Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of the collateral function of the circle of Willis: three-dimensional time-of-flight MR angiography compared with transcranial color-coded duplex sonography.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Identification of the intracranial collaterals assists in identifying patients with severe occlusive disease of the internal carotid arteries who are at lower risk of transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) and stroke. We investigated the usefulness of MR angiography in identifying functional collaterals of the circle of Willis. METHODS MR angiography of the circle of Willis was performed in 50 healthy volunteers. Visibility was used as the criterion to define the intracranial collaterals as being functional. Two observers independently assessed the MR angiograms. Results were compared with those of transcranial color duplex sonography (TCCD), and results of carotid compression tests were the standard of reference for the identification of functional intracranial collaterals. RESULTS With MR angiograms, reviewer 1 achieved a sensitivity of 85%, a specificity of 81%, a positive predictive value of 95%, and a negative predictive value of 55%. Reviewer 2 achieved a sensitivity of 87%, a specificity of 67%, a positive predictive value of 92%, and a negative predictive value of 53%. Interobserver agreement on MR angiograms was moderate (kappa = 0.57, 95% confidence interval: 0.42, 0.72). CONCLUSION Visible collaterals of the circle of Willis on MR angiograms are able to supply collateral flow in the presence of carotid artery obstruction. However, the low negative predictive value of MR angiography indicates that, if collaterals are not visible, supplementary TCCD investigation is required.
Prenatally diagnosed mosaic trisomy 22 in a fetus with left ventricular non‐compaction cardiomyopathy

Jia-Chi Wang,* Linda Dang, Tapas Kumar Mondal, and Aneal Khan Cytogenetics Laboratory, Hamilton Regional Laboratory Medicine Program, Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, Canada Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Department of Pediatrics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Department of Medical Genetics, University of Calgary, Alberta Children’s Hospital, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
X-band T/R module in state-of-the-art GaN technology

In this paper a first iteration X-band T/R module based on a GaN-HEMT MMIC Front-End chip-set, comprising a power amplifier, robust low-noise amplifier and power switch will be presented. Even though ultimate T/R module performance cannot be achieved with current GaN-HEMT technological maturity the impact that this technology can have at systems level in terms of performance/cost trade-off will be illustrated by means of a preliminary innovative module architecture which foresees the elimination of more traditional T/R module components such as ferrite circulator and limiter for front-end signal routing and protection.
Exact Discrete Representations of Linear Continuous Time Models with Mixed Frequency Data

The time aggregation of vector linear processes containing (i) mixed stock‐flow data and (ii) aggregated at mixed frequencies, is explored, focusing on a method to translate the parameters of the underlying continuous time model into those of an equivalent model of the observed data. Based on manipulations of a general state‐space form, the results may be used to model multiple frequencies or aggregation schemes. Estimation of the continuous time parameters via the ARMA representation of the observable data vector is discussed and demonstrated in an application to model stock price and dividend data. Simulation evidence suggests that these estimators have superior properties to the traditional approach of concentrating the data to a single low frequency.
A 0.9 V Supply OTA in 0.18 μm CMOS Technology and Its Application in Realizing a Tunable Low-Pass Gm-C Filter for Wireless Sensor Networks

A low voltage low power operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) based on a bulk driven cell and its application to implement a tunable Gm-C filter is presented. The linearity of the OTA is improved by attenuation and source degeneration techniques. The attenuation technique is implemented by bulk driven cell which is used for low supply voltage circuits. The OTA is designed to operate with a 0.9 V supply voltage and consumes 58.8 μW power. A 600 mVppd sine wave input signal at 1 MHz frequency shows total harmonic distortion (THD) better than -40 dB over the tuning range of the transconductance. The OTA has been used to realize a tunable Gm-C low-pass filter with gain tuning from 5 dB to 21 dB with 4 dB gain steps, which results in power consumptions of 411.6 to 646.8 μW. This low voltage filter can operate as channel select filter and variable gain amplifier (VGA) for wireless sensor network (WSN) applications. The proposed OTA and filter have been simulated in 0.18 μm CMOS technology. Corner case and temperature simulation results are also included to forecast process and temperature variation affects after fabrication.
Acyl-Enzyme Complexes between Tissue-type Plasminogen Activator and Neuroserpin are Short-lived in Vitro*

The serine protease tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) initiates the fibrinolytic protease cascade and plays a significant role in motor learning, memory, and neuronal cell death induced by excitotoxin and ischemia. In the fibrinolytic system, the serpin PAI-1 negatively regulates the enzymatic activity of both single-chain and two-chain t-PA (sct-PA and tct-PA). In the central nervous system, neuroserpin (NSP) is a serpin thought to regulate t-PA enzymatic activity. We report that although both sct-PA and tct-PA rapidly form acyl-enzyme complexes with NSP in vitro, the interactions are short-lived, rapidly progressing to complete cleavage of NSP and regeneration of fully active enzyme. All NSP molecules appear to transit through the detectable acyl-enzyme intermediate and progress to completion of cleavage; no subpopulation that functions as a pure substrate was detected. Likewise, all molecules were reactive, with no evidence of a latent subpopulation. The interactions between NSP and t-PA were distinct from those between plasmin and NSP, wherein the same peptide bond was cleaved but there was no evidence of a detectable plasmin-NSP acyl-enzyme complex. The interactions between t-PA and NSP contrast with the formation of long-lived, physiologically irreversible acyl-enzyme complexes between t-PA and PAI-1, suggesting that the physiologic effect of t-PA-NSP interactions may be more complex than previously thought.
Classifying Inundation in a Tropical Wetlands Complex with GNSS-R

The use of global navigation satellite system reflectometry (GNSS-R) measurements for classification of inundated wetlands is presented. With the launch of NASA’s Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) mission, space-borne GNSS-R measurements have become available over ocean and land. CYGNSS covers latitudes between ±38°, providing measurements over tropical ecosystems and benefiting new studies of wetland inundation dynamics. The GNSS-R signal over inundated wetlands is driven mainly by coherent scattering associated with the presence of surface water, producing strong forward scattering and a distinctive bistatic scattering signature. This paper presents a methodology used to classify inundation in tropical wetlands using observables derived from GNSS-R measurements and ancillary data. The methodology employs a multiple decision tree randomized (MDTR) algorithm for classification and wetland inundation maps derived from the phased-array L-band synthetic aperture radar (PALSAR-2) as reference for training and validation. The development of an innovative GNSS-R wetland classification methodology is aimed to advance mapping of global wetland distribution and dynamics, which is critical for improved estimates of natural methane production. The results obtained in this manuscript demonstrate the ability of GNSS-R signals to detect inundation under dense vegetation over the Pacaya-Samiria Natural Reserve, a tropical wetland complex located in the Peruvian Amazon. Classification results report an accuracy of 69% for regions of inundated vegetation, 87% for open water regions, and 99% for non-inundated areas. Misclassification of inundated vegetation, primarily as non-inundated area, is likely related to the combination of two factors: partial inundation within the GNSS-R scattering area, and signal attenuation from dense overstory vegetation, resulting in a low signal.
Software systems for processing and analysis of big data and event streams

Advances in sensor technologies, mobile positioning, IoT and wireless communications have led to development of applications for data collection, processing, analysis, mining and visualization for the purposes of real time responses and decision support, but have also brought new challenges to processing large amount of data in a real time. Various software systems are developed to provide a set of methods, technologies, algorithms and index structures for effective monitoring, processing, analysis and mining of continuous flow of data and events. This paper reviews recent developments in the field of data streams processing and analysis, gives an overview of existing systems and technologies, and demonstrates development of a stream processing application based on the contemporary stream processing frameworks.
Tailoring material properties of a nanofibrous extracellular matrix derived hydrogel

In the native tissue, the interaction between cells and the extracellular matrix (ECM) is essential for cell migration, proliferation, differentiation, mechanical stability, and signaling. It has been shown that decellularized ECMs can be processed into injectable formulations, thereby allowing for minimally invasive delivery. Upon injection and increase in temperature, these materials self-assemble into porous gels forming a complex network of fibers with nanoscale structure. In this study we aimed to examine and tailor the material properties of a self-assembling ECM hydrogel derived from porcine myocardial tissue, which was developed as a tissue specific injectable scaffold for cardiac tissue engineering. The impact of gelation parameters on ECM hydrogels has not previously been explored. We examined how modulating pH, temperature, ionic strength, and concentration affected the nanoscale architecture, mechanical properties, and gelation kinetics. These material characteristics were assessed using scanning electron microscopy, rheometry, and spectrophotometry, respectively. Since the main component of the myocardial matrix is collagen, many similarities between the ECM hydrogel and collagen gels were observed in terms of the nanofibrous structure and modulation of properties by altering ionic strength. However, variation from collagen gels was noted for the gelation temperature along with varied times and rates of gelation. These discrepancies when compared to collagen are likely due to the presence of other ECM components in the decellularized ECM based hydrogel. These results demonstrate how the material properties of ECM hydrogels could be tailored for future in vitro and in vivo applications.
Medical Image Compression Using Wrapping Based Fast Discrete Curvelet Transform and Arithmetic Coding

Due to the development of CT (Computed Tomography), MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), PET (Positron Emission Tomography), EBCT (Electron Beam Computed Tomography), SMRI (Stereotactic Magnetic Resonance Imaging), etc. has enhanced the distinguishing rate and scanning rate of the imaging equipments. The diagnosis and the process of getting useful information from the image are got by processing the medical images using the wavelet technique. Wavelet transform has increased the compression rate. Increasing the compression performance by minimizing the amount of image data in the medical images is a critical task. Crucial medical information like diagnosing diseases and their treatments is obtained by modern radiology techniques. Medical Imaging (MI) process is used to acquire that information. For lossy and lossless image compression, several techniques were developed. Image edges have limitations in capturing them if we make use of the extension of 1-D wavelet transform. This is because wavelet transform cannot effectively transform straight line discontinuities, as well geographic lines in natural images cannot be reconstructed in a proper manner if 1-D transform is used. Differently oriented image textures are coded well using Curvelet Transform. The Curvelet Transform is suitable for compressing medical images, which has more curvy portions. This paper describes a method for compression of various medical images using Fast Discrete Curvelet Transform based on wrapping technique. After transformation, the coefficients are quantized using vector quantization and coded using arithmetic encoding technique. The proposed method is tested on various medical images and the result demonstrates significant improvement in performance parameters like Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Compression Ratio (CR).
Engineering of nitrogen profile in an ultrathin gate insulator to improve transistor performance and NBTI

During evaluation of negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) in short-channel devices, we found that using an optimized nitrogen depth profile is important in suppressing NBTI when scaling down CMOS devices. Performing the NO anneal process before oxidation yeilds good transistor performance, suppressing NBTI by 25%. When using more nitrogen to moderate gate leakage and boron penetration, in addition to the amount of nitrogen, it is important to control the depth profile of the nitrogen on the gate insulator, as our research shows that the interface peak concentration of nitrogen enhances NBTI degradation.
Plasma hepatocyte growth factor is a novel marker of AL cardiac amyloidosis

Abstract Background: Cardiac amyloidosis is an infiltrative cardiomyopathy that is challenging to diagnose. We hypothesized that the novel biomarkers hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), galectin-3 (GAL-3), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) would be elevated in cardiac amyloidosis and may be able to discriminate from non-cardiac systemic amyloidosis or other cardiomyopathies with similar clinical or morphologic characteristics. Methods: Patients were selected from the Vanderbilt Main Heart Registry according to the following groups: (1) amyloid light-chain (AL) cardiac amyloidosis (n = 26); (2) transthyretin (ATTR) cardiac amyloidosis (n = 7); (3) left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) (n = 45); (4) systolic heart failure (n = 42); and (5) non-cardiac systemic amyloidosis (n = 7). Biomarkers were measured in stored plasma samples. Biomarkers' discrimination performance in predicting AL cardiac amyloidosis (i.e., Concordance index) was reported. A survival analysis was used to explore the relationship between HGF levels and mortality among AL cardiac amyloidosis patients. Results: HGF levels were markedly elevated in patients with AL cardiac amyloidosis (median = 622, interquartile range (IQR): 299–1228 pg/mL) compared with the other groups, including those with non-cardiac systemic amyloidosis (median = 134, IQR: 94–163 pg/mL, p < 0.001). HGF was not a specific marker for ATTR amyloidosis. Gal-3 was elevated in all groups with amyloidosis but could not differentiate between those with and without cardiac involvement. There was no difference in IL-6 or VEGF between those with AL cardiac amyloidosis compared to other groups (p = 0.13 and 0.057, respectively). Conclusions: HGF may be a specific marker that distinguishes AL cardiac amyloidosis from other cardiomyopathies with similar clinical or morphologic characteristics. Further studies are necessary to determine whether HGF levels predict the likelihood of survival.
Sodium MRI in a rat migraine model and a NEURON simulation study support a role for sodium in migraine

Introduction: Increased lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) sodium has been reported during migraine. We used ultra-high field MRI to investigate cranial sodium in a rat migraine model, and simulated the effects of extracellular sodium on neuronal excitability. Methods: Behavioral changes in the nitroglycerin (NTG) rat migraine model were determined from von Frey hair withdrawal response and photography. Central sensitization was measured by counting cFos-immunoreactive cells in the trigeminal nucleus caudalis (TNC). Sodium was quantified in vivo by ultra-high field sodium MRI at 21 Tesla. Effects of extracellular sodium on neuronal excitability were modeled using NEURON software. Results: NTG decreased von Frey withdrawal threshold (p = 0.0003), decreased eyelid vertical height:width ratio (p < 0.0001), increased TNC cFos stain (p < 0.0001), and increased sodium between 7.5 and 17% in brain, intracranial CSF, and vitreous humor (p < 0.05). Simulated neurons exposed to higher sodium have more frequent and earlier spontaneous action potentials, and corresponding earlier sodium and potassium currents. Conclusions: In the rat migraine model, sodium rises to levels that increase neuronal excitability. We propose that rising sodium in CSF surrounding trigeminal nociceptors increases their excitability and causes pain and that rising sodium in vitreous humor increases retinal neuronal excitability and causes photosensitivity.
Plasma acylated ghrelin levels correlate with subjective symptoms of functional dyspepsia in female patients

Objective Ghrelin is a brain-gut peptide that is mainly secreted from gastric endocrine cells (X/A like cells). In addition to promoting growth-hormone release and appetite, ghrelin also affects gastric motility and secretion. Circulating ghrelin levels are related to appetite and energy balance. Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a disorder characterized by the presence of chronic or recurrent symptoms of upper abdominal pain or discomfort. Although no known specific organic abnormalities are present in FD, abnormalities in gastrointestinal motility and sensitivity are thought to play a role in a substantial subgroup of patients. In addition, some patients also suffer from anorexia and body-weight loss. To investigate the role of ghrelin in the pathophysiology of FD, circulating ghrelin levels in affected patients were measured. Material and methods Eighteen Japanese female patients with functional dyspepsia and 18 healthy volunteers were recruited for the study. Acylated and desacyl forms of ghrelin were measured using commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. Results Although plasma levels of acylated or desacyl ghrelin were not significantly different between healthy subjects and FD patients, plasma acylated, but not desacyl ghrelin, levels were correlated with a subjective symptom score in FD patients. In addition, the ratio of acylated to desacyl ghrelin (A/D ratio) was correlated strongly with acylated, but not desacyl, ghrelin levels. Conclusions The correlation of circulating acylated ghrelin levels with the subjective symptom score and the A/D ratio in FD patients suggest that acylated ghrelin may play a role in the pathophysiology of FD.
Studies on non-precipitating antibody coexisting with precipitating antibody. I. Production of a blocking type antibody in rabbits.

Summary 1.Nonprecipitating antibody of the blocking type has been produced in rabbits by multiple subcutaneous injections of antigen suspended in Freund9s adjuvant. 2.Injection of animals intravenously and intramuscularly with antigen adsorbed onto alum failed to produce this type of antibody. 3.The nonprecipitating antibody detected by combination with radioiodinated antigen was precipitable by sheep antirabbit globulin and electrophoretically is a γ-globulin.
Detection of transient episodes in heart rate variability signals

This paper compares the performance of four approaches for the detection of transient episodes in the heart rate variability (HRV) records. These are based on autoregressive (AR) modeling, discrete wavelet transforms (DWT), wavelet packet transforms, and hidden Markov modeling (HMM). A competitive neural network has been applied for classification and the results of the four techniques have been compared. It has been concluded that the autoregressive model is the most efficient technique for detecting the essential features describing the transient episodes in HRV.
Agreement between parent and child report of quality of life in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

BACKGROUND There is little information in the research literature of agreement between parent and child in reports of child quality of life (QOL) for a sample of children diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The aim of our study was to determine whether parent and child concordance is greater for physical domains of QOL than for psychosocial domains; whether parents rate their child's QOL better or poorer than their child's ratings; and whether concordance is related to demographic, socioeconomic or clinical factors. METHODS The study was a questionnaire survey of children aged 10-17 referred to the ADHD clinic and diagnosed with ADHD in the province of British Columbia (Canada) between November 2001 and October 2002 and their parent. RESULTS Fifty-eight children diagnosed with ADHD and their parents completed our study questionnaire. The main outcome measure was the Child Health Questionnaire, which permitted comparisons on eight QOL domains and one single item. Intraclass correlation coefficients were moderate for five domains (range from 0.40 to 0.51), and good for three domains (range from 0.60 to 0.75). Children rated their QOL significantly better than their parents in four areas and poorer in one. Standardized Response Means indicated clinically important differences in mean scores for Behaviour and Self-esteem. Compared with population norms, across most domains, children with ADHD reported comparable health. Discrepancies between parent-child ratings were related to the presence of a comorbid oppositional/defiant disorder, a psychosocial stressor and increased ADHD symptoms. CONCLUSIONS Although self-report is an important means of eliciting QOL data, in children with ADHD, given the discrepancies in this study between parent and child report, measuring both perspectives seems appropriate.