Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Designing an evaluation framework for WFME basic standards for medical education

Abstract Purpose: To create an evaluation plan for the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) accreditation standards for basic medical education. Methods: We conceptualized the 100 basic standards from “Basic Medical Education: WFME Global Standards for Quality Improvement: The 2012 Revision” as medical education program objectives. Standards were simplified into evaluable items, which were then categorized as inputs, processes, outputs and/or outcomes to generate a logic model and corresponding plan for data collection. Results: WFME standards posed significant challenges to evaluation due to complex wording, inconsistent formatting and lack of existing assessment tools. Our resulting logic model contained 244 items. Standard B 5.1. 1 separated into 24 items, the most for any single standard. A large proportion of items (40%) required evaluation of more than one input, process, output and/or outcome. Only one standard (B 3.2.2) was interpreted as requiring evaluation of a program outcome. Conclusions: Current WFME standards are difficult to use for evaluation planning. Our analysis may guide adaptation and revision of standards to make them more evaluable. Our logic model and data collection plan may be useful to medical schools planning an institutional self-review and to accrediting authorities wanting to provide guidance to schools under their purview.
Visualization of volume data in confocal microscopy: comparison and improvements of volume rendering methods

Confocal microscopes routinely produce three‐dimensional data sets. The visualization of these digital volumes is currently performed by one surface rendering or volume rendering approach. In this paper, we describe improvements developed in the field of volume rendering. We focused on three methods: parallelepiped face mapping: the rotation‐projection method (with or without stereoscopy, with different matters and transparencies); the voxel ray‐tracing method. We compared the possibilities of these different algorithms, in terms of quality of rendering, of computation load and as an essential aid to study the 3D organization of biological specimens.
The Late Epipalaeolithic and Early Neolithic in the Jordanian Badia: Recent Fieldwork around the Qa' Shubayqa

Until recently the late Epipalaeolithic and early Neolithic occupation of Jordan's eastern badia was poorly understood and developments in this region were considered as secondary to those in the Jordan Valley or elsewhere. Recent fieldwork in the Qa' Shubayqa are has led to the discovery of a dense cluster of late Epipalaeolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) sites, which shed a different light on this phase of human settlement in eastern Jordan. This evidence demonstrates that the eastern badia was not a peripheral region during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, but an intensively settled region.
Body Position and Cardiac Dynamic and Chronotropic Responses to Steady‐State Isocapnic Hypoxaemia in Humans

Neural mediation of the human cardiac response to isocapnic (IC) steady‐state hypoxaemia was investigated using coarse‐graining spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV). Six young adults were exposed in random order to a hypoxia or control protocol, in supine and sitting postures, while end‐tidal PCO2 (PET,CO2) was clamped at resting eucapnic levels. An initial 11 min period of euoxia (PET,O2 100 mmHg; 13.3 kPa) was followed by a 22 min exposure to hypoxia (PET,O2 55 mmHg; 7.3 kPa), or continued euoxia (control). Harmonic and fractal powers of HRV were determined for the terminal 400 heart beats in each time period. Ventilation was stimulated (P < 0.05) and cardiac dynamics altered only by exposure to hypoxia. The cardiac interpulse interval was shortened (P < 0.001) similarly during hypoxia in both body positions. Vagally mediated high‐frequency harmonic power (Ph) of HRV was decreased by hypoxia only in the supine position, while the fractal dimension, also linked to cardiac vagal control, was decreased in the sitting position (P < 0.05). However, low‐frequency harmonic power (Pl) and the HRV indicator of sympathetic activity (Pl/Ph) were not altered by hypoxia in either position. These results suggest that, in humans, tachycardia induced by moderate IC hypoxaemia (arterial O2 saturation Sa,O2≈ 85%) was mediated by vagal withdrawal, irrespective of body position and resting autonomic balance, while associated changes in HRV were positionally dependent.
First-principles phase diagram calculations for the HfC–TiC, ZrC–TiC, and HfC–ZrC solid solutions

We report first-principles phase diagram calculations for the binary systems HfC–TiC, TiC–ZrC, and HfC–ZrC. Formation energies for superstructures of various bulk compositions were computed with a plane-wave pseudopotential method. They in turn were used as a basis for fitting cluster expansion Hamiltonians, both with and without approximations for excess vibrational free energies. Significant miscibility gaps are predicted for the systems TiC–ZrC and HfC–TiC, with consolute temperatures in excess of 2000 K. The HfC–ZrC system is predicted to be completely miscibile down to 185 K. Reductions in consolute temperature due to excess vibrational free energy are estimated to be ~7%, ~20%, and ~0%, for HfC–TiC, TiC–ZrC, and HfC–ZrC, respectively. Predicted miscibility gaps are symmetric for HfC–ZrC, almost symmetric for HfC–TiC and asymmetric for TiC–ZrC.
Oligodendrocyte myelin glycoprotein growth inhibition function requires its conserved leucine‐rich repeat domain, not its glycosylphosphatidyl‐inositol anchor

The oligodendrocyte myelin glycoprotein (OMgp) inhibits neurite outgrowth and axonal regeneration after brain injury, but its normal function remains unknown. Several observations suggest its implication in cell growth regulation. Here we report an analysis of the domain requirement in OMgp proliferation inhibitory function. We first studied the OMgp protein sequence in 14 mammal species and observed a high conservation of its leucine‐rich repeat (LRR) domain. The deletion of this LRR domain is responsible for a total loss of function in an in vitro expression system. The possible three‐dimensional structure of the LRR domain of OMgp was modelled using the structure of Yersinia pestis YopM cytotoxin as a template. The predicted arrangement of the LRR segments is compatible with a function of OMgp as a binding protein. The OMgp is a glycosylphosphatidyl‐inositol‐linked protein anchored in the plasma membrane of oligodendrocytes and neurones. Using deletion mutagenesis, we demonstrated the dispensability of the glycosylphosphatidyl‐inositol anchor for OMgp proliferation inhibition function. Our results suggest that OMgp is part of a receptor complex, either as a coreceptor or as a membrane‐bound or soluble ligand, involved in the transmission of a growth suppressive signal.
Vector control of single phase brushless DC motor

A vector control method of single phase brushless DC (BLDC) motor is proposed in this paper which can effectively improve system efficiency and reduce the torque ripple. In this paper, a virtual phase current iimag is deduced to construct a pair of orthogonal currents ireal and iimag. With the dq rotating coordinate transformation, and single phase SVPWM modulation, the vector control of single phase BLDC motor is formed. The root locus method is carried out to analyze the stability. Finally, the experimental results is presented to confirm the validity to improve the dynamic performance and weaken the vibration during the operation.
Paediatric perfusion practice in North America: an update

In August 1994, an updated survey questionnaire was mailed to each paediatric open-heart surgery programme in North America as a follow-up to the 1989 paediatric survey. The survey requested demographic data, equipment selection criteria and specific perfusion techniques for paediatric patients. The earlier survey revealed a wide range of clinical practice. Data from the recent survey were compared with the 1989 survey to identify current programme demographics and trends in equipment use and techniques. Responses were received from 125 hospitals (110 active programmes and 15 programmes that do not perform paediatric open-heart surgery) for a response rate of 74%. Of the 110 active centres, 77 perform both adult and paediatric cardiac surgery, and 33 perform paediatric surgery exclusively. Forty-three centres reported that they perform paediatric cardiac transplantation, an increase from 35 centres in 1989. Total caseload increased by more than 8% per year from 1988 to 1994. In 1994, 18% of the patients were operated upon during the first month of life (versus 15% in 1989), and 46% were operated on during the first year of life (versus 45% in 1989) While the 1989 survey was characterized by a high degree of heterogeneity in equipment and techniques, the recent survey reveals a trend toward homogeneity among respondents. The use of membrane oxygenation and arterial line filtration has become universal, and there was an increase in the use of all types of safety devices in the cardiopulmonary bypass circuit.
Learning-based Surgical Workflow Detection from Intra-Operative Signals

A modern operating room (OR) provides a plethora of advanced medical devices. In order to better facilitate the information offered by them, they need to automatically react to the intra-operative context. To this end, the progress of the surgical workflow must be detected and interpreted, so that the current status can be given in machine-readable form. In this work, Random Forests (RF) and Hidden Markov Models (HMM) are compared and combined to detect the surgical workflow phase of a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Various combinations of data were tested, from using only raw sensor data to filtered and augmented datasets. Achieved accuracies ranged from 64% to 72% for the RF approach, and from 80% to 82% for the combination of RF and HMM.
Discrete-time average-consensus under switching network topologies

This paper develops a distributed algorithm for average-consensus in a discrete-time framework based on a formal matrix limit definition of average-consensus. Using this algorithm, the average-consensus problem is solved under switching network topologies provided that the network switch between instantaneously balanced, connected-over-time networks. In other words, if at each instant the network is balanced and the union of graphs over every interval T is connected, then average-consensus can be achieved. An interesting product of this analysis is the notion of "deadbeat" consensus where a system of agents achieves consensus (average or otherwise) in finite time rather than asymptotically
Development of Nonsuperstrate Implantable Low-Profile CPW-Fed Ceramic Antennas

A broadband nonsuperstrate implantable CPW-fed monopole antenna operating at the Medical Implant Communication Service (MICS) frequency band (402~405 MHz) is developed on a microwave dielectric ceramic substrate with high dielectric constant and high quality factor. Compared to other similar implantable antennas covered with superstrates, the advantages of the proposed nonsuperstrate antenna are: miniaturization and low profile (≈1 mm), wide measured bandwidth (>130 MHz/33.5%), deep measured S11 (>-25 dB) at 402 MHz, and gain stability of 0.35~0.5 GHz. Furthermore, the measured S11 is stable enough even for a period of 60 days. Therefore, the proposed antenna demonstrates the stable characteristics of direct contact tissue loading on a high-dielectric-constant ceramic substrate and is suitable for implanted biotelemetry applications.
Over-sampling via under-sampling in strongly imbalanced data

Classification of imbalanced datasets is an important challenge in machine learning. This investigation analysed the effect of ratio imbalance and the selected classifier on the application of several re-sampling strategies to deal with imbalanced datasets. We applied two different classifiers J48 and Naive Bayes, four re-sampling algorithms Org, SMOTE, Borderline SMOTE, OSS and NCL approaches and four performance assessment measures TPrate, TNrate, Gmean and AUC on 13 sets of real data. Our experimental results show that, whenever, datasets are strongly imbalanced, over-sampling methods are more efficient in compare with under-sampling methods. Moreover, our results indicate that, when dealing with imbalanced data with any level, applying re-sampling techniques is preferred. Further, the results indicate that the classifier has very poor influence on the effectiveness of the re-sampling strategies.
[1,2,4]Triazolo[4,3-a]phthalazines: Inhibitors of Diverse Bromodomains

Bromodomains are gaining increasing interest as drug targets. Commercially sourced and de novo synthesized substituted [1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a]phthalazines are potent inhibitors of both the BET bromodomains such as BRD4 as well as bromodomains outside the BET family such as BRD9, CECR2, and CREBBP. This new series of compounds is the first example of submicromolar inhibitors of bromodomains outside the BET subfamily. Representative compounds are active in cells exhibiting potent cellular inhibition activity in a FRAP model of CREBBP and chromatin association. The compounds described are valuable starting points for discovery of selective bromodomain inhibitors and inhibitors with mixed bromodomain pharmacology.
Analysis of the performance of benders-based distributed decomposition methods for linear stochastic programming

In stochastic programming, the consideration of uncertainty might lead to large scale problems. In these problems, computational resources might fall short of the requirements for solving these problems, especially concerning memory capacity. Decomposition techniques help to clear this obstacle, by producing a set of smaller subproblems at the cost of additional computation time for coordination due to the iterative of the resolution algorithm. However, one way to mitigate the effect of the increased computational time derived from the decomposition is to solve the subproblems in parallel or distributed systems. This paper compares the performance of two different Benders decomposition techniques for linear stochastic problems when executed in two different computational grids (one using singlecore computers and the other using dual-core computers). Decomposition methods that create less task-dependency take better advantage of computer resources available in the grid, thus compensating a small increase in the overall computational weight. In particular, the proposed method called “complete-scenario decomposition” requires a larger total CPU time (the sum of all individual CPU times in the grid) compared to traditional Benders decomposition; however, the computational overhead is compensated by a better grid performance, so the proposed method yields shorter execution times as measured by the user.
The Impact of Indian Job Guarantee Scheme on Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

Public works programs, aimed at building a strong social safety net through redistribution of wealth and generation of meaningful employment, are becoming increasingly popular in developing countries. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), enacted in August 2005, is one such program in India. This paper assesses causal impacts (Intent-to-Treat) of NREGA on public works participation, labor force participation, and real wages of casual workers by exploiting its phased implementation across Indian districts. Using nationally representative data from Indian National Sample Surveys (NSS) and Difference-in-Difference framework, we find that there is a strong gender dimension to the impacts of NREGA: it has a positive impact on the labor force participation and this impact is mainly driven by a much sharper impact on female labor force participation. Similarly, NREGA has a significant positive impact on the wages of female casual workers-real wages of female casual workers increased 8% more in NREGA districts compared with the increase experienced in non-NREGA districts. However, the impact of NREGA on wages of casual male workers has only been marginal (about 1%). Using data from pre-NREGA period, we also perform falsification exercise to demonstrate that the main conclusions are not confounded by pre-existing differential trends between NREGA and non-NREGA districts.
UAV path planning using GSO-DE algorithm

Path planning is an optimal problem how to plan optimal flight path of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in the complex environment of war. A hybrid group search optimizer (GSO) with differential evolution (DE) is proposed to solve UAV path planning problem. Firstly, GSO is applied to update flight path of UAV by the search angle and the distance. DE is used to modify the feasible path of UAV within the search area by means of self-organization and self-regulatory in the evolutionary process. Then, UAV can find the safe path by connecting the chosen points of the coordinates while avoiding the threats area and costing minimum fuel. This approach can accelerate the global convergence speed. Finally, experimental results demonstrate that the proposed GSO-DE algorithm is effective and feasible in UAV path planning.
Indomethacin‐induced impairment of regional cerebrovascular reactivity: implications for respiratory control

Anterior and posterior cerebral circulations have differential reactivity to changes in arterial blood gases, but the implications for the chemoreflex control of breathing are unclear. Indomethacin‐induced blunting of cerebrovascular flow responsiveness did not affect central or peripheral respiratory chemoreflex magnitude using steady‐state end‐tidal forcing techniques. Posterior reactivity was related to hypoxic ventilatory decline, suggesting that CO2 washout from central chemoreceptors modulates hypoxic ventilatory dynamics. Our data indicate that steady‐state end‐tidal forcing techniques reduce the arterial–venous gradients, attenuating the effect of brain blood flow on ventilatory responses. Our study confirms the importance of measuring posterior cerebrovasculature when investigating the link between cerebral blood flow and the chemical control of breathing.
Propolis gel versus benzydamine in preventing oral mucositis for patients irradiated in head and neck: a preliminary study

Oral Mucositis refers to oral mucosa erythematous and ulcerative lesions and is caused by radiation dispensed in the treatment of malignant tumors of the head and neck. Propolis shows several biological activities such as antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. These biological activities should prevent a mucositis. The aim is to verify the effectiveness of Brazilian green propolis in a mucoadhesive gel, alcohol free, in preventing oral mucositis in patients that underwent radiotherapy. This research is characterized as a preliminary study with a mean duration of 12 weeks of patients’ follow-up in two groups. The selection of participant’s groups was randomized. The 26 selected patients were distributed between two groups, 13 in the benzydamine group and 13 in the propolis group. Patients were assessed on an average of 4.5 times totaling 116 diagnoses of mucositis. The percentage of patients who had mucositis greater or equal to 2 in this study was 30.6% for the benzydamine group and 29.6% for propolis gel. For these patients, the propolis gel shows a better performance in maintaining lower rates/grades and recovery of patients from the 17th session of radiotherapy. This work shows a great possibility of further study in Phase III due to its good results and acceptance with patients. Correspondence to: SantosVR, Av. Pres. Antônio Carlos, 6627-Pampulha, Belo Horizonte-MG, 31270-901, Brazil, Tel: 553134092497; Fax: 553134092430; E-mail vegneer2003@yahoo.com. br
Herpes Simplex Virus: Propagation, Quantification, and Storage

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is the prototype of a family of large, enveloped, double‐stranded DNA viruses, the Herpesviridae, which cause significant morbidity and mortality in humans. Productive replication of HSV in cells in culture results in definitive changes in cellular physiology and metabolism, ultimately leading to lysis. These definitive aspects of viral‐host interactions enable diagnosis of HSV infections. In this unit, a series of methods are described for the propagation, quantification, and storage of HSV. Infectious center assays are used to measure the titers of HSV stocks. In addition, immunological methods are described for documenting the accumulation of viral polypeptides in infected whole cell extracts, as well as in situ using indirect immunofluorescence. These techniques should be beneficial to basic research virologists utilizing standard laboratory HSV strains, as well as clinical microbiologists interested in characterizing HSV isolated from patients.
Aalborg Universitet Indoor Localization Accuracy Estimation from Fingerprint Data

The demand for indoor localization services has led to the development of techniques that create a Fingerprint Map (FM) of sensor signals (e.g., magnetic, Wi-Fi, bluetooth) at designated positions in an indoor space and then use FM as a reference for subsequent localization tasks. With such an approach, it is crucial to assess the quality of the FM before deployment, in a manner disregarding data origin and at any location of interest, so as to provide deployment staff with the information on the quality of localization. Even though FM-based localization algorithms usually provide accuracy estimates during system operation (e.g., visualized as uncertainty circle or ellipse around the user location), they do not provide any information about the expected accuracy before the actual deployment of the localization service. In this paper, we develop a novel framework for quality assessment on arbitrary FMs coined ACCES. Our framework comprises a generic interpolation method using Gaussian Processes (GP), upon which a navigability score at any location is derived using the Cramer-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB). Our approach does not rely on the underlying physical model of the fingerprint data. Our extensive experimental study with magnetic FMs, comparing empirical localization accuracy against derived bounds, demonstrates that the navigability score closely matches the accuracy variations users experience.
Hemorrhagic Shock Activation of NLRP3 Inflammasome in Lung Endothelial Cells

Hemorrhagic shock (HS) due to major trauma and surgery predisposes the host to the development of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), including acute lung injury (ALI), through activating and exaggerating the innate immune response. IL-1β is a crucial proinflammatory cytokine that contributes to the development of SIRS and ALI. Lung endothelial cells (EC) are one important source of IL-1β, and the production of active IL-1β is controlled by the inflammasome. In this study, we addressed the mechanism underlying HS activation of the inflammasome in lung EC. We show that high mobility group box 1 acting through TLR4, and a synergistic collaboration with TLR2 and receptor for advanced glycation end products signaling, mediates HS-induced activation of EC NAD(P)H oxidase. In turn, reactive oxygen species derived from NAD(P)H oxidase promote the association of thioredoxin-interacting protein with the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein NLRP3 and subsequently induce inflammasome activation and IL-1β secretion from the EC. We also show that neutrophil-derived reactive oxygen species play a role in enhancing EC NAD(P)H oxidase activation and therefore an amplified inflammasome activation in response to HS. The present study explores a novel mechanism underlying HS activation of EC inflammasome and thus presents a potential therapeutic target for SIRS and ALI induced after HS.