Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
INTRAVITREAL BEVACIZUMAB FOR INFLAMMATORY CHOROIDAL NEOVASCULARIZATION: Results from the Pan-American Collaborative Retina Study Group at 24 Months

Background: To evaluate the anatomical and functional outcomes of intravitreal bevacizumab (1.25 or 2.5 mg) in the treatment of inflammatory choroidal neovascularization at 24 months. Methods: We reviewed the clinical records of 22 consecutive patients (23 eyes) with choroidal neovascularization secondary to chorioretinal inflammatory disease in this interventional retrospective multicenter case series. Sixteen eyes (63.6%) received a dose of 1.25 mg of intravitreal bevacizumab, and 7 eyes (36.4%) received a dose of 2.5 mg of intravitreal bevacizumab. Results: At baseline, the mean best-corrected visual acuity was 0.68 logarithm of minimum angle of resolution (Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study chart = 20/100). After intravitreal bevacizumab, best-corrected visual acuity improved significantly to 0.41 logarithm of minimum angle of resolution (20/51), 0.42 logarithm of minimum angle of resolution (20/53), and 0.40 logarithm of minimum angle of resolution (20/50) at 6, 12, and 24 months, respectively (P < 0.05). Fourteen eyes (60.8%) received 1 injection. Central macular thickness by optical coherence tomography decreased from 375.3 μm (range: 240-634 μm) at baseline to 241.6 μm (range: 189-306 μm) at 24 months of follow-up (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: Intravitreal bevacizumab at doses of 1.25 mg and 2.5 mg seems to provide stability or improvement in best-corrected visual acuity, optical coherence tomography, and fluorescein angiogram in inflammatory choroidal neovascularization at 24 months. All patients were treated after the underlying uveitic condition was controlled.
Why the US Current Account Deficit is Sustainable

Over the last couple of years, the burgeoning of the US current account deficit, reaching $792 billion in 2005 alone, has led to significant concerns about the future of the United States and the possibility of a major global crisis. With a brief respite in 1991, it comes after twenty-four years of unbroken deficits, which have totalled over $5.2 trillion. According to some doomsayers, once the massive financing required to continue paying for such a widening gap dries up, perhaps because foreigners become satiated from owning such a large and rapidly growing amount of American debt, there will be an ugly adjustment in the world economy. The dollar will collapse, triggering a stampede away from American debt, interest rates will shoot up and a sharp global recession will ensue. Martin Wolf (2004) calls the current situation an ‘unsustainable black hole’ and points out that ‘The US is now on the comfortable path to ruin’. Maurice Obstfeld and Kenneth Rogoff (2005) remark that ‘any sober policy maker or financial market analyst ought to regard the US current account deficit as a sword of Damocles hanging over the global economy’. Even more dramatically, Nouriel Roubini and Brad Setser (2004) claim that ‘The current account deficit will continue to grow on the back of higher and higher payments on US foreign debt even if the trade I N F I 1 8 5 B Dispatch: 13.9. 06 Journal: INFI CE: Lalitha Rao Journal Name Manuscript No. Author Received: No. of pages: 18 PE: Deepak/GNS
Droop based demand response for power systems management

Demand response is an important component in future power systems as it allows better utilization for the resources. Similar to sources control in islanded microgrids, certain loads might be controlled using droop relations to achieve autonomous demand response. A droop based demand response scheme is proposed in this paper to enable the loads from participating in maintaining supply/demand balance without a need for communication systems. The droop relations for demand response are presented and their validities are verified.
Contribution of Primary Pelvic Organ Prolapse to Micturition and Defecation Symptoms

Objective. To investigate the contribution of Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) to micturition and defecation symptoms. Method. Cross-sectional study including 64 women presenting with POP symptoms and 50 controls without POP complaints. Subjects were evaluated using POP-Quantification system, Urinary Distress Inventory, and Defecation Distress Inventory. The MOS SF-36 health survey and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale were used to measure self-perceived health status and depressive symptoms, respectively. Results. POP in terms of POP-Q had a moderate impact on the symptom observing vaginal protrusion (explained variance 0.31). It contributed modestly to obstructive voiding and overactive bladder symptoms (explained variance 0.09, resp., 0.14) but not to urinary incontinence. Constipation was more likely explained by clinical depression than by pelvic floor defects (explained variance 0.13, resp., 0.05). Conclusion. Stage of POP and specific prolapse symptoms are associated but such a strong association does not exist between POP and micturition or defecation symptoms.
The Effects of a Multivitamin/Mineral Supplement on Micronutrient Status, Antioxidant Capacity and Cytokine Production in Healthy Older Adults Consuming a Fortified Diet

Background: Inadequate micronutrient intake among older adults is common despite the increased prevalence of fortified/enriched foods in the American diet. Although many older adults take multivitamin supplements in an effort to compensate, studies examining the benefits of this behavior are absent. Objective: To determine whether a daily multivitamin/mineral supplement can improve micronutrient status, plasma antioxidant capacity and cytokine production in healthy, free-living older adults already consuming a fortified diet. Methods: An eight-week double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial among 80 adults aged 50 to 87 years (mean=66.5±8.6 years). Results: Multivitamin treatment significantly increased (p<0.01, compared to placebo) plasma concentrations of vitamins D (77 to 100 nmol/L), E (27 to 32 μmol/L), pyridoxal phosphate (55.1 to 75.2 nmol/L), folate (23 to 33 nmol/L), B12 (286 to 326 pmol/L)), C (55 to 71 μmol/L), and improved the riboflavin activity coefficient (1.23 to 1.15), but not vitamins A and thiamin. The multivitamin reduced the prevalence of suboptimal plasma levels of vitamins E (p=0.003), B12 (p=0.004), and C (p=0.08). Neither glutathione peroxidase activity nor antioxidant capacity (ORAC) were affected. No changes were observed in interleukin−2, −6 or −10 and prostaglandin E2, proxy measures of immune responses. Conclusions: Supplementation with a multivitamin formulated at about 100% Daily Value can decrease the prevalence of suboptimal vitamin status in older adults and improve their micronutrient status to levels associated with reduced risk for several chronic diseases.
Augmenting Cognition via Edge Computing

Augmented cognition can transform human capabilities, but delivering its benefits in real-time will require low-latency wireless access to powerful infrastructure resources from lightweight wearable devices. Edge computing is the only viable approach to meeting these stringent requirements. In this paper, we explore the symbiotic relationship between augmented cognition and edge computing. We show how off-the-shelf wearable hardware, standard AI technologies such as computer vision, and edge computing can be combined to create a system that is much greater than the sum of its parts. Augmenting human cognition thus emerges as a prime example of a new class of edge-native applications that can become “killer apps” for edge computing.
A fast algorithm for conditional maximum likelihood blind identification of SIMO/MIMO FIR systems

Blind system identification is important for a wide range of applications. The conditional maximum likelihood (CML) method is one of the most effective ones recently developed for blind system identification. In particular, the CML method is statistically most efficient at relatively high signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). Unfortunately, the original implementation of the CML method via the two-step maximum likelihood (TSML) algorithm is computationally too expensive [1]. In this paper, a computationally attractive implementation of the TSML algorithm based on the Cholesky decomposition is proposed. This leads to a new fast TSML (FTSML) algorithm that has a linear complexity, i.e., O(N) flops as compared to O(N3) flops in [1], N being the data size. In a second part of the paper, we generalize the FTSML algorithm from the single-source case to the multiple-sources case.
Reversal of Synaptic Memory by Ca2+/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase II Inhibitor

Long-term potentiation (LTP) is an activity-dependent strengthening of synapses that is thought to underlie memory storage. Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) has been a leading candidate as a memory molecule because it is persistently activated after LTP induction and can enhance transmission. Furthermore, a mutation that blocks persistent activation blocks LTP and forms of learning. However, direct evidence for a role of the kinase in maintaining synaptic strength has been lacking. Here, we show that a newly developed noncompetitive inhibitor of CaMKII strongly reduces synaptic transmission in the CA1 region of the hippocampal slice. This occurs through both presynaptic and postsynaptic action. To study the role of CaMKII in the maintenance of LTP, inhibitor was applied after LTP induction and then removed. Inhibition occurred in both LTP and control pathways but only partially recovered. The nonrecovering component was attributable primarily to a postsynaptic change. To test whether nonrecovery was attributable to a persistent reversal of LTP, we first saturated LTP and then transiently applied inhibitor. This procedure allowed additional LTP to be induced, indicating a reversal of an LTP maintenance mechanism. This is the first procedure that can reverse LTP by chemical means and suggests that a component of synaptic memory is attributable to CaMKII. The procedure also enhanced the LTP that could be induced in the control pathway, consistent with the idea that CaMKII is involved in controlling basal synaptic strength, perhaps as a result of LTP that occurred in vivo.
Symmetric Singularity Formation in Lubrication-Type Equations for Interface Motion

Fourth-order degenerate diffusion equations arise in a “lubrication approximation” of a thin film or neck driven by surface tension. Numerical studies of the lubrication equation (LE) $h_t + ( h^n h_{xxx} )_x = 0$ with various boundary conditions indicate that singularity formation in which $h( x( t ),t ) \to 0$ occurs for small enough n with “anomalous” or “second type” scaling inconsistent with usual dimensional analysis.This paper considers locally symmetric or even singularities in the (LE) and in the modified lubrication equation (MLE) $h_t + h^n h_{xxxx} = 0$. Both equations have the property that entropy bounds forbid finite-time singularities when n is sufficiently large. Power series expansions for local symmetric similarity solutions are proposed for equation (LE) with $n < 1$ and (MLE) for all $n \in \mathbb{R}$. In the latter case, special boundary conditions that force singularity formation are required to produce singularities when n is large. Matching conditions at higher-order terms in the.
Acute Manipulation of Diacylglycerol Reveals Roles in Nuclear Envelope Assembly & Endoplasmic Reticulum Morphology

The functions and morphology of cellular membranes are intimately related and depend not only on their protein content but also on the repertoire of lipids that comprise them. In the absence of in vivo data on lipid asymmetry in endomembranes, it has been argued that motors, scaffolding proteins or integral membrane proteins rather than non-lamellar bilayer lipids such as diacylglycerol (DAG), are responsible for shaping of organelles, local membrane curvature and fusion. The effects of direct alteration of levels of such lipids remain predominantly uninvestigated. Diacylglycerol (DAG) is a well documented second messenger. Here we demonstrate two additional conserved functions of DAG: a structural role in organelle morphology, and a role in localised extreme membrane curvature required for fusion for which proteins alone are insufficient. Acute and inducible DAG depletion results in failure of the nuclear envelope (NE) to reform at mitosis and reorganisation of the ER into multi-lamellar sheets as revealed by correlative light and electron microscopy and 3D reconstructions. Remarkably, depleted cells divide without a complete NE, and unless rescued by 1,2 or 1,3 DAG soon die. Attenuation of DAG levels by enzyme microinjection into echinoderm eggs and embryos also results in alterations of ER morphology and nuclear membrane fusion. Our findings demonstrate that DAG is an in vivo modulator of organelle morphology in mammalian and echinoderm cells, indicating a fundamental role conserved across the deuterostome superphylum.
When Less Is Good, Is None Better? The Prognostic and Therapeutic Significance of Peri-Transplant Minimal Residual Disease Assessment in Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

The measurement of minimal residual disease (MRD) in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has become the most important prognostic tool of, and the backbone to, upfront risk stratification. While MRD assessment is the standard of care for assessing response and predicting outcomes for pediatric patients with ALL receiving chemotherapy, its use in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) has been less clearly defined. Herein, we discuss the importance of MRD assessment during the peri-HSCT period and its role in prognostication and management.
Comparing Different Strategies for Frame-to-Frame Rigid Registration of Point Clouds

Pairwise surface rigid registration aims to find the rigid transformation that best register two surfaces represented by point clouds. This work presents a comparison between seven algorithms, with different strategies to tackle rigid registration tasks. We focus on the frame-to-frame problem by using both point clouds and a RGB-D video stream in the experimental results. The former, is considered under different viewpoints, with the addition of outliers and noise. Once the ground truth rotation is provided, we discuss four different metrics to measure the rotation error in this case. The video sequence with depth information is segmented to get the target object. Next, the registration algorithms are applied and the average root mean squared error is computed. Since the ground truth is not available in this case, we develop a superposition strategy to visually check performance of the algorithms. Besides, we analyse the robustness of the techniques against spatial and temporal sampling rates.
Effect of Pacing‐Induced Ischemia on Left Ventricular Diastolic Pressure‐Volume Relations in Dogs with Coronary Stenoses

Mechanisms involved in altering left ventricular (LV) diastolic properties during angina were studied in 10 chloralose-anesthetized dogs with chest and pericardium open. Proximal coronary artery stenoses of >90% were created in both left anterior descending and circumflex coronary arteries to abolish reactive hyperemia, and the heart was paced at nearly twice its resting rate (115 ± 4 to 200 ± 5 beats/min). After pacing, increases occurred in LV end-diastolic pressure (EDP, 10 ± 2 to 21 ± 2 mm Hg, P< 0.001), LV minimum diastolic pressure (5 ± 1 to 13 ± 2 mm Hg, P< 0.001), LV end-diastolic volume (55 ± 3 to 60 ± 2 ml, P < 0.001), LV end-systolic volume (28 ± 2 to 33 ± 2 ml, P < 0.001), right ventricular (RV) systolic pressure (RVP, 27 ± 2 to 32 ± 2 mm Hg, P < 0.01), RVEDP (5 ± 1 to 6 ± 1 mm Hg, P < 0.05), and time constant (T) of LV pressure fall in diastole (35 ± 4 to 53 ±4 msec, P < 0.001). Decreases occurred in LV peak systolic pressure (121 ± 5 to 102 ± 5 mm Hg, P< 0.001), LV maximum negative dp/dt (2300 ± 158 to 1319 ± 154 mm Hg/sec, P< 0.001), and LV ejection fraction (0.49 ± 0.02 to 0.44 ± 0.03, NS), whereas heart rate was not significantly different. LV diastolic pressure-volume curves were shifted upward for each dog; at any diastolic volume, pressure was higher than control. In four dogs, the pulmonary artery was abruptly constricted, and saline was infused to produce an acute increase in RV loading (RVP, 29 ± 1/6 ± 1 to 67 ± 5/11 ± 1 mm Hg, P < 0.001/P< 0.001), and the effect on the LV diastolic pressure-volume relation was examined. Only minor changes in this relation could be detected in contrast to the changes with pacing-induced ischemia. Since the upward shift in the LV diastolic pressure-volume curve in our ischemia model occurred in the absence of the pericardium and was associated with only small changes in RVEDP, we conclude that altered myocardial diastolic properties play an important role in this phenomenon. Circ Res 46: 430-439, 1980
Enhancing the Cognitive Level of Novice Learners Using Effective Program Writing Skills

Computer programming subject is a core ingredient for most of the engineering disciplines. However for the first year engineering, teaching and learning fundamentals of programming language like C has been considered as a great challenge to both teachers and novice learners. The challenges in learning the programming languages are: the learners are not able to analyze the flow of program, cannot fix errors or not able to debug the program, usually dependent on others for problem solving, bug fixing. Programming skills and documentation are the most important aspects of software development. The structure of C program with proper indentation, comments & proper named variables can reduce most of the general compiler errors. The study proposes a novice way of teaching C language programming with effective program writing skills for the beginners. The experiment is conducted for the First year Civil engineering students and the course is Computer Programming based on C language. A training session on effective program writing skills is conducted, to improve the ability of program writing skills with minimized compiler errors for novice learners. The effect of the experiment is verified with Pretest & Posttest before and after the training session. It is observed that the program written with proper indentation, comments and proper named variable can reduce the number of compiler errors and more than 60% of the student have written & executed the given C programs successfully in a stipulated time.
Initial Normalization of User Generated Content: Case Study in a Multilingual Setting

We address the problem of normalizing user generated content in a multilingual setting. Specifically, we target comment sections of popular Kazakhstani Internet news outlets, where comments almost always appear in Kazakh or Russian, or in a mixture of both. Moreover, such comments are noisy, i.e. difficult to process due to (mostly) intentional breach of spelling conventions, which aggravates data sparseness problem. Therefore, we propose a simple yet effective normalization method that accounts for multilingual input. We evaluate our approach extrinsically, on the tasks of language identification and sentiment analysis, showing that in both cases normalization improves overall accuracy.
Multiscale Modeling of Insulin Secretion

Insulin secretion from pancreatic beta cells is a fundamental physiological process, and its impairment plays a pivotal role in the development of diabetes. Mathematical modeling of insulin secretion has a long history, both on the level of the entire body and on the cellular and subcellular scale. However, little direct communication between these disparate scales has been included in mathematical models so far. Recently, we have proposed a minimal model for the incretin effect by which the gut hormone glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) enhances insulin secretion. To understand how this model couples to cellular events, we use a previously published mechanistic model of insulin secretion, and show mathematically that induction of glucose competence in beta cells by GLP-1 can underlie derivative control by GLP-1.
Gene Dosage, Expression, and Ontology Analysis Identifies Driver Genes in the Carcinogenesis and Chemoradioresistance of Cervical Cancer

Integrative analysis of gene dosage, expression, and ontology (GO) data was performed to discover driver genes in the carcinogenesis and chemoradioresistance of cervical cancers. Gene dosage and expression profiles of 102 locally advanced cervical cancers were generated by microarray techniques. Fifty-two of these patients were also analyzed with the Illumina expression method to confirm the gene expression results. An independent cohort of 41 patients was used for validation of gene expressions associated with clinical outcome. Statistical analysis identified 29 recurrent gains and losses and 3 losses (on 3p, 13q, 21q) associated with poor outcome after chemoradiotherapy. The intratumor heterogeneity, assessed from the gene dosage profiles, was low for these alterations, showing that they had emerged prior to many other alterations and probably were early events in carcinogenesis. Integration of the alterations with gene expression and GO data identified genes that were regulated by the alterations and revealed five biological processes that were significantly overrepresented among the affected genes: apoptosis, metabolism, macromolecule localization, translation, and transcription. Four genes on 3p (RYBP, GBE1) and 13q (FAM48A, MED4) correlated with outcome at both the gene dosage and expression level and were satisfactorily validated in the independent cohort. These integrated analyses yielded 57 candidate drivers of 24 genetic events, including novel loci responsible for chemoradioresistance. Further mapping of the connections among genetic events, drivers, and biological processes suggested that each individual event stimulates specific processes in carcinogenesis through the coordinated control of multiple genes. The present results may provide novel therapeutic opportunities of both early and advanced stage cervical cancers.
The potential role of perfluorochemicals (PFCs) in diagnostic imaging.

Although perfluorochemicals (PFCs) are known for their ability to carry oxygen, they are the most versatile and only universal contrast agents with important applications using x-ray, ultrasound, or magnetic resonance (MR). The characteristics that make them unique diagnostic agents are lack of hydrogen atoms, immiscibility with water, low surface tension, compressibility, and long intravascular persistence when emulsified and given i.v. When made radiopaque, they are visible with x-ray computed tomography (CT) and standard radiography. Because the neat liquid is inert it can be ingested, instilled in the lung, or introduced into any hollow organ to image the lumen without untoward effects. The long intravascular persistence allows the imaging of blood vessels and vascularized tissues. Small or deep vessels become visible on Color Doppler Imaging and angiographic images of any vascular tree including the coronaries can be rendered from the serial CT images. As PFCs accumulate within RE cells, specific liver and spleen enhancement is achieved allowing the detection of small tumors within these organs. When injected interstitially, the particles find their way to the draining lymphnodes providing detail of the internal architecture to detect the presence or absence of tumor involvement on both CT and sonography. Using 19F MR, tissue perfusion and tissue pO2 measurements can be achieved. As can be seen, the applications of PFC in diagnosis are vast, unique, and important. These new capabilities will carry radiological tools to new horizons.