Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Conversion to everolimus in maintenance liver transplant patients: A multicenter, retrospective analysis

Data on the conversion of patients to everolimus after liver transplantation are sparse. A multicenter, retrospective study followed 240 maintenance liver transplant patients to analyze the current indications for everolimus conversion, the employed regimens and exposure levels, and the impact on efficacy and safety. The mean time from transplantation to the introduction of everolimus was 4.9 ± 5.2 years. The mean everolimus trough level was 7.3 ± 4.1 ng/mL at month 1 and 8.1 ± 4.7 ng/mL at month 12. At 12 months, 61.6% of the patients were no longer receiving calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) therapy. The mean estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) according to the Cockcroft‐Gault formula was 64.2 ± 30.0 mL/minute on day 0 and 68.4 ± 32.5 mL/minute at month 12 (P = 0.007). Among patients with baseline serum creatinine levels ≥ 130 μmol/L, the eGFR values were 44.3 ± 15.7 mL/minute on day 0 and 53.7 ± 26.0 mL/minute at month 12 (P = 0.003). Four patients (1.6%) developed mild or moderate biopsy‐proven acute rejection. Adverse events led to everolimus discontinuation in 12.9% of the patients. After the initiation of everolimus, the mean white blood cell count decreased significantly, and the total cholesterol and triglyceride levels increased significantly. In this retrospective analysis of the largest cohort of maintenance liver transplant patients analyzed after their conversion to everolimus, more than 60% of the patients were kept free of CNIs with a very low risk of acute rejection and with an acceptable safety profile. Randomized trials in which maintenance liver transplant patients are switched to everolimus in response to clinical indications or preemptively are warranted. Liver Transpl 17:905–913, 2011. © 2011 AASLD.
The Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutation elm4-1 facilitates pseudohyphal differentiation and interacts with a deficiency in phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthase activity to cause constitutive pseudohyphal growth

Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant E124 was selected in a visual screen based on elongated cell shape. Genetic analysis showed that E124 contains two separate mutations, pps1-1 and elm4-1, each causing a distinct phenotype inherited as a single-gene trait. In rich medium, pps1-1 by itself causes increased doubling time but does not affect cell shape, whereas elm4-1 results in a moderate cell elongation phenotype but does not affect growth rate. Reconstructed elm4-1 pps1-1 double mutants display a synthetic phenotype in rich medium including extreme cell elongation and delayed cell separation, both characteristics of pseudohyphal differentiation. The elm4-1 mutation was shown to act as a dominant factor that potentiates pseudohyphal differentiation in response to general nitrogen starvation in a genetic background in which pseudohyphal growth normally does not occur. Thus, elm4-1 allows recognition of, or response to, a pseudohyphal differentiation signal that results from nitrogen limitation. PPS1 was isolated and shown to be a previously undescribed gene coding for a protein similar in amino acid sequence to phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthase, a rate-limiting enzyme in the biosynthesis of nucleotides, histidine, and tryptophan. Thus, the pps1-1 mutation may generate a nitrogen limitation signal, which when coupled with elm4-1 results in pseudohyphal growth even in rich medium.
Knowledge translation in biostatistics: a survey of current practices, preferences, and barriers to the dissemination and uptake of new statistical methods

Background:The use of standard statistical methods in the medical literature has been studied extensively; however, the adoption of new methods has received less attention. We sought to understand (i) whether there is a perception that new methods are underused, (ii) what the barriers to use of new methods are, (iii) what dissemination activities are used, and (iv) user preferences for learning about new methods.
Phototesting in Oriental patients with lupus erythematosus

Light sensitivity is an important clinical characteristic of several forms of lupus erythematosus (LE). Recently, investigations have been able to induce LE‐like lesions in LE patients with UVA as well as UVB, although most of these studies were conducted in Caucasians. Thus, there is insufficient data on phototesting in Oriental patients with LE. The aim of this study was to evaluate light sensitivity in Oriental patients with LE. Fifteen patients with various forms of LE were tested. Patients were evaluated by provocative phototesting, and threshold doses of UVA and UVB radiation that produced erythema and pigmentation were determined. The minimal erythema doses (MED) of UVB, immediate pigment darkening (IPD), and minimal tanning doses (MTD) were within the normal range in LE patients compared to a control group. Skin lesions clinically and histologically compatible with LE were induced in two of six patients with SLE, and four of nine patients with DLE. These lesions developed in about 2 weeks (range 5 to 23 days) after irradiation and lasted approximately 1 to 3 months (47±24 days). The action spectrum of the induced lesions was within the UVB range in four patients, in the UVA range in one patient, and in the UVB and UVA ranges in one patient. We found no correlation between a positive history for UV sensitivity and phototest reactions. In conclusion, the incidence of positive phototest reactions in Oriental patients with LE seems to be similar to or a little lower than in Caucasians. There was no correlation between a positive history for UV sensitivity and phototest reactions.
Resting Membrane Potential Regulates Na+–Ca2+ Exchange‐Mediated Ca2+ Overload during Hypoxia–Reoxygenation in Rat Ventricular Myocytes

In the heart, reperfusion following an ischaemic episode can result in a marked increase in [Ca2+]i and cause myocyte dysfunction and death. Although the Na+–Ca2+ exchanger has been implicated in this response, the ionic mechanisms that are responsible have not been identified. In this study, the hypothesis that the diastolic membrane potential can influence Na+–Ca2+ exchange and Ca2+ homeostasis during chemically induced hypoxia–reoxygenation has been tested using right ventricular myocytes isolated from adult rat hearts. Superfusion with selected [K+]o of 0.5, 2.5, 5, 7, 10 and 15 mm yielded the following resting membrane potentials: −27.6 ± 1.63 mV, −102.2 ± 1.89, −86.5 ± 1.03, −80.1 ± 1.25, −73.6 ± 1.02 and −66.4 ± 1.03, respectively. In a second set of experiments myocytes were subjected to chemically induced hypoxia–reoxygenation at these different [K+]o, while [Ca2+]i was monitored using fura‐2. These results demonstrated that after chemically induced hypoxia–reoxygenation had caused a marked increase in [Ca2+]i, hyperpolarization of myocytes with 2.5 mm[K+]o significantly reduced [Ca2+]i (7.5 ± 0.32 vs. 16.9 ± 0.55 %); while depolarization (with either 0.5 or 15 mm[K+]o) significantly increased [Ca2+]i (31.8 ± 3.21 and 20.8 ± 0.36 vs. 16.9 ± 0.55 %, respectively). As expected, at depolarized membrane potentials myocyte hypercontracture and death increased in parallel with Ca2+ overload. The involvement of the Na+–Ca2+ exchanger in Ca2+ homeostasis was evaluated using the Na+–Ca2+ exchanger inhibitor KB‐R7943. During reoxygenation KB‐R7943 (5 μm) almost completely prevented the increase in [Ca2+]i both in control conditions (in 5 mm[K+]o: 2.2 ± 0.40 vs. 10.8 ± 0.14 %) and in depolarized myocytes (in 15 mm[K+]o: −2.1 ± 0.51 vs. 11.3 ± 0.05 %). These findings demonstrate that the resting membrane potential of ventricular myocytes is a critical determinant of [Ca2+]i during hypoxia–reoxygenation. This appears to be due mainly to an effect of diastolic membrane potential on the Na+–Ca2+ exchanger, since at depolarized potentials this exchanger mechanism operates in the reverse mode, causing a significant Ca2+ influx.
Recent Advances in the Structure and Function of the Parathyroid Gland in Animals and the Effects of Xenobiotics

Parathyroid glands in animals consist of a single basic type of secretory cell concerned with the elaboration of one hormone. Parathyroid hormone is the principal hormone involved in the minute-to-minute fine regulation of blood calcium in mammals. A larger biosynthetic precursor of parathyroid hormone is first synthesized on ribosomes of the endoplasmic reticulum in chief cells. Pre-proparathyroid hormone is rapidly converted to proparathyroid hormone in the Golgi apparatus. Active parathyroid hormone is packaged into membrane-limited secretory granules that are stored in the cytoplasm until secretion is stimulated. Parathyroid cells in most animals store relatively small amounts of preformed hormone but are capable of responding to minor fluctuations in calcium ion concentration by rapidly altering the rate of hormonal synthesis and secretion. Recently synthesized and processed active parathyroid hormone may be released directly in response to increased demand and bypass the storage pool of mature secretory granules. Relatively few chemicals or experimental manipulations significantly increase the incidence of parathyroid tumors. Irradiation increases the development of parathyroid adenomas in rats and the incidence is modified by feeding diets with variable amounts of vitamin D. Parathyroid adenomas have been encountered infrequently following the administration of a variety of chemicals in 2-year bioassay studies in Fischer rats; however, the incidence increases dramatically when comparing 2-year studies to lifetime data.
Adaptive Sliding Mode Control for Attitude Stabilization With Actuator Saturation

The problem of attitude stabilization for a spacecraft system which is nonlinear in dynamics with inertia uncertainty and external disturbance is investigated in this paper. An adaptive law is applied to estimate the disturbances, where a sliding mode controller is designed to force the state variables of the closed-loop system to converge to the origin. Then, the spacecraft system subjected to control constraints is further considered, and another adaptive sliding mode control law is designed to achieve the attitude stabilization. No prior knowledge of inertia moment is required for both of the proposed adaptive control laws, which implies that the designed control schemes can be applied in spacecraft systems with a large parametric uncertainty existing in inertial matrix or even in unknown inertial matrix. Also, simulation results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the control strategies.
Multiple Drug Use and Dietary Restraint in a Mr. Universe Competitor: Psychobiological Effects

A male bodybuilder was assessed for 20 weeks before, during, and after an international competition. Preparation included high-doses of three anabolic steroids, several nonsteroid drugs including synthetic growth hormone, prolonged training, and a severely reduced diet. Aggression and many other negative moods peaked precompetition, when these factors were most extreme.
A Secure Scheme for Storage, Retrieval, and Sharing of Digital Documents in Cloud Computing Using Attribute-Based Encryption on Mobile Devices

ABSTRACT This work describes the analysis, design, and implementation of a secure scheme for storage, retrieval, and fine-grained sharing of digital documents in cloud computing using mobile devices. Confidentiality of digital documents stored in public clouds from a mobile device is achieved by implementing the digital envelope concept. Data are encrypted using AES, and the session key is encrypted using ciphertext-policy attribute based encryption (CP-ABE). CP-ABE also provides access control mechanisms at a fine-grain level, allowing the decryption of the AES key only to those users having the correct set of attributes. The encryption and decryption processes are carried out in a mobile device that interacts with a cloud provider, a trust server, and a key server. For practical implementation of CP-ABE, the Tate pairing was used on elliptic curves type A and F over prime fields, using affine and projective coordinates for the security levels 80, 112, and 128 bits. After evaluating the proposed system for different CP-ABE implementation options, it was observed that the elliptic curves type A allow execution times 18 times faster compared with the use of elliptic curves type F, achieving processing times that ensures the deployment of the proposed secure scheme.
Effect of concentration temperature on some bioactive compounds and antioxidant proprieties of date syrup

The effect of the concentration temperature on the antioxidant activity, carotenoid and phenolic compounds of date syrup was investigated. Date juice was concentrated at 100 ℃ and at “60 ℃ in vacuum”. After concentration, total phenolic, tannin, non-tannin, flavonoid and carotenoid content were determined spectrophotometrically and high-performance liquid chromatography was used for determination of 5-Hydroxymethyl-2-furfuraldehyde content. The antioxidant activity of date syrup was evaluated by various antioxidant methods including total antioxidant, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free radical scavenging test, ferric reducing antioxidant power and β-carotene bleaching. All date syrups showed strong antioxidant activity accompanied by high total phenolic contents. Results showed that concentration at 100 ℃ significantly enhanced the antioxidant activities and total phenolic contents of date syrups compared to vacuum concentration at 60 ℃. A good correlation between the antioxidant activity and total phenolic content and flavonoid was observed.
Measuring depression with questions about well-being: a study on psychiatric outpatients.

BACKGROUND Most depression rating scales are characterized by negatively-phrased questions, exploring the presence of various symptoms. Questions such as those regarding suicidal ideation or painful experiences may reduce accept-ability or even lead the reader to withdraw participation in the study. Although positively-worded items may be useful, it should be acknowledged that without formal testing they cannot be assumed to be equivalent to negatively-worded ones. The aim of the present study was to test the reliability and validity of a depression rating scale including only positively-phrased items. METHODS Two groups were enrolled in the study: the first comprised 104 adult psychiatric outpatients, the second 88 undergraduate students. All participants completed the depression scale of the Patient Health Questionnaire, the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, and the Positively-phrased Depression Scale (PDS), a 10-item self-report instrument in which the items are phrased in a positive way to reflect the absence of symptoms. Psychiatric outpatients also were rated by their clinician on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. RESULTS The internal consistency of the PDS was satisfactory. The correlations between scores on the PDS and on the other depression scales were moderate to high. Mean PDS scores of patients with a diagnosis of depressive disorder were significantly higher than those of patients with other mental disorders. CONCLUSIONS Despite some limitations, this study suggests that the PDS a valid and reliable instrument which might prove particularly useful for the assessment of depressive symptoms in studies where issues of acceptability are important, such as studies on non-clinical populations, occupational samples, and patients drawn from non-psychiatric settings.
A New Algorithm for Mining Weighted Closed Sequential Pattern

Most previous sequential mining algorithms have the following two main drawbacks: On one hand, all sequential patterns are treated uniformly while sequential patterns have different importance. On the other hand, most of the sequence mining algorithms still generate an exponentially large number of sequential patterns when a minimum support is lowered. In this paper, a weighted closed sequential pattern mining algorithm called WCloSpan is proposed. WCloSpan generates fewer but important weighted sequential patterns in large databases. Our main approach is to push the weight constraints into the sequential pattern growth approach while maintaining the downward closure property. Furthermore, the problem of closed sequential pattern is transformed into closed itemset. Thus, pruning strategies of closed itemset can also be used to enhance the mining efficiency. Experimental results show that the algorithm is efficient and effective.
60-GHz LTCC Differential-Fed Patch Antenna Array With High Gain by Using Soft-Surface Structures

This paper presents a 60-GHz 4 × 4 differential -fed patch antenna array using low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) process. Wideband patch with L-shaped feeding scheme is adopted as antenna element, while differential substrate integrated waveguide feeding network with low insertion loss is applied for the integration of antenna array. The differentialfed structure improves the symmetry of radiation patterns and reduces the cross-polarization level significantly. To further suppress the surface wave and improve the gain of the antenna array, one kind of soft surface structure is proposed. The equivalent circuit model of the soft surface is developed for calculating its dispersion diagram and analyzing stopband characteristics. The simulated results indicate that the antenna gain enhancement can be up to 2 dB because of the proposed soft surface. For demonstration, one prototype using LTCC process is fabricated and measured. The measured 10-dB impedance bandwidth of the antenna array is 11.7%. The measured antenna peak gain of 18.62 dBi at 61.5 GHz and symmetrical radiation patterns with a low cross polarization of -25 dB across the whole operating frequency are achieved.
Performance Analysis on Texture Based Image Retrieval using Perceptual Model and MOGG

The rise of interest in techniques for retrieving images on the basis of automatically-derived features such as color, texture and shape are increasing and this technology is named as Content Based Image Retrieval. In this paper, texture hasbeen used as feature and feature extraction was done by using Perceptual model and Mixtures of Generalized Gaussian Distribution. The perceptual features taken for analysis are Coarseness, Contrast, Directionality and Busyness. The Brodatz Database images are taken for analysis. The precision, recall and time are used as metrics to compare the performance of these methods.
Hierarchical control scheme for improving transient voltage recovery of a DFIG-based WPP

Modern grid codes require that wind power plants (WPPs) inject reactive power according to the voltage dip at a point of interconnection (POI). This requirement helps to support a POI voltage during a fault. However, if a fault is cleared, the POI and wind turbine generator (WTG) voltages are likely to exceed acceptable levels unless the WPP reduces the injected reactive power quickly. This might deteriorate the stability of a grid by allowing the disconnection of WTGs to avoid any damage. This paper proposes a hierarchical control scheme of a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG)-based WPP. The proposed scheme aims to improve the reactive power injecting capability during the fault and suppress the overvoltage after the fault clearance. To achieve the former, an adaptive reactive power-to-voltage scheme is implemented in each DFIG controller so that a DFIG with a larger reactive power capability will inject more reactive power. To achieve the latter, a washout filter is used to capture a high frequency component contained in the WPP voltage, which is used to remove the accumulated values in the proportional-integral controllers. Test results indicate that the scheme successfully supports the grid voltage during the fault, and recovers WPP voltages without exceeding the limit after the fault clearance.
Multistage constant-current charging method for Li-Ion batteries

This paper proposes a unique method to find the optimal charge pattern (OCP) of multistage constant-current charging (MSCCC) method by using RC based equivalent circuit model for Li-Ion batteries. Both 3 and 5 stages based MSCCC methods are discussed. The method of finding the equivalent circuit model and optimal charge pattern by equations are also explained. Experimental results with a 2.6 Ah Li-ion battery are used to validate the proposed method. The proposed method is unique in that it can charge the battery upto 100 % capacity in a shorter time. Compared with conventional CC-CV method, the charging time (CT) and the charging efficiency by the proposed method are improved by approximately 12% and 0.54% respectively.
Efficient Image Preprocessing of Digital Holograms of Marine Plankton

A set of image preprocessing approaches are developed for processing plankton images reconstructed from digital holograms. First, a threshold-based algorithm of image segmentation is proposed and applied to extract the regions of plankton from the original digital images. To improve the performance of image segmentation, an appropriate filter is adopted to reduce the background noise from the image and the image gray level is adjusted to enhance the image contrast. Second, we develop a novel and efficient edge detection method purposefully for the binary images. Third, we propose and use a simple chain-code-based algorithm to eliminate the single-pixel branches along the shape boundary, which will help boundary tracing work stably. Then, an algorithm is improved and applied to trace the boundaries of the plankton regions. This algorithm is optimized based on the relationship between two consecutive chain-codes such that it is fast on implementation. Finally, break points of the shape boundary are efficiently detected based on chain-codes and the boundary is represented compactly by a polygon comprised of those points. After images are preprocessed by these approaches, some redundant information of shape is reduced that will accelerate the running speeds of further image processing and aid identification and classification of plankton at species level. We analyze the accuracy and efficiency of our algorithms. The results show that our algorithm of image segmentation has a good performance in accuracy. Our edge detection method also outperforms the commonly used edge detection methods in terms of localization performance and the running time.
Circulating miRNAs as novel diagnostic biomarkers in hepatocellular carcinoma detection: a meta-analysis based on 24 articles

The diagnostic value and suitability of circulating miRNAs for the detection of hepatocellular carcinoma have been inconsistent in the literature. A meta-analysis is used to systematically evaluate the diagnostic value of circulating miRNAs. Eligible studies were selected and the heterogeneity was assessed by subgroup analysis, meta-regression, and publication bias. After strictly and comprehensive screening, the source methods, internal reference and the cut-off values of the included miRNAs were first listed. Circulating miRNAs demonstrated a relatively good diagnostic value in hepatocellular carcinoma, In the subgroup analysis, diagnosis odds ratio showed a higher accuracy with multiple miRNAs than with a single miRNA as well as with serum types than plasma types. In addition, although miRNAs have many expression patterns, the high frequency expression miRNAs (miR-21, miR-199 and miR-122) might be more specific for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma.The sources of heterogeneity might be related to the number of miRNAs and the specimen types in meta-regression. Furthermore, it’s surprised that the pooled studies were first demonstrated publication bias (P < 0.05). In conclusion, multiple miRNAs in serum have a better diagnostic value, and the publication bias was stable. To validate the potential applicability of miRNAs in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma, more rigorous studies are needed to confirm these conclusions.