methods: Participants were randomized to receive either HPV-specific education with a mailed reminder or standard care. Predictors of HPV vaccine intent and uptake at 6 months following enrollment were identified. Results: At baseline, 41% intended to undergo HPV vaccination. Participants who were currently sexually active and lacked supplemental health insurance had decreased intent. Perceived parental approval regarding HPV vaccination, perceived vulnerability to HPV infection, and belief in health benefits of HPV vaccine were associated with increased intent. HPV vaccine uptake was low (5.5%) and did not differ by study group. However, baseline intent was significantly associated with HPV vaccine uptake. Conclusions: Interventions to increase HPV vaccine uptake in college students should address HPV-related beliefs and broader barriers to vaccination.
Proteoglycans in the human sclera. Evidence for the presence of aggrecan.

PURPOSE The proteoglycans synthesized and accumulated within the adult human sclera (aged 50 to 80 years) were identified by their size, glycosaminoglycan side chains, and core proteins in an effort to characterize the proteoglycan content of the human sclera. METHODS Sclerae, unlabeled, or radiolabeled in organ culture with 35SO4 or 3H-proline, were extracted in 4M guanidine-HCl and separated by Sepharose CL-2B and Superose 6 forced-pressure liquid chromatography. Peak fractions, identified by glycosaminoglycan content or radioactivity, were pooled and subjected to G-50 chromatography or sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis before and after digestion with specific glycosidases. Scleral proteoglycan core proteins were identified in Western blot analysis using specific antisera to decorin, biglycan, and aggrecan. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analyses were carried out on human scleral fibroblast RNA to confirm the transcription of one scleral proteoglycan. Proteoglycans were localized on sections of scleral tissue using specific antisera. RESULTS After chromatography on CL-2B, scleral proteoglycans could be resolved into three major peaks, PG-1, PG-2, and PG-3. The largest scleral proteoglycan, PG-1, contained chondroitin sulfate and keratan sulfate glycosaminoglycan side chains. Results of Western blot analyses indicated that the core protein of PG-1 is the aggrecan core protein, migrating at approximately 350 kDa. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analyses confirmed that human scleral fibroblasts transcribe aggrecan in vitro and in vivo. PG-2 and PG-3 were identified as biglycan and decorin in Western blot analyses using antibiglycan and antidecorin antibodies, respectively. Immunostaining results indicated that aggrecan, biglycan, and decorin are distributed throughout the thickness of the human sclera. CONCLUSIONS The adult human sclera contains three major proteoglycans; aggrecan, biglycan, and decorin. It is likely that these proteoglycans contribute to the structural properties of the sclera and that the ratios of these proteoglycans will change with age, specific region, and condition of the sclera.
New method for ICI cancellation in MIMO-OFDM systems based on the ICI matrix properties

A new method is proposed to reduce the inter-carrier interference (ICI) in OFDM systems due to carrier frequency mismatch. The novel approach is based on a new interpretation of ICI on the basis of the properties of a time-varying ICI matrix and the use of pilot symbols transmitted through one of the antennas of the MIMO system
Simulation‐Ready Hair Capture

Physical simulation has long been the approach of choice for generating realistic hair animations in CG. A constant drawback of simulation, however, is the necessity to manually set the physical parameters of the simulation model in order to get the desired dynamic behavior. To alleviate this, researchers have begun to explore methods for reconstructing hair from the real world and even to estimate the corresponding simulation parameters through the process of inversion. So far, however, these methods have had limited applicability, because dynamic hair capture can only be played back without the ability to edit, and solving for simulation parameters can only be accomplished for static hairstyles, ignoring the dynamic behavior. We present the first method for capturing dynamic hair and automatically determining the physical properties for simulating the observed hairstyle in motion. Since our dynamic inversion is agnostic to the simulation model, the proposed method applies to virtually any hair simulation technique, which we demonstrate using two state‐of‐the‐art hair simulation models. The output of our method is a fully simulation‐ready hairstyle, consisting of both the static hair geometry as well as its physical properties. The hairstyle can be easily edited by adding additional external forces, changing the head motion, or re‐simulating in completely different environments, all while remaining faithful to the captured hairstyle.