Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cardiac Hypertrophy and Altered Hemodynamic Adaptation in Growth-Restricted Preterm Infants

The objective was to elucidate hemodynamic adaptation in very low birth weight (<1500 g) infants after intrauterine growth retardation. 31 growth-retarded (SGA, birth weight <-2 SD) and 32 appropriate for gestational age (AGA, birth weight within ± 1 SD range) infants were enrolled. In SGA infants, the diastolic diameters of the interventricular septum and the left ventricle were increased, and serum brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) was elevated. Left ventricular output (LVO) of the AGA infants increased from 150 ± 28 to 283 ± 82 mL/kg/min during the study (p < 0.01). The SGA infants had a higher initial LVO than the AGA infants (243 ± 47 versus 150 ± 28 mL/kg/min, p < 0.05), but did not show further LVO increase during the study period. Red cell (RCV) and blood (BV) volume were assessed by Hb subtype analysis, when packed donor red cells were transfused. RCV and BV did not differ between the groups initially, but RCV increased by 18% and BV by 29% in the AGA group during the first 3 d. On day 3, AGA infants had larger BV than the SGA infants (88 ± 5 versus 73 ± 12 mL/kg, p < 0.05). In conclusion, cardiac hypertrophy, elevated initial LVO and BNP of the SGA infants suggest increased cardiac workload after intrauterine growth retardation. Based on the BV and RCV data, blood volume regulation may also be impaired. The data suggest that SGA preterm infants may be exposed to an increased risk of circulatory failure during early adaptation.
Voice Prosthetic Biofilm Formation and Candida Morphogenic Conversions in Absence and Presence of Different Bacterial Strains and Species on Silicone-Rubber

Morphogenic conversion of Candida from a yeast to hyphal morphology plays a pivotal role in the pathogenicity of Candida species. Both Candida albicans and Candida tropicalis, in combination with a variety of different bacterial strains and species, appear in biofilms on silicone-rubber voice prostheses used in laryngectomized patients. Here we study biofilm formation on silicone-rubber by C. albicans or C. tropicalis in combination with different commensal bacterial strains and lactobacillus strains. In addition, hyphal formation in C. albicans and C. tropicalis, as stimulated by Rothia dentocariosa and lactobacilli was evaluated, as clinical studies outlined that these bacterial strains have opposite results on the clinical life-time of silicone-rubber voice prostheses. Biofilms were grown during eight days in a silicone-rubber tube, while passing the biofilms through episodes of nutritional feast and famine. Biofilms consisting of combinations of C. albicans and a bacterial strain comprised significantly less viable organisms than combinations comprising C. tropicalis. High percentages of Candida were found in biofilms grown in combination with lactobacilli. Interestingly, L. casei, with demonstrated favorable effects on the clinical life-time of voice prostheses, reduced the percentage hyphal formation in Candida biofilms as compared with Candida biofilms grown in absence of bacteria or grown in combination with R. dentocariosa, a bacterial strain whose presence is associated with short clinical life-times of voice prostheses.
Is Group More Cost Effective than Individual Cognitive Behaviour Therapy? The Evidence is not Solid Yet

This paper critically evaluates the empirical evidence of 36 studies regarding the comparative cost-effectiveness of group and individual cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) as a whole, and also for specific mental disorders (e.g. depression, anxiety, substance abuse) or populations (e.g. children). Methods of calculating costs, as well as methods of comparing treatment outcomes were appraised and criticized. Overall, the evidence that group CBT is more cost-effective than individual CBT is mixed, with group CBT appearing to be more cost effective in treating depression and children, but less cost effective in treating drugs and alcohol dependence, anxiety and social phobias. In addition, methodological weaknesses in the studies assessed are noted. There is a need to improve cost calculation methodology, as well as more solid and a greater number of empirical cost-effectiveness studies before a firm conclusion can be reached that group CBT is more cost effective then individual CBT.
The Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cia3 Mutant Lacking a Thylakoid Lumen-Localized Carbonic Anhydrase Is Limited by CO2 Supply to Rubisco and Not Photosystem II Function in Vivo

The Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cia3 mutant has a phenotype indicating that it requires high-CO2 levels for effective photosynthesis and growth. It was initially proposed that this mutant was defective in a carbonic anhydrase (CA) that was a key component of the photosynthetic CO2-concentrating mechanism (CCM). However, more recent identification of the genetic lesion as a defect in a lumenal CA associated with photosystem II (PSII) has raised questions about the role of this CA in either the CCM or PSII function. To resolve the role of this lumenal CA, we re-examined the physiology of the cia3 mutant. We confirmed and extended previous gas exchange analyses by using membrane-inlet mass spectrometry to monitor16O2,18O2, and CO2 fluxes in vivo. The results demonstrate that PSII electron transport is not limited in the cia3 mutant at low inorganic carbon (Ci). We also measured metabolite pools sizes and showed that the RuBP pool does not fall to abnormally low levels at low Ci as might be expected by a photosynthetic electron transport or ATP generation limitation. Overall, the results demonstrate that under low Ci conditions, the mutant lacks the ability to supply Rubisco with adequate CO2 for effective CO2 fixation and is not limited directly by any aspect of PSII function. We conclude that the thylakoid CA is primarily required for the proper functioning of the CCM at low Ci by providing an ample supply of CO2 for Rubisco.
A vision based human - elepahant collision detection system

Elephant intrusion in areas with high human movement can prove lethal for both human beings and elephants. The proposed system seeks to identify elephants with the aid of a Video Camera. The suggested methodology was applied to zones having high intervention of human beings and elephants. Regions with higher human movements like roads were extracted from the initial video frames. This process is followed by detecting motion in the video frame. The objects in the area of motion are then identified as elephant or non-elephant with the help of PHOG features and Support Vector Machines (SVM) classifiers. A dataset constituting of images of elephants and other objects was used for training the proposed algorithm. An overall accuracy of 85.29% was attained when static images containing elephants and other objects were classified. The same approach for detection was applied to identify moving elephants in the video frames. The proposed system endeavors to prevent casualties that occur in areas having high human elephant interaction.
Humoral Mediation of Radiation-Induced Motivation in Parabiont Rats

Parabiont rat pairs with a skin-vascular anastomosis were used to test for a radiation-induced transferable humoral factor which would motivate aversive conditioning in a nonirradiated (shielded) recipient. The shielded partner, by tasting saccharinflavored fluid shortly after its partner was x-irradiated (360 roentgens), was aversively conditioned to saccharin. This was interpreted as evidence for a humoral motivating factor.
The Prevalence of Prayer as a Spiritual Self-Care Modality in Elders

The purpose of this cross-sectional, descriptive study was to (a) investigate whether elders report using prayer as a coping strategy, (b) examine the frequency and type of spiritual treatment modalities used by elders, and (c) determine if there is a relationship between spiritual treatment modalities and coping in this population. The sample consisted of 50 community-dwelling elders with a mean age of 74 years. Descriptive findings indicate that 96% of elders use prayer to cope with stress based on the Jalowiec Coping Scale. Women and Blacks used prayer to cope with stress significantly more often than did men and Whites. The most frequently reported alternative treatment modality was prayer (84%). The total number of spiritual treatment modalities reported was significantly correlated with the frequent use of more positive coping styles.
Painting Preference and Personality, with Particular Reference to Gray's Behavioral Inhibition and Behavioral Approach Systems

Gray's (1991) neurobiological systems–the behavioral approach system (BAS) and behavioral inhibition system (BIS)–have been operationalized by Carver and White (1994) in their BIS/BAS Questionnaire. In the present study, 129 undergraduate students completed the BIS/BAS Questionnaire, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire–Revised (EPQ-R), and Zuckerman's Impulsive Sensation Seeking Scale. They also rated 72 paintings previously divided into two stylistic (Abstract and Traditional) and five content (Erotic, Pleasant, Neutral, Violent, Unpleasant) categories. As hypothesized, scores on the BIS were negatively associated with liking for Unpleasant and Violent paintings; scores on the BAS predicted liking for Pleasant and Neutral paintings, though this was due almost entirely to the BAS Reward Responsiveness sub-scale. Sensation Seeking, EPQ-R Psychoticism, and the BAS Fun-Seeking sub-scale predicted liking for Abstract stimuli, and disliking for Unpleasant and Violent paintings. Our results provide evidence that Gray's constructs can be usefully applied to the area of aesthetic preference.
PodCastle: A Spoken Document Retrieval Service Improved by Anonymous User Contributions

In this invited paper, we introduce a public web service, PodCastle, that pro- vides full-text searching of speech data (Japanese podcasts) on the basis of automatic speech recognition technologies. This is an instance of our research approach, Speech Recognition Research 2.0, which is aimed at providing users with a web service based on Web 2.0 so that they can experience state-of-the-art speech recognition performance, and at promoting speech recognition technologies in cooperation with anonymous users. PodCastle enables users to find podcasts that include a search term, read full texts of their recognition results, and easily correct recognition errors by simply selecting from a list of candidates. Even if a state-of-the-art speech recognizer is used to recognize podcasts on the web, a number of errors will naturally occur. PodCastle therefore encourages users to cooperate by correcting these errors so that those podcasts can be searched more reliably. Furthermore, using the resulting corrections to train the speech recognizer, it implements a mechanism whereby the speech recognition performance is gradually improved. In our experiences from its practical use over the past 46 months (since December, 2006), we confirmed that the performance of PodCastle was improved by a number of anonymous user contributions.
Comparison of the Mechanisms of the Zigbee's Indoor Localization Algorithm

Localization has been an important issue along with the development of context-aware systems applicable to dynamic mobile environment. ZigBee is very cheap and less power consuming wireless techniques comparing to other types such as RFID, infrared and ultrasound. Thus this paper compares conventional techniques for predicting mobile objectpsilas location by combining estimates drawn from received signal strength (RSS) using ZigBee modules. We classify these mechanisms into two categories; map-based localization techniques, referring to database of predefined locations and their RSSI data; and distance-based localization using Markov chain inference. Our results show the relationship between RSSI and distance in indoor ZigBee environment and compare localization accuracy of those two techniques. We conclude that map-based localization is not suitable for flexible changes in indoors because of its predefined condition setup and lower accuracy comparing to distance-based Markov chain inference localization system.
Impaired Muscle Oxygenation During Incremental Cycle Exercise in COPD Patients Compared with Age-Matched Healthy Subjects

This study examined the dynamics of muscle oxygenation during exercise between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients and age-matched healthy controls. Oxygen saturation of the vastus lateralis muscle (SmO2) was measured during incremental cycle exercise in 11 patients with exercise intolerance below the anaerobic threshold (AT) workload (COPD-AT(-)), 11 patients with exercise intolerance above the AT workload (COPD-AT(+)), and 8 controls by using near-infrared spectroscopy. Despite lower peak workload in COPD patients than in controls, trough SmO2 in COPD-AT(-) patients was significantly lower than SmO2 at the AT workload in controls, and was the same level as trough SmO2 in COPD-AT(+) patients and trough SmO2 in controls. The decrease of SmO2 was correlated with forced expiratory volume in one second % in COPD-AT(+) patients, and with exercise-induced hypoxemia in COPD-AT(-) patients. In conclusion, muscle oxygenation status deteriorates more steeply during exercise in COPD patients than in age-matched controls. Such severe impairment of muscle oxygenation in COPD patients may be affected by the impairment of lung function caused by COPD.
Proteomic identification of sorting nexin 6 as a negative regulator of BACE1‐mediated APP processing

The β‐site APP cleaving enzyme‐1 (BACE1) mediates the first cleavage of the β‐amyloid precursor protein (APP) to yield the amyloid β‐peptide (Aβ), a key pathogenic agent in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Using a proteomic approach based on in‐cell chemical cross‐linking and tandem affinity purification (TAP), we herein identify sorting nexin 6 (SNX6) as a BACE1‐associated protein. SNX6, a PX domain protein, is a putative component of retromer, a multiprotein cargo complex that mediates the retrograde trafficking of the cation‐independent mannose‐6‐phosphate receptor (CI‐MPR) and sortilin. RNA interference suppression of SNX6 increased BACE1‐dependent secretion of soluble APP (sAPPβ) and cell‐associated fragments (C99), resulting in increased Aβ secretion. Furthermore, SNX6 reduction led to elevated steady‐state BACE1 levels as well as increased retrograde transport of BACE1 in the endocytic pathway, suggesting that SNX6 modulates the retrograde trafficking and basal levels of BACE1, thereby regulating BACE1‐mediated APP processing and Aβ biogenesis. Our study identifies a novel cellular pathway by which SNX6 negatively modulates BACE1‐mediated cleavage of APP. —Okada, H. , Zhang, W. , Peterhoff, C. , Hwang, J. C. , Nixon, R. A. , Ryu, S. H. , Kim, T. ‐W. Proteomic identification of sorting nexin 6 as a negative regulator of BACE1‐mediated APP processing. FASEB J. 24, 2783–2794 (2010). www.fasebj. org
Identifying Critical Code Sections in Dataflow Programming Models

The years of practice in optimizing applications point that the major issue is focus - identifying the critical code section whose optimization would yield the highest overall speedup. While this issue is mainly solved for sequential applications, it remains a serious hurdle in the world of parallel computing. Furthermore, the newest dataflow parallel programming models expose very irregular parallelism, making the identification of the critical code section even harder. To address this issue, we designed an environment that identifies critical code sections in applications. The programmer can use this environment to estimate the potential benefits of the optimization for a specific parallel platform. This is very important because the programmer can anticipate the benefits of his optimization and assure that the optimization is worth the effort. Furthermore, we showed that in many applications, the choice of the critical code section decisively depends on the configuration of the target machine. For instance, in HP Linpack, optimizing a task that takes 0.49% of the total computation time yields the overall speedup of less than 0.25% on one machine, and at the same time, yields the overall speedup of more than 24% on a machine with different number of cores.
Detection and Recognition of Road Signs

In this paper, we present a system for the detection and recognition of road signs based on computer vision. The approach adopted in this work consists of two modules, a detection module which first segments the image using a combination of RGB and HSV colors spaces and then searches for relevant shapes (circles, triangles, squares.) using the Hough transform and corner detection. And a recognition module which uses support vector machines (SVMs) to recognize each type of road signs learned a priori using the SVM classifier with Zernike moments, histogram of gradients (HOG) and local binary patterns (LBP). Finally, we discuss the performance of the system in terms of detection and robustness.
Effects of Pentabrominated Diphenyl Ether (Pbde-99) on Vitamin Status in Domestic Duck (Anas Platyrhynchos) Hatchlings

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) used to prevent fire are found in several products, such as textiles, electronics, and building materials. They are lipophilic and persistent substances, and their toxicological endpoints resemble those of polychlorinated bipenyls (PCBs). One of the most abundant congeners of PBDEs in wildlife is the 2,2′,4,4′,5–pentabromodiphenyl ether (PBDE-99). To study the effect of PBDE-99 on vitamin status in birds and evaluate the possible application of vitamins as biomarkers for use in monitoring of wildlife, eggs of domestic duck (Anas platyrhynchos) were exposed by yolk sac injection to environmental realistic doses of this congener (0.1, 1, or 10 ng/g ww). Levels of retinol (vitamin A), retinyl palmitate, and α-tocopherol (vitamin E) were measured in the liver of the newly hatched chicks, and levels of retinol and tocopherol were also measured in plasma. Liver tocopherol levels correlated negatively to the exposure to PBDE-99. This is an indication that exposure to PBDE-99 reduces levels of tocopherol in liver. Thus, tocopherol seems to be a potential useful biomarker for exposure to PBDEs in bird species. The project was financed by the Norwegian Research Council’s Pollution Program (ProFo), NFR 141369/720. The authors thank Stian Ludvigsen, Gine Skjarvo, Helene Mathisen, Anuschka Polder, and Siri Foreid for valuable assistance.
Competing Demands or Clinical Inertia: The Case of Elevated Glycosylated Hemoglobin

PURPOSE This study aimed to examine the contribution of competing demands to changes in hypoglycemic medications and to return appointment intervals for patients with type 2 diabetes and an elevated glycosylated hemoglobin (A1c) level. METHODS We observed 211 primary care encounters by adult patients with type 2 diabetes in 20 primary care clinics and documented changes in hypoglycemic medications. Competing demands were assessed from length of encounter, number of concerns patients raised, and number of topics brought up by the clinician. Days to the next scheduled appointment were obtained at patient checkout. Recent A1c values and dates were determined from the chart. RESULTS Among patients with an A1c level greater than 7%, each additional patient concern was associated with a 49% (95% confidence interval, 35%–60%) reduction in the likelihood of a change in medication, independent of length of the encounter and most recent level of A1c. Among patients with an A1c level greater than 7% and no change in medication, for every additional minute of encounter length, the time to the next scheduled appointment decreased by 2.8 days (P = .001). Similarly, for each additional 1% increase in A1c level, the time to the next scheduled appointment decreased by 8.6 days (P=.001). CONCLUSIONS The concept of clinical inertia is limited and does not fully characterize the complexity of primary care encounters. Competing demands is a principle for constructing models of primary care encounters that are more congruent with reality and should be considered in the design of interventions to improve chronic disease outcomes in primary care settings.
Extraction of Projection Profile, Run-Histogram and Entropy Features Straight from Run-Length Compressed Text-Documents

Document Image Analysis, like any Digital Image Analysis requires identification and extraction of proper features, which are generally extracted from uncompressed images, though in reality images are made available in compressed form for the reasons such as transmission and storage efficiency. However, this implies that the compressed image should be decompressed, which indents additional computing resources. This limitation induces the motivation to research in extracting features directly from the compressed image. In this research, we propose to extract essential features such as projection profile, run-histogram and entropy for text document analysis directly from run-length compressed text-documents. The experimentation illustrates that features are extracted directly from the compressed image without going through the stage of decompression, because of which the computing time is reduced. The feature values so extracted are exactly identical to those extracted from uncompressed images.
Optimizing Quantization for Lasso Recovery

This letter is focused on quantized compressed sensing, assuming that Lasso is used for signal estimation. Leveraging recent work, we propose a constrained Lloyd–Max-like framework to optimize the quantization function in this setting, and show that when the number of observations is high, this method of quantization gives a significantly better recovery rate than standard Lloyd–Max quantization. We support our theoretical analysis with numerical simulations.
Hierarchical 3-D von Mises-Fisher Mixture Model

 In this paper, we propose a complete method for clustering data, which are in the form of unit vectors. The solution consists of a distribution based clustering algorithm with the assumption of a generative model. In the model, the data is generated from a finite statistical mixture model based on the von Mises-Fisher (vMF) distribution. Initially, Bregman soft clustering algorithm is applied to obtain the parameters of the vMF mixture model (vMF-MM) for certain maximum number of components. Then, a hierarchy of mixture models is generated from the parameters. The hierarchy is generated by appropriately using Bregman divergence to compute dissimilarity among distributions as well as fuse/merge the centroids of the clusters. After constructing the hierarchy, Kullback Leibler divergence (KLD) is used to compute the distance between statistical mixture models with different number of components. Finally, a threshold (KLD value) is used to select number of components of the mixture model. The proposed method is called Hierarchical 3-D von Mises-Fisher mixture model. We validated the method by applying it on simulated data. Additionally, we applied the proposed method to cluster image normal, which are computed from the depth image. As an outcome of the clustering, we obtained a bottom-up segmentation of the depth image. Obtained results confirmed our assumption that the proposed method can be a potential tool to analyze depth images.