Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Endoscopic closure of fetal membrane defects: comparing iatrogenic versus spontaneous rupture cases.

OBJECTIVE Currently, physicians manage preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) by expectant management or termination of the gestation. A therapy aimed at sealing membranes would be optimal to maintain the pregnancy and achieve a normal neonate. Our objective was to compare an endoscopic technique for intrauterine closure of fetal membrane defects after both iatrogenic and spontaneous rupture of membranes. METHODS Our technique was performed on four patients experiencing PPROM spontaneously and four patients after genetic amniocentesis. Intrauterine endoscopy allowed direct visualization of membrane defects. Rapid sequential injections of platelets, fibrin glue and powdered collagen slurry were administered at the site of the defect and of trocar placement. Sonography for amniotic fluid index, nitrazine and fern testing and pad count were performed after each procedure at three intervals: immediately post-procedure, and after 24 and 48 h. RESULTS Eight patients underwent endoscopic intrauterine sealing of ruptured membranes between 16 and 24 weeks of gestation: four were spontaneous ruptures and four were ruptures post-amniocentesis. In the post-amniocentesis group, three patients delivered viable infants at 26, 32 and 34 weeks. In one patient, the membranes ruptured again 12 h after the sealing procedure and she decided to undergo termination of pregnancy. Of the four spontaneous rupture patients, two experienced preterm labor and delivery within 2 days of the procedure. One patient was diagnosed with fetal demise 12 h post-procedure, and one patient delivered a neonate at 31 weeks of gestation with severe respiratory distress syndrome. CONCLUSIONS This technique for sealing ruptured membranes is effective after amniocentesis, but may not be of benefit with spontaneous rupture.
Transient thermal behavior of SOIC packages — an optimization study

Under a given set of boundary conditions, thermal performance of an electronic system is generally evaluated based on its steady state response. It is a conventional practice that actual time dependent power cycles and thermal boundary conditions are time-averaged to estimate the steady state characteristics. This approach may produce accurate results provided that the time dependency of the power cycles and/or thermal boundary conditions is small. In general, time-dependent thermal analyses with actual time-dependent boundary conditions and power cycles should be performed in order to determine the steady state behavior. Whether an experimental or numerical approach is taken, accurate prediction of transient thermal behavior of complex electronic systems is time consuming. While being less overwhelming compared to the actual laboratory experiments, fully time dependent Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis still requires large amount of CPU time. In order to prevail over this large computational cost, a number of approximate models were developed, such as Resistor-Capacitor (R-C) thermal network approaches which have produced reasonably accurate results, and therefore have been popular in determining system transient response. It is worth noting that these approaches require some rigorous curve-fitting effort followed by an optimization process and are applicable to relatively simple systems. The present study uses state-space model to determine transient and steady state thermal behavior of complex systems as accurately as possible without compromising the speed. The aforementioned technique is applied to a “Small Outline Integrated Circuit” (SOIC) package placed on a printed circuit board (PCB) and the results are compared to those from the fully transient CFD model computations. With a dramatic reduction in the overall CPU times, the temperature histories obtained from the state-space approach agree well with the transient CFD simulations. Furthermore, an optimization scheme is defined so that the maximum temperature on the package is kept under a specified value by changing the power cycles on individual die elements which may be of great benefit to the chip designers especially at the early stages of design.
Spectrum sharing in multi-service cognitive network using reinforcement learning

In this paper the issue of spectrum sharing in multi-service cognitive wireless network is addressed. The problem is formulated as a revenue maximization problem and a framework is presented that is capable of adequately solving a class of problem where resources are shared in radio environment. Primary users (PUs) exchange channels dynamically and based on the availability of idle channels at neighbors. Secondary users (SUs) of different classes form a mesh network and rent a spectrum from primary users. For such cognitive wireless mesh networks, the main challenge facing a PU is to satisfy the following conflicting objectives: maximizing its total revenue, maintaining its quality of service (QoS) (that degrades due to renting its spectrum to SUs) and reducing secondary user delay times. In this work machine learning paradigm is presented as a means for extracting the optimal control policy for spectrum sharing. To obtain different requirements, the objective function is defined to maximize the total revenue gained by primary users. Value iteration algorithm is applied to find an optimal control policy that maximizes the difference between reward and cost (revenue). Performance evaluation of the proposed spectrum sharing approach shows that the scheme is able to find an efficient trade-off between PUs revenue and SUs delay.
A Study on the Asymmetry in the Role of Monetary Policy by Using STR model

Abstract The effects of monetary policy on the economy show different with respect to its direction, power and the different economic cycle. That is to say, there exists asymmetry in the role of monetary policy. It’s important to research this asymmetry for monetary policy making and keeping economy’s steady growth In this paper, we aim to study the asymmetry in the role of monetary policy with respect to the different economic cycle. First, monetary shock is estimated by using monetary gap and output gap is calculated via HP filter method. Second, based on the monetary gap and output gap, the asymmetric impacts of monetary gap are measured by STR model. The results show that the impacts of monetary shock on economy are asymmetrical significantly. The impact of monetary policy on economy in upturn stage is larger than its impact in downturn stage.
Transpupillary thermotherapy of occult choroidal neovascularization in age-related macular degeneration

Purpose. To evaluate the efficacy of transpupillary thermotherapy (TTT) in management of occult subfoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods. Retrospective chart review of eyes that were treated with TTT and had at least 12 weeks of follow-up. Base-line and final ETDRS visual acuity and fluorescein angiography (FA) were compared. Results. For the 48 eyes which met inclusion criteria, mean pre-operative visual acuity was 20/128 (range: 20/50–20/500). Average follow-up was 27 weeks (range: 12 weeks–55 weeks). At 3 months after treatment, 12 eyes (25%) improved 2 lines or more, 18 eyes (37.5%) had no change or 1 line of visual improvement, and 18 eyes (37.5%) worsened 1 or more lines. No significant adverse event was noted during treatment. Three eyes developed large submacular hemorrhage within 2 months of treatment. Based on clinical examination and FA, 61% of the eyes appeared to have reduction of subretinal fluid compared to pre-operative evaluations. Conclusion. Visual acuity was stable or improved in 62.5% of eyes in our series and the treatment was well tolerated. Longer follow up and larger number of patients would be required to evaluate the ultimate benefit of TTT in management of occult CNV due to AMD.
Physical activity in patients with COPD

The present study aimed to measure physical activity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to: 1) identify the disease stage at which physical activity becomes limited; 2) investigate the relationship of clinical characteristics with physical activity; 3) evaluate the predictive power of clinical characteristics identifying very inactive patients; and 4) analyse the reliability of physical activity measurements. In total, 163 patients with COPD (Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) stage I–IV; BODE (body mass index, airway obstruction, dyspnoea, exercise capacity) index score 0–10) and 29 patients with chronic bronchitis (normal spirometry; former GOLD stage 0) wore activity monitors that recorded steps per day, minutes of at least moderate activity, and physical activity levels for 5 days (3 weekdays plus Saturday and Sunday). Compared with patients with chronic bronchitis, steps per day, minutes of at least moderate activity and physical activity levels were reduced from GOLD stage II/BODE score 1, GOLD stage III/BODE score 3/4 and from GOLD stage III/BODE score 1, respectively. Reliability of physical activity measurements improved with the number of measured days and with higher GOLD stages. Moderate relationships were observed between clinical characteristics and physical activity. GOLD stages III and IV best predicted very inactive patients. Physical activity is reduced in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease from Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease stage II/ body mass index, airway obstruction, dyspnoea, exercise capacity score 1. Clinical characteristics of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease only incompletely reflect their physical activity.
[The contribution of the cerebellum to cognitive processes].

INTRODUCTION Apart from its functions involving control over movement, the cerebellum is also related to learning motor sequences and, according to the experimental and clinical evidence we will examine, to cognitive and learning processes that do not exclusively involve motor activity. DEVELOPMENT The cerebrocerebellar connections act as a vehicle for the afferent information from the sensory-motor cortex, prefrontal cortex, the frontal regions responsible for (expressive) language, parietal cortex, superior colliculus and superior temporal cortex, returning efferences to similar areas that are responsible for attention, visuospatial perception, memory and the regulation of executive and emotional functions. It plays a role in the preparation and anticipation of motor responses, according to sequences experienced previously depending on the information received from the surroundings, thus anticipating the physiological state for carrying out perceptual motor or cognitive tasks. A number of experimental neuroimaging studies, as well as the discovery of a new cell in the neuronal population of the cerebellum, relate the cerebellum to cognitive processing. CONCLUSIONS Clinical observation of patients with cerebellar lesion or dysfunction, which are related to a deficit in the cognitive functions, suggests a model with which to understand these mechanisms. Long-lasting depression is considered to be the learning mechanism in the cerebellum and is intimately related to the mechanisms involved in neuronal plasticity and in memory.
Hepatitis C Virus Infection and Post-Transplant Diabetes Mellitus among Renal Transplant Patients: A Meta-Analysis

Objective To examine the association between HCV infection and the occurrence of post-transplant diabetes mellitus (PTDM) among renal transplant patients. Design Meta-analysis of observational studies. Data Sources We retrieved studies published in any language by systematically searching Medline, and Embase and by manually examining the references of the original articles, reviews, and monographs retrieved. Review Methods We included cohort and case-control studies reporting relative risk estimates and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for PTDM occurrence with HCV after renal transplantation. Thirteen studies providing information on a total of 30,099 unique patients were included in our meta-analysis. Results Study-specific relative risks were weighted by the inverse of their variance to obtain fixed- and random-effects pooled estimates. The pooled relative risk (RR) for PTDM after RT was 2.73 with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.94; 3.83 (10 studies). In a stratified analysis including only large studies (2 studies), the pooled RR was 1.36 (95% CI, 1.21; 1.54). Egger's regression test showed some evidence of publication bias (p=0.0001), but our sensitivity analysis showed that this issue did not meaningfully change the results. Conclusions Our study shows a marked increase of the risk of post-transplant diabetes mellitus in anti-hepatitis C virus-positive renal transplant recipients. The excess risk of death in hepatitis C virus-positive renal transplant recipients may be at least partially attributed to post-transplant diabetes mellitus with its attendant complications.
Nuclear Factor I as a Potential Regulator during Postembryonic Organ Development (*)

Nuclear factor I (NFI) family members are transcription factors that are believed to also participate in DNA replication. We have cloned two Xenopus laevis NFIs that are up-regulated by thyroid hormone. They are 84-95% identical to their counterparts in birds and mammals. In contrast, the two Xenopus NFIs are much less homologous to each other, sharing only 58% homology, which largely resides in the DNA binding domain at the amino terminus. However, both NFIs can bind to a consensus NFI binding site and activate the transcription of a promoter bearing the site. Northern blot reveals that both NFI genes are regulated in tissue- and developmental stage-dependent manners. They are first activated, independently of thyroid hormone, to low levels at stages 23/24, around the onset of larval organogenesis. After stage 54, their mRNA levels are dramatically up-regulated by endogenous thyroid hormone, and high levels of their expression correlate with organ-specific metamorphosis. Furthermore, gel mobility shift assay indicates that the NFI proteins are present in different organs and that their levels are regulated similarly to the mRNA levels. These results strongly suggest that NFIs play important roles during postembryonic organ development, in contrast to the general belief that NFIs are ubiquitous factors.
Apical structures of “mitochondria‐rich” α and β cells in euryhaline fish gill: Their behaviour in various living conditions

Background: One of the characteristic features of the two types (α and β) of “mitochondria‐rich” (chloride) cells in the gill epithelium of freshwater fishes is the presence in their apical region of tubulovesicular structures. A further analysis of the ultrastructural features of these apical elements as well as that of their modifications under various living conditions should help to understand better the respective rǒle of both α and β cells in these conditions.
Structure, Magnetic Properties, and Phase Transformations in Electrodeposited Fe-Rich Fe–Pt Films

Fe rich Fe-Pt films with 56 at. %-75 at. % Fe are electrodeposited from an alkaline solution. A face-centered cubic (111) texture is clearly observed for as-deposited films with <;62 at. % Fe, while a body centered cubic (110) orientation is seen for higher Fe fraction. After annealing in forming gas for 1 h at or above 400 °C, a transformation to a face centered tetragonal (FCT) $L1_{0}$ phase was observed below 62 Fe at. %. With increasing Fe content, the annealed films show a texture change from (200) to (002); films with <;72% Fe show coercivity $\sim 7$ kOe while films with Fe above that value show small coercivity. Of particular interest are the 75 at. % films; these show a FCT structure after annealing at or above 450 °C, which differs from the $L1_{0}$ structure and is characterized by low anisotropy; in contrast, a relatively high out of plane coercivity (1-3 kOe) is observed in 75 at. % films in the as-deposited or annealed conditions up to 350 °C.
Population ageing in extended overlapping generations models : a numerical analysis of the financing of the Norwegian national insurance scheme

In recent years, a funding of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme has been discussed as a sustainability-improving measure in the wake of the financial crisis and an ageing population due to baby boomers entering retirement age. Using an extended overlapping generations model, the thesis examines the long-run relationship between the defined-contribution rates of return of the current pay-as-you-go scheme and a fully funded alternative in 81 different scenarios. The scenarios differ with respect to demographic development, real return on pension savings, productivity growth, and retirement age. Projections of the real return for 2016-2100 suggests that the fully funded alternative is likely to yield a significantly larger rate of return, and therefore also a significantly smaller defined-benefit tax rate. A funding is found to increase the rate of return of the pension scheme in the long run in 51 of these 81 scenarios. Furthermore, funding is found to yield a higher rate of return than the current pay-as-you-gofinancing in 7 of the 9 most probable scenarios. Additionally, for a given rate of return the current pay-as-you-go scheme implies an annual tax rate 22% larger than the alternate fully funded scheme in years 2044-2100 in the expected scenario. A gradual funding is discussed as a solution to the challenges related to transitioning from one form of financing to the other. Multiple approaches to a possible implementation of a gradual funding are examined, including examples from other countries that have starter similar systemic reforms.
Canonical histidine kinase activity of the transmitter domain of the ETR1 ethylene receptor from Arabidopsis is not required for signal transmission

Ethylene signaling in plants is mediated by a family of receptors related to bacterial two-component histidine kinases. Of the five members of the Arabidopsis ethylene receptor family, members of subfamily I (ETR1 and ERS1) contain completely conserved histidine kinase domains, whereas members of subfamily II (ETR2, EIN4, and ERS2) lack conserved residues thought to be necessary for kinase activity. To examine the role of the conserved histidine kinase domain in receptor signaling, ers1;etr1 loss-of-function double mutants were generated. The double mutants exhibited a severe constitutive ethylene response phenotype consistent with the negative regulator model for receptor function. The adult ers1-2;etr1-6 and ers1-2;etr1-7 phenotypes included miniature rosette size, delayed flowering, and both male and female sterility, whereas etiolated-seedling responses were less affected. Chimeric transgene constructs in which the ETR1 promoter was used to drive expression of cDNAs for each of the five receptor isoforms were transferred into the ers1-2;etr1-7 double-mutant plants. Subfamily I constructs restored normal growth, whereas subfamily II constructs failed to rescue the double mutant, providing evidence for a unique role for subfamily I in receptor signaling. However, transformation of either the ers1-2;etr1-6 or ers1-2;etr1-7 mutant with a kinase-inactivated ETR1 genomic clone also resulted in complete restoration of normal growth and ethylene responsiveness in the double-mutant background, leading to the conclusion that canonical histidine kinase activity by receptors is not required for ethylene receptor signaling.
Sinh-Acceleration: Efficient Evaluation of Probability Distributions, Option Pricing, and Monte-Carlo Simulations

Characteristic functions of several popular classes of distributions and processes admit analytic continuation into unions of strips and open coni around [Formula: see text]. The Fourier transform techniques reduce calculation of probability distributions and option prices in the evaluation of integrals whose integrands are analytic in domains enjoying these properties. In the paper, we suggest to use changes of variables of the form [Formula: see text] and the simplified trapezoid rule to evaluate the integrals accurately and fast. We formulate the general scheme, and apply the scheme for calculation probability distributions and pricing European options in Lévy models, the Heston model, the CIR model, and a Lévy model with the CIR-subordinator. We outline applications to fast and accurate calibration procedures and Monte Carlo simulations in Lévy models, regime switching Lévy models that can account for stochastic drift, volatility and skewness, the Heston model, other affine models and quadratic term structure models. For calculation of quantiles in the tails using the Newton or bisection method, it suffices to precalculate several hundreds of values of the characteristic exponent at points on an appropriate grid (conformal principal components) and use these values in formulas for cpdf and pdf.
Investment Committee, Corporate Cash Holdings and Corporate Life Cycle

We investigate the association between voluntary formation of board investment committee (IC) and corporate cash holdings of nonfinancial firms over the corporate life cycle stages for a large sample of Gulf Cooperation Council firms during 2005–2016. We find that IC increases corporate cash holdings in growth and maturity stages of firm, compared to introduction, shake‐out, and decline stages. These results have important implications for investors, policy makers, and regulators. Our findings are robust to various econometrics specifications.
A general method of domain closure is applied to phosphoglycerate kinase and the result compared with the crystal structure of a closed conformation of the enzyme

The occurrence of large domain motions associated with the mechanism of action of many proteins is well established. We present a general method of predicting domain closure applicable to proteins containing domains separated by an apparent hinge. The method attempts to allow for natural directional bias within the closing protein by repeatedly applying a weak pulling force over a short distance between pairs of atoms chosen at random in the two domains in question. Appropriate parameters governing the pulling function were determined empirically. The method was applied to the bi‐lobal protein PGK and a closed‐form activated ternary complex generated for Bacillus stearothermophilus PGK. This model was compared with the recently determined crystal structure of closed‐form Trypanosoma brucei PGK. The model predicts the correct hinge regions, although the magnitude of movement at one hinge point was overestimated, and provides a reasonable representation of the closed‐form ternary complex. Proteins 30:372–380, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.