Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Single photon emission computed tomography perfusion differences in mild cognitive impairment

Objective: To relate cerebral perfusion abnormalities to subsequent changes in clinical status among patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: Perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) images were acquired in 105 elderly patients without dementia with MCI, using 99mTc-HMPAO. Clinical outcome after a 5-year follow-up period was heterogeneous. Results: Baseline SPECT data differed in those patients with MCI who were later diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (the converter group) from those patients with MCI who experienced clinically evident decline but did not progress to a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease within the follow-up period (the decliner group), from patients with MCI who had no clinical evidence of progression (the stable group), and from a group of 19 normal subjects (the control group). The most consistent decreases in relative perfusion in converters compared with the normal, stable and decliner groups were observed in the caudal anterior cingulate, and in the posterior cingulate. In addition, converters showed increased relative perfusion in the rostral anterior cingulate in comparison to the stable and decliner groups. A group of patients with Alzheimer’s disease were also included for purposes of comparison. The group of patients with Alzheimer’s disease at baseline differed from each of the other groups, with temporoparietal regions showing the most significant reductions in perfusion. Conclusions: These results suggest that clinical heterogeneity in MCI is reflected in SPECT perfusion differences, and that the pattern of perfusion abnormalities evolves with increasing clinical severity.
Task scheduling in parallel and distributed systems

1. Resource Allocation: A Classical Problem. 2. The General Model. 3. Optimal Scheduling Algorithms. 4. The Relationship Between Matching and Two-Processor Scheduling. 5. Static Scheduling Heuristics. 6. SPMD Model. 7. Dynamic Task Allocation. 8. Loop Scheduling on Shared-Memory Computers. 9. Loop Scheduling on Distributed-Memory Computers. 10. Task Partitioning and Grain Size. 11. Scheduling CASE Tools. Appendix. Index.
Building an Understanding of the Competencies Needed for Health Administration Practice

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Rapid change in the healthcare environment has pressured healthcare organizations, health management professional associations, and educational institutions to begin examining more carefully what it means to be a fully competent healthcare executive. As a result, interest in healthcare management core competencies has increased. Most competency development initiatives seek to build consensus and typically result in the generation of five or six broad competency domains—but consensus around what? Most competency initiatives are based on literature reviews and consensus‐building efforts. Typically, such efforts in healthcare management have involved defining general competency domains and attempting to specify representative behavioral exemplars that demonstrate mastery of the general competency domain. This study describes an approach that used a purposeful sample of ACHE affiliates who represent different geographic regions and health industry segments to construct a framework composed of critical healthcare issue clusters. A panel of healthcare executives then specified five sets of entry‐level behavioral competencies that would be required to address the clusters of critical issues. Although the behavioral competencies identified by the executives in this study are anchored to a framework, their empirical association with performance has not been tested. Before implementing broad curriculum redesign, the effect of these competencies on performance should be established. Additionally, competencies should be examined in the context of potential moderating influences such as specific educational program focus, educational delivery format, and type and preparation of students entering healthcare management education programs.
Serum lipoprotein pattern variations in dementia and ischemic stroke

Blood levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol, isolated lipoprotein fractions (VLDL‐ LDL‐ and HDL‐cholesterol) and apoproteins (Apo‐A1 and Apo‐B) were examined in multi‐infarct dementia, senile dementia of the Alzheimer type, ischemic stroke associated with carotid atherosclerosis and in control subjects. Forty patients divided into 10 consecutive patients for each group were studied. Alzheimer patients showed mean total cholesterol and Apo‐B values significantly higher than control subjects. Apo‐B was significantly higher in stroke patients than in controls. The mean lowest HDL‐cholesterol (HDL‐c) value was observed in stroke patients. No significant differences in mean HDL‐c levels were found between patients with multi‐infarct and Alzheimer dementia.
Impact of Zygomycosis on Microbiology Workload: a Survey Study in Spain

ABSTRACT This multicenter, population-based study evaluated the laboratory workload produced by zygomycetes and the number of cases of zygomycosis in Spain during 2005. Less than 8% of the patients who harbored zygomycete isolates had zygomycosis. The incidence of zygomycosis (6 cases) was 0.43 cases/1,000,000 inhabitants and 0.62 cases/100,000 hospital admissions.
Evaluación de la resilencia en el marco de la gestión de áreas costeras: una metodología basada en el análisis espacial de indicadores físicos y socioeconómicos

El medio costero se situa entre los ecosistemas mas fragiles y de compleja gestion de los grandes sistemas ambientales del planeta. Muchos factores han de confluir en la consecucion de una situacion de equilibrio y potencial desarrollo sostenido en el ambiente litoral en general tanto desde la perspectiva del medio fisico como de los aspectos socio economicos que en la estrecha y fragil franja costera tienen lugar. Esta problematica ha estado en el centro de un longevo debate en todas las grandes Conferencias en las que se han planteado las cuestiones medioambientales y el desarrollo sostenible y se han identificado como uno de los ambitos prioritarios para desarrollar programas de gestion integrado que aunen los esfuerzos de instituciones y administraciones para garantizar el mantenimiento de condiciones admisibles para el desarrollo de actividades economicas que no sacrifiquen los propios recursos del medio natural y antropico. En este cambio, los ambitos que en Europa estan sujetos a una mayor presion antropica se encuentran en la orla meso atlantica mediterranea, donde a la fragilidad natural del medio se suman las extraordinarias condiciones de explotacion y presion del medio costero debidos a una transformacion en los usos del suelo que han dado como fruto un medio dificilmente gestionables desde una posicion preactiva y donde las medidas de gestion se han asimilado tradicionalmente a la proteccion y fortificacion de la linea de costa. Es en este entorno natural que este trabajo ha identificado tres lugares de estudio de suficiente variedad como para ser representativos de varios estadios de desarrollo. En la Tesis Doctoral se plantean objetivos que pretenden proporcionar al gestor y planificador del territorio costero de herramientas potentes para mejorar el conocimiento del medio y las repercusiones socioeconomicas de posibles politicas territoriales. En este contexto la Tesis comienza por realiza
Running head : Instances in Face Priming Testing Instance Models of Face Repetition Priming author

Two experiments examining repetition priming in face recognition are reported. These employed 8 rather than the more usual 2 presentation trials allowing the prediction made by Logan's (1988) instance model of power function speed-up of RT distributions to be examined. Both experiments (the first repeating the same photograph on each trial, the second varying the pose) showed; repetition priming effects for familiar and unfamiliar faces, power function speed-up for both mean and standard deviation of RT and power function speed-up of the quantiles of the RT distributions. It is argued that the findings are consistent with the predictions made by the instance model and provide an explanatory challenge for alternative theoretical approaches. Dennis C. Hay Instances in Face Priming 2
Which late-stage Alzheimer's patients should be referred for hospice care?

■ Evidence summary Medicare adapted the National Hospice Organization guidelines to determine patients’ eligibility for hospice care. Recent studies, however, have identified additional prognostic criteria that may better predict survival of less than 6 months in select populations (TABLE). Medicare guidelines are used to determine eligibility for hospice care (strength of recommendation [SOR]: C, based on expert opinion), but they correlate with 6-month mortality no better than an experienced clinician’s judgment (SOR: B, based on 1 cohort study). Recent studies, however, have identified additional criteria that may better predict survival in select populations. These prognostic criteria include stepwise progression to Functional Assessment Staging Scale (FAST) stage 7c (inability to walk without assistance) (SOR: A, based on 2 small prospective cohort studies) and criteria derived from the Minimum Data Set (MDS) which include: dependency for activities of daily living, bedbound status, bowel incontinence, comorbid conditions (specifically cancer, congestive heart failure, oxygen dependence, or dyspnea), medical instability, eating <25% of meals, sleeping most of the day, male gender, and age >83 years (SOR: B, based on a large retrospective cohort study). E V I D E N C E B A S E D A N S W E R
Land Cover Type Recognition for Satellite Images using PHOG

-Satellite images aid in showing what cannot be measured or seen. Defining and locating various types of society-land cover interactions for study may pose new challenges for social scientists. Here we proposed to use Pyramid Histogram of Oriented Gradients (PHOG) as the features extracted for land cover type recognition. Different objects features needs to be extracted on the satellite images using the PHOG. The features of the PHOG and using a publicly available dataset demonstrated that the PHOG with a significantly shorter vector length could achieve a high recognition rate. Furthermore, the features extracted from PHOG are clustered using the clustering algorithms and the training dataset is created to detect and recognize the objects in the satellite image.
The immunodominant outer membrane antigen of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans is located in the serotype-specific high-molecular-mass carbohydrate moiety of lipopolysaccharide

Most patients with juvenile periodontitis manifest serum antibodies, sometimes at very high titers, to antigens of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, but the antigens inducing the immune response have been only partly characterized. We separated A. actinomycetemcomitans serotype b cells into protein, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and soluble polysaccharide fractions and characterized them. Coomassie blue- and silver-stained sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis gels were used to detect protein and LPS components, and gas-liquid chromatography was used to determine their carbohydrate and fatty acid composition. Western blots, dot blots, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay inhibition with high-titer sera from juvenile periodontitis patients revealed which components were highest in antibody binding activity. These results showed that the major portion of the immunoglobulin G binding activity resides in the purified mannan-free LPS, with lesser amounts in the total protein fraction. Using Sephacryl S-300 chromatography, we separated LPS into high-molecular-mass components with high carbohydrate contents by gas-liquid chromatography and a low-molecular-mass component consisting mainly of lipid A and the inner core sugar heptulose. The results of quantitative dot blot assays and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay inhibition show that the serotype-specific antibody binding activity is highly concentrated in the high-molecular-mass carbohydrate-rich LPS fraction and is almost completely absent in the low-molecular-weight lipid-rich fraction. Our observations contrast with previous reports that the predominant serotype antigen of A. actinomycetemcomitans resides in a mannan-rich polysaccharide isolated from spent culture medium. These observations support the conclusion that the immunodominant antigen of the outer membrane is the O antigen of the LPS.
An aesthetic deformity: Madelung's disease

Madelung's disease, also known as benign symmetric lipomatosis, multiple symmetrical lipomatosis or Lanois–Bensaude syndrome, consists of growth of fatty masses predominantly on the face, neck, shoulders, upper thorax and arms. These painless and symmetrical fatty deposits can cause important aesthetic changes in these patients. Middle-aged males are more commonly affected, with an increased prevalence in the Mediterranean area. Currently, the incidence in Italy is 1 in 25 000 males. The aetiology of Madelung's disease remains unknown, although≈60% of affected patients are clinically overweight and there is an intimate association with chronic alcohol abuse. We report an unusual case of Madelung's disease in a 52-year-old male. The fatty deposits were completely resected by means of surgical lipectomy. The patient remains well and disease-free after 12 months of postoperative follow-up.
Causal inference in disease ecology: investigating ecological drivers of disease emergence

Despite awareness that disease emergence may be related to ecological change, few studies have rigorously analyzed the underlying environmental drivers of the dynamics of disease emergence. This may be due to the fact that ecological change and disease emergence are often mediated through complex and large-scale processes that are not amenable to traditional reductionist approaches to causal inference. Here, we suggest strategies assembled from diverse disciplines, including ecology, epidemiology, and the social sciences, to analyze complex relationships, promote cooperation, increase efficiency, and minimize bias when investigating the ecological drivers of disease emergence. These techniques, which complement traditional hypothesis testing, include epidemiologic causal criteria, strong inference, causal diagrams, model selection, and triangulation. We also present several examples from recent emerging infectious disease investigations, including Hendra virus, Nipah virus, coral diseases, and avian influenza, where these techniques were successfully applied. Here, we outline some of the barriers to advancing our understanding of causation in disease ecology and offer some solutions for investigating large-scale ecological drivers, such as global warming, pollution, and land-use change.
A study of interconnections between renewable energy source and 22.9kV-Y distribution power system in Korea

In 2014, the southern part of the Korean Peninsula has 8.6 million poles, 1.25 million km power lines, and 2 million transformers, etc. It is the massive amount of distribution equipments which could cover a round-trip distance from the earth to the moon and 11 turns around the earth. These distribution equipments are spread out like capillaries and supplying power to every corner of the Korean Peninsula. In order to manage these huge power facility efficiently, KEPCO use DAS(Distribution Automation System) to operate distribution power system since 1997. DAS is integrated system that enables to remotely supervise and control breakers and switches on distribution network. Using DAS, we can reduce outage time and power loss. KEPCO has about 160,000 switches, 50%(about 80,000) of switches are automated, and 41 distribution center monitoring&control these switches 24-hour 365 days to get the best efficiency of distribution networks. However, the rapid increasing renewable energy sources become the problem in the efficient operation of distributed power system. (currently 2,400 MW, 75,000 generators operate in distribution power system). In this paper, it suggests the way to interconnect between renewable energy source and distribution power system, and the method of investigation during connection.
A survey of Monge properties

A Survey of Monge Properties by Swetha Sethumadhavan Dr. Wolfgang Bein, Examination Committee Chair Professor of Computer Science University of Nevada, Las Vegas Monge properties play an important role in theoretical computer science. Many greedy algorithms are based on such properties, as is speedup in dynamic programming. Monge properties are simple monotonicity properties which are observed and used in various settings such as resource optimization, computational geometry, statistical sampling, computational biology and coding. These properties occur naturally, and it was the eighteenth century French engineer Gaspard Monge who first wrote about them. The plural in "Monge properties" is used deliberately, as researchers today study a variety of different Monge-like properties: bottleneck, algebraic, higher-dimensional, joint-meet submodular on lattices, total monotonicity. The thesis discusses various Monge properties and its application in solving various fundamental problems. It also focuses on algorithmic speed-up and the use of the SMAWK and LARSCH algorithms for exploiting total monotonicity of Monge matrices. We consider applications such as the Traveling Salesman Problem, the Assignment Problem, the Higher Dimensional Transportation Problem, various scheduling problems, specifically batching, and host of other problems.
Dysregulation of autophagy by HIV-1 Nef in human astrocytes

Viruses often exploit autophagy, a common cellular process of degradation of damaged proteins, organelles, and pathogens, to avoid destruction. HIV-1 dysregulates this process in several cell types by means of Nef protein. Nef is a small HIV-1 protein which is expressed abundantly in astrocytes of HIV-1-infected brains and has been suggested to have a role in the pathogenesis of HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders (HAND). In order to explore its effect in the CNS with respect to autophagy, HIV-1 Nef was expressed in primary human fetal astrocytes (PHFA) using an adenovirus vector (Ad-Nef). We observed that Nef expression triggered the accumulation of autophagy markers, ATG8/LC3 and p62 (SQSMT1). Similar results were obtained with Bafilomycin A1, an autophagy inhibitor which blocks the fusion of autophagosome to lysosome. Furthermore co-expression of tandem LC3 vector (mRFP-EGFP-LC3) and Ad-Nef in these cells produced mainly yellow puncta (mRFP+, EGFP+) strongly suggesting that autophagosome fusion to lysosome is blocked in PHFA cells in the presence of Nef. Together these data indicate that HIV-1 Nef mimics Bafilomycin A1 and blocks the last step of autophagy thereby helping HIV-1 virus to avoid autophagic degradation in human astrocytes.
Closure of carotid-cavernous fistula with polyurethane foam embolus. Technical note.

✓ This report describes a traumatic carotid-cavernous fistula treated by embolization with a newly developed polyurethane foam attached to 5—0 monofilament suture thread by a technique which does not necessitate either craniotomy or occlusion of the carotid artery in the neck. Carotid angiography 3 weeks after surgery showed satisfactory closure of the fistula and normal intracranial circulation from the involved carotid artery.
KEGG: Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes

Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) is a knowledge base for systematic analysis of gene functions in terms of the networks of genes and molecules. The major component of KEGG is the PATHWAY database that consists of graphical diagrams of biochemical pathways including most of the known metabolic pathways and some of the known regulatory pathways. The pathway information is also represented by the ortholog group tables summarizing orthologous and paralogous gene groups among different organisms. KEGG maintains the GENES database for the gene catalogs of all organisms with complete genomes and selected organisms with partial genomes, which are continuously re-annotated, as well as the LIGAND database for chemical compounds and enzymes. Each gene catalog is associated with the graphical genome map for chromosomal locations that is represented by Java applet. In addition to the data collection efforts, KEGG develops and provides various computational tools, such as for reconstructing biochemical pathways from the complete genome sequence and for predicting gene regulatory networks from the gene expression profiles. The KEGG databases are daily updated and made freely available (http://www.genome.ad.jp/kegg/).
Telomeric g-tail length and hospitalization for cardiovascular events in hemodialysis patients.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Telomeric G-tails play a pivotal role in maintaining the intramolecular loop structure of telomeres. Previous in vitro studies have suggested that the erosion of telomeric G-tails triggers cellular senescence, leading to organ dysfunction and atherosclerosis. The authors recently established a method to measure telomeric G-tail length using a hybridization protection assay. Using this method, this study investigated whether telomeric G-tail length could be used as a novel predictor for future cardiovascular events in hemodialysis patients. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS A prospective observational study was performed involving a cohort of 203 Japanese hemodialysis patients to examine the lengths of telomeric G-tails and total telomeres and subsequent cardiovascular events during a median follow-up period of 48 months. The lengths of telomeric G-tails and total telomeres were also measured in 203 participants who did not have CKD and who were age- and sex-matched to hemodialysis patients. RESULTS The lengths of telomeric G-tails and total telomeres were significantly shorter in hemodialysis patients than in control subjects. Telomeric G-tails, but not total telomeres, were independently and negatively associated with clinical history of cardiovascular disease. During follow-up, 80 cardiovascular events occurred. Total telomere length did not predict cardiovascular events. However, the length of telomeric G-tails was associated with new-onset cardiovascular events (hazard ratio per log luminescence signals, 0.12; 95% confidence interval, 0.12 to 0.50) that persisted after adjustment for age, sex, diabetes mellitus, clinical history of cardiovascular disease, inflammation, use of vitamin D, and serum levels of phosphate and intact parathyroid hormone. CONCLUSIONS Longer telomeric G-tail length is associated with a lower risk of future cardiovascular events in hemodialysis patients.
UV-A irradiation induces a decrease in the mitochondrial respiratory activity of human NCTC 2544 keratinocytes

UV-A irradiation caused a dose-dependent decrease in cellular oxygen consumption (56%) and ATP content (65%) in human NCTC 2544 keratinocytes, one hour after treatment. This effect was partially reversed by maintaining the irradiated cells in normal culture conditions for 24h. Using malate/glutamate or succinate as substrates for mitochondrial electron transport, the oxygen uptake of digitoninpermeabilised cells was greatly inhibited following UV-A exposure. These results strongly suggest that UV-A irradiation affects the state 3 respiration of the mitochondria. However, under identical conditions, UV-A exposure did not reduce the mitochondrial transmembrane potential. The antioxidant, vitamin E inhibited UV-A-induced lipid peroxidation, but did not significantly prevent the UV-A-mediated changes in cellular respiration nor the decrease in ATP content, suggesting that these effects were not the result of UV-A dependent lipid peroxidation. UV-A irradiation also led to an increase in MnSOD gene expression 24 hours after treatment, indicating that the mitochondrial protection system was enhanced in response to UV-A treatment. These findings provide evidence that impairment of mitochondrial respiratory activity is one of the early results of UV-A irradiation for light doses much lower than the minimal erythemal dose.