Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Management of malignant pleural effusion: challenges and solutions

Malignant pleural effusion (MPE) is a sign of advanced cancer and is associated with significant symptom burden and mortality. To date, management has been palliative in nature with a focus on draining the pleural space, with therapies aimed at preventing recurrence or providing intermittent drainage through indwelling catheters. Given that patients with MPEs are heterogeneous with respect to their cancer type and response to systemic therapy, functional status, and pleural milieu, response to MPE therapy is also heterogeneous and difficult to predict. Furthermore, the impact of therapies on important patient outcomes has only recently been evaluated consistently in clinical trials and cohort studies. In this review, we examine patient outcomes that have been studied to date, address the question of which are most important for managing patients, and review the literature related to the expected value for money (cost-effectiveness) of indwelling pleural catheters relative to traditionally recommended approaches.
Variable transcriptional responsiveness of the P2X3 receptor gene during CFA‐induced inflammatory hyperalgesia

The purinergic receptor P2X3 (P2X3‐R) plays important roles in molecular pathways of pain, and reduction of its activity or expression effectively reduces chronic inflammatory and neuropathic pain sensation. Inflammation, nerve injury, and cancer‐induced pain can increase P2X3‐R mRNA and/or protein levels in dorsal root ganglia (DRG). However, P2X3‐R expression is unaltered or even reduced in other pain studies. The reasons for these discrepancies are unknown and might depend on the applied traumatic intervention or on intrinsic factors such as age, gender, genetic background, and/or epigenetics. In this study, we sought to get insights into the molecular mechanisms responsible for inflammatory hyperalgesia by determining P2X3‐R expression in DRG neurons of juvenile male rats that received a Complete Freund's Adjuvant (CFA) bilateral paw injection. We demonstrate that all CFA‐treated rats showed inflammatory hyperalgesia, however, only a fraction (14‐20%) displayed increased P2X3‐R mRNA levels, reproducible across both sides. Immunostaining assays did not reveal significant increases in the percentage of P2X3‐positive neurons, indicating that increased P2X3‐R at DRG somas is not critical for inducing inflammatory hyperalgesia in CFA‐treated rats. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays showed a correlated (R2 = 0.671) enrichment of the transcription factor Runx1 and the epigenetic active mark histone H3 acetylation (H3Ac) at the P2X3‐R gene promoter in a fraction of the CFA‐treated rats. These results suggest that animal‐specific increases in P2X3‐R mRNA levels are likely associated with the genetic/epigenetic context of the P2X3‐R locus that controls P2X3‐R gene transcription by recruiting Runx1 and epigenetic co‐regulators that mediate histone acetylation.
Learning by supporting others—experienced parents’ development process when supporting other parents with a child with type 1 diabetes

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To describe and analyse coach-parents' development process when supporting parents of children recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). BACKGROUND It has been found repeatedly that providing social support for families with a child diagnosed with T1DM promotes health and well-being for both the child and the parents. Less explored are the processes experienced by those who provide this support. However, research has found that acting as a provider of social support promotes personal development, strengthens communication skills and increases self-confidence. METHODS The study design was based on Constructivist Grounded Theory, and data were collected, through repeated focus-group discussions, from eight coach-parents at a Swedish hospital from 2012-2015. RESULTS The core category in the data was identified as a learning process where coach-parents emphasised their own learning in the dyad supporter-supported, and in the interaction with other parents in the repeated focus-group discussions. The coach-parents' motivation for participation was a wish to learn more and to help other parents in a life-changing situation. They also pointed out hindrances and their frustration when unable to provide support. CONCLUSIONS This study leads to the conclusion that people who provide support benefit from doing so. Encountering people with similar experiences in a supportive situation promotes a reciprocal learning process, based on the supporter's wish to help people in a situation they recognise. A further conclusion is that social support is not only essential initially, but is also important over a longer period and that it follows various life stages. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE Setting up repeated focus-group discussions might be a relevant and effective tool for paediatric diabetes nurses to use in promoting health and well-being for both families with a newly diagnosed child and experienced families.
The NIH Visual Browser: An Interactive Visualization of Biomedical Research

This paper presents a technical description of the methods used to generate an interactive, two-dimensional visualization of 60,568 grants funded by the National Institutes of Health in 2007. The visualization is made intelligible by providing interactive features for assessing the data in a web-based visual browser, see http://www.nihmaps. org. The key features include deep zooming, selection, full-text querying, overlays, color-coding schemes, and multi-level labeling. Major insights, broader applicability, and future directions are discussed.
LCZ696, Angiotensin II Receptor-Neprilysin Inhibitor, Ameliorates High-Salt-Induced Hypertension and Cardiovascular Injury More Than Valsartan Alone.

BACKGROUND LCZ696, an angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitor, has recently been demonstrated to exert more beneficial effects on hypertensive or heart failure patients than conventional renin-angiotensin system blockers. However, the mechanism underlying the benefit of LCZ696 remains to be understood. The present study was undertaken to examine the effect of LCZ696 compared with valsartan on hypertension and cardiovascular injury. METHODS (i) Using telemetry, we compared the hypotensive effect of LCZ696 and valsartan in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) that were fed a high-salt diet followed by a low-salt diet. (ii) We also examined the comparative effect of LCZ696 and valsartan on salt loaded SHRcp, a model of metabolic syndrome. RESULTS (i) LCZ696 exerted a greater blood pressure (BP) lowering effect than valsartan in SHR regardless of high-salt or low-salt intake. Additive BP reduction by LCZ696 was associated with a significant increase in urinary sodium excretion and sympathetic activity suppression. (ii) LCZ696 significantly ameliorated cardiac hypertrophy and inflammation, coronary arterial remodeling, and vascular endothelial dysfunction in high-salt loaded SHRcp compared with valsartan. CONCLUSIONS LCZ696 caused greater BP reduction than valsartan in SHR regardless of the degree of salt intake, which was associated with a significant enhancement in urinary sodium excretion and sympathetic activity suppression. Furthermore, an additive BP lowering effect of LCZ696 led to greater cardiovascular protection in hypertensive rats.
Thermo-physical properties of short banana–jute fiber-reinforced epoxy-based hybrid composites

The utilization of natural fiber-reinforced polymer composites is rapidly increasing in many industrial applications and fundamental research. In this work, short banana-jute fiber-reinforced epoxy-based hybrid composite was prepared by varying the fiber loading (0–40 wt.%) and different weight ratios of banana and jute fiber (1:1, 1:3, and 3:1). The physical and thermal properties such as density, water absorption, thermal conductivity, specific heat and thermal diffusivity were evaluated as per ASTM standards. A new micromechanical model was developed for evaluating the effective thermal conductivity of short fiber-reinforced hybrid composites by using the law of minimal thermal resistance and equal law of specific equivalent thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivity was calculated numerically by using the steady state heat transfer simulations. The proposed model and numerical results were validated with the experimental results and analytical methods existing in the literature. The effective thermal conductivity was predicted with the proposed model, and the finite element method is in good agreement with the experimental values and observed an acceptable range of 0–6.5% and 0–11% error, respectively. The results reveal that the composite made with banana and jute in the weight ratio of 1:3 shows minimum void content, water absorption, thermal conductivity, and thermal diffusivity at all fiber loadings. The fabricated hybrid composites were suitable for building components and automobiles in order to reduce the energy consumption.
Product-line specification and verification with feature-oriented contracts

Variability is ubiquitous in today’s software development. While techniques to efficiently implement software product lines are used for decades, verification techniques have been a hot research topic in the last years. We give an overview on how existing verification techniques were applied to product lines. Based on our insights, we overcome two shortcomings of previous research on product-line verification. First, we systematically investigate how contracts can be utilized for product-line specification. Our theoretical discussion and practical evaluation lead us to the notion of feature-oriented contracts. In particular, we found that behavioral subtyping applies to most, but not all featureoriented contracts. Second, we use these feature-oriented contracts to compare different verification techniques and strategies for the same product-line implementation and specification. We measured synergistic effects when using theorem proving and model checking for product-line verification in concert.
Athletic Trainers' Attitudes and Perceptions of Environmental Sustainability.

CONTEXT Environmental sustainability efforts are becoming a critical concern in health care. However, little is known regarding how athletic trainers feel about the environment or what can be done to reduce the environmental impact of the practice of athletic training. OBJECTIVE To examine athletic trainers' attitudes toward and perceptions of factors related to environmental sustainability. DESIGN Sequential, mixed methods using a survey, focus groups, and personal interviews. SETTING Field study. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS Four hundred forty-two individuals completed the survey. Sixteen participated in the qualitative portion. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) Quantitative results from the Athletic Training Environmental Impact Survey included data from a 5-point Likert scale (1 = lowest rating and 5 = highest rating). Descriptive statistics and 1-way analyses of variance were used to describe perceptions and determine differences in mean opinion, National Athletic Trainers' Association district, and use of green techniques. Qualitative data were transcribed verbatim and analyzed inductively. RESULTS The mean score for opinion of the environment was 3.30 ± 0.52. A difference was found between opinion and National Athletic Trainers' Association district ( F9, 429 = 2.43, P = .01). A Bonferroni post hoc analysis identified this difference ( P = .03) between members of District 2 (Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania) and District 9 (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee). An inductive analysis resulted in 3 emergent themes: (1) barriers to using green techniques, (2) motivators for using green techniques, and (3) solutions to overcoming the barriers. The information gleaned from participants in the qualitative portion of the study can be useful for clinicians wishing to implement basic conservation efforts in their practice settings and may guide future sustainability projects. CONCLUSIONS Overall, participants reported a positive opinion of environmental sustainability topics related to athletic training. However, many barriers to practicing green techniques were identified.
Transcriptional and translational analyses of recA mutant alleles in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Recombinant plasmids containing the recA gene from Pseudomonas aeruginosa were used in complementation, transcriptional, and translational studies to examine the nature of rec-102 and rec-2, mutations which confer a recA-like mutant phenotype on P. aeruginosa PAO strains. For comparison, recA7::Tn501 mutants of strain PAO were constructed by gene replacement. The rec-2 and rec-102 alleles were shown to be recA alleles; plasmids containing the recA gene complemented the three rec mutant strains for defects associated with recA mutation. Northern blot analyses indicated that the recA gene in P. aeruginosa was transcribed as two distinct mRNAs of approximately 1.2 and 1.4 kilobases (kb). A plasmid encoding both transcripts of recA complemented all defects associated with the three recA mutations rec-2, rec-102, and recA7. However, a 2.4-kb subclone (pJH13) encoding only the smaller transcript of the recA gene was expressed differently in the three recA allele backgrounds and served as a tool to distinguish the nature of the rec-2 and rec-102 mutations in recA. A minicell analysis showed that a plasmid expressing both of the recA gene transcripts or one that expressed only the smaller transcript both produced the same 42-kilodalton recA protein. A chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene fusion in the 3' end of the recA transcript showed that the recA gene of P. aeruginosa was induced following treatment with a DNA-damaging agent (methyl methanesulfonate). The recA7 mutant constructed here showed no recA-related transcript or protein under inducing conditions, and pJH13 in this host produced only low levels of the smaller recA transcript and low levels of recA protein. The rec-2 mutant produced a detectable transcript but no recA protein following induction. The presence of low levels of activated recA protein encoded by pJH13 in the rec-2 mutant resulted in wild-type transcriptional levels of chromosomally encoded recA, but no recA protein was detectable. Thus, the rec-2 allele of recA was normal with respect to induction of mRNA, but these transcripts were defective in either translation or synthesis of a stable protein. The rec-102 mutant also produced a detectable transcript and no recA protein following induction, but having pJH13 in the cell to produce low levels of activated recA protein resulted in overproduction of chromosomally encoded recA transcripts and active recA protein. Thus, the recA defect in the rec-102 mutant is apparently in the interaction between recA and a lexA-like repressor.
Are Related Links Effective for Contextual Advertising? - A Preliminary Study

Classical contextual advertising systems suggest suitable ads to a given webpage just analyzing its content, without relying on further information. We claim that adding some information extracted by semantically related pages can improve the overall performances. To this end, this paper proposes an experimental study aimed at verifying to which extent the analysis of related links, i.e., inlinks and outlinks, can help contextual advertising. Experiments have been performed on about 15000 webpages extracted by DMoz. Results show that the adoption of related links significantly improves the performance of the adopted baseline system.
Exposing Video Forgeries by Detecting Misaligned Double Compression

Powerful and fast video editing software tools have made video tampering an easy work. In video forgeries, re-compression is one of the inevitable post-processing, so it is usually explored in video forensics works. However, most works only consider aligned double compression---the order of frames remains unchanged before and after re-compression. In some cases, misaligned double compression could happen as well in video forgeries, such as video splicing, etc. In this paper, we propose an effective method to detect misaligned double compression. Based on extensive experiments and analysis, we found that H.264/AVC compression generates different strengths of blurring artifacts in different types of frames. After misaligned re-compression, such blurring artifacts introduced by the previous compression would be preserved in the re-compressed frames. Based on this observation, we propose a compact yet effective feature vector (MBAS) to expose video forgeries. The experiments evaluated on standard test sequences with a variety of encoding parameters have shown the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Effects of the synthetic selectin inhibitor TBC1269 on tissue damage during acute Mannheimia haemolytica-induced pneumonia in neonatal calves.

OBJECTIVE To determine effects of the selectin inhibitor TBC1269 on neutrophil-mediated pulmonary damage during acute Mannheimia haemolytica-induced pneumonia in newborn calves. ANIMALS Eighteen 1- to 3-day-old colostrum-deprived calves. PROCEDURE Mannheimia haemolytica or saline (0.9% NaCl) solution was inoculated in both cranial lung lobes of 12 and 6 calves, respectively. Calves were euthanatized 2 (saline, n = 3; M haemolytica, n = 4) or 6 hours (saline, n = 3; M haemolytica, n = 8) after inoculation. Four M haemolytica-inoculated calves euthanatized at 6 hours also received TBC1269 (25 mg/kg, IV) 30 minutes before and 2 hours after inoculation. Conjugated diene (CD) concentrations, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression, and apoptotic cell counts were determined in lung specimens collected during necropsy. RESULTS Conjugated diene concentrations were significantly increased in all M haemolytica-inoculated groups, compared with saline-inoculated groups. Calves treated with TBC1269 had decreased concentrations of CD, compared with untreated calves, although the difference was not significant. Number of apoptotic neutrophils and macrophages increased significantly inTBC1269-treated calves, compared with untreated calves. Inducible nitric oxide synthase was expressed by epithelial cells and leukocytes. However, iNOS was less abundant in airway epithelial cells associated with inflammatory exudates. Degree of iNOS expression was similar between TBC1269-treated and untreated calves. CONCLUSIONS Mannheimia haemolytica infection in neonatal calves resulted in pulmonary tissue damage and decreased epithelial cell iNOS expression. The selectin inhibitor TCB1269 altered, but did not completely inhibit, neutrophil-mediated pulmonary damage.
Towards a Scalable Architecture for Flight Data Management

The dramatic growth in the air traffic levels witnessed during the last two decades has increased the interest for optimizing the Air Traffic Management (ATM) systems. The main objective is being able to cope with the sustained air traffic growth under safe, economic, efficient and environmental friendly working conditions. The ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast) system is part of the new air traffic control systems, since it allows to substitute the secondary radar with cheaper ground stations that, at the same time, provide more accurate real-time positioning information. However, this system generates a large volume of data that, when combined with other flight-related data, such as flight plans or weather reports, faces scalability issues. This paper introduces an (on-going) Data Lake based architecture which allows the full ADS-B data life-cycle to be supported in a scalable and cost-effective way using technologies from the Apache Hadoop ecosystem.
Obstacles effects on signal attenuation in line of sight for different environments in V2V communication

In Vanet, Secure and Smart Intelligent Transport System (SSITS) support both safety and non-safety applications in terms of throughput and collision performance. In vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communication, the network should provide a good throughput and should reduce collision. To provide an efficient throughput for V2V communication under different environments (such as City, Highway, and Rural), a good radio propagation model is required in order to support the real-time implementation. The existing radio propagation path loss models for V2V network adopt mean additional attenuation sophisticated obstacle fading model such as Nakagami, Log normal and so on. These models do not consider the effects of the vehicle in modeling LOS among transmitter and receiver and also do not consider evaluation under different environments. The presence of Line of sight (LOS) component (such as reflection or diffraction) requires the amplification of signal or power. Due to this, here we present an efficient radio propagation path loss model considering the obstacle in LOS (vehicle) under different environmental conditions in the presence of LOS. The experiments are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed model in terms of throughput and collision considering a varied number of vehicles under City, Highway and rural environments. The result shows that the proposed model is efficient considering varied density.
Role of pupil dilation and facial temperature features in stress detection

In order to differentiate the affective state of a computer user as it changes from relaxation to stress, features derived from pupil dilation and periorbital temperature are processed with machine learning techniques. When absolute signal values are used together with entropy based features, the accuracy of affective classification is observed to increase. When decision tree (C4.5) is tested for classification, best accuracy of detection of neutral versus aroused states is above 90%.
Heart rate variability characteristics of patients with irritable bowel syndrome and associations with symptoms

Disturbed brain‐gut interactions are assumed to be of importance for symptom generation in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is part of the bidirectional brain‐gut communication, but previous studies in IBS show diverging results. We aimed to identify subgroups of IBS patients with distinct ANS characteristics differentiating them from healthy controls (HC), and to study associations between ANS status and symptoms.
DOP: Deep Optimistic Planning with Approximate Value Function Evaluation

Research on reinforcement learning has demonstrated promising results in manifold applications and domains. Still, efficiently learning effective robot behaviors is very difficult, due to unstructured scenarios, high uncertainties, and large state dimensionality (e.g. multi-agent systems or hyper-redundant robots). To alleviate this problem, we present DOP, a deep model-based reinforcement learning algorithm, which exploits action values to both (1) guide the exploration of the state space and (2) plan effective policies. Specifically, we exploit deep neural networks to learn Q-functions that are used to attack the curse of dimensionality during a Monte-Carlo tree search. Our algorithm, in fact, constructs upper confidence bounds on the learned value function to select actions optimistically. We implement and evaluate DOP on different scenarios: (1) a cooperative navigation problem, (2) a fetching task for a 7-DOF KUKA robot, and (3) a human-robot handover with a humanoid robot (both in simulation and real). The obtained results show the effectiveness of DOP in the chosen applications, where action values drive the exploration and reduce the computational demand of the planning process while achieving good performance.