Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pain Relief With Intraarticular or Medial Branch Nerve Blocks in Patients With Positive Lumbar Facet Joint SPECT Imaging: A 12-Week Outcome Study

Background: Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is useful in identifying patients who may respond to lumbar facet injections. There are two methods for performing lumbar facet joint injections: intraarticular and medial branch nerve blocks. A consensus has yet to be reached among physicians as to which method is the most effective. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of intraarticular and medial branch nerve blocks in SPECT-positive lumbar facet joint patients with nonradicular lower back pain. Method: This study was a prospective, double-blinded outcome study of 12 weeks’ duration. Forty-six male (26) and female patients (20) between the ages of 18 and 55 (mean 39.3 years) with nonradicular lower back pain who were lumbar facet joint SPECT-positive were studied. No patient was included in this study if magnetic resonance imaging evidence of a lumbar disc herniation was present. Patients were randomly assigned by computer to have intraarticular (group I) or medial branch nerve blocks (group II) with lidocaine and triamcinolone, with 23 patients in each group. Outcome measurements assessed the Numeric Pain Intensity Scores (NPIS 0–10) and the Oswestry Disability Index scores (ODI 0–50). Results: There were no differences in demographics between the two groups. The percentage of pain relief (61%) and the percentage of disability (53%) reduction were significantly greater (P <0.05) in group I when compared to group II (26% and 31% respectively). Conclusions: Intraarticular lumbar facet joint injections are more effective than medial branch nerve blocks in SPECT-positive patients.
Heparan Sulfate Chains of Syndecan-1 Regulate Ectodomain Shedding*

Background: Syndecan ectodomains shed by cells can enhance progression of cancer, inflammatory disease, and pathogen infection. Results: Reducing the amount of heparan sulfate present on syndecan core proteins increases shedding of the ectodomain. Conclusion: Heparan sulfate chains suppress syndecan shedding. Significance: Therapeutic inhibition of heparan sulfate degradation could slow disease progression. Matrix metalloproteinases release intact syndecan-1 ectodomains from the cell surface giving rise to a soluble, shed form of the proteoglycan. Although it is known that shed syndecan-1 controls diverse pathophysiological responses in cancer, wound healing, inflammation, infection, and immunity, the mechanisms regulating shedding remain unclear. We have discovered that the heparan sulfate chains present on syndecan core proteins suppress shedding of the proteoglycan. Syndecan shedding is dramatically enhanced when the heparan sulfate chains are enzymatically degraded or absent from the core protein. Exogenous heparan sulfate or heparin does not inhibit shedding, indicating that heparan sulfate must be attached to the core protein to suppress shedding. Regulation of shedding by heparan sulfate occurs in multiple cell types, for both syndecan-1 and syndecan-4 and in murine and human syndecans. Mechanistically, the loss of heparan sulfate enhances the susceptibility of the core protein to proteolytic cleavage by matrix metalloproteinases. Enhanced shedding of syndecan-1 following loss of heparan sulfate is accompanied by a dramatic increase in core protein synthesis. This suggests that in response to an increase in the rate of shedding, cells attempt to maintain a significant level of syndecan-1 on the cell surface. Together these data indicate that the amount of heparan sulfate present on syndecan core proteins regulates both the rate of syndecan shedding and core protein synthesis. These findings assign new functions to heparan sulfate chains, thereby broadening our understanding of their physiological importance and implying that therapeutic inhibition of heparan sulfate degradation could impact the progression of some diseases.
Autoantibodies in Renal Diseases – Clinical Significance and Recent Developments in Serological Detection

Autoimmune dysfunctions are the “bête noire” in a range of debilitating nephropathies. Autoimmune-mediated damage to the kidneys can be triggered by autoantibodies directed against specific proteins or renal structures, for example, the phospholipase A2 receptor or the glomerular basement membrane, resulting in glomerular diseases such as primary membranous nephropathy or Goodpasture’s disease. Moreover, secondary damage to the kidney can be part of the wide-reaching effects of systemic autoimmune diseases such as vasculitis or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) – the latter counts lupus nephritis among its most severe manifestations. Systemic autoimmune diseases are characterized by non-organ-specific autoantibodies, directed for example against neutrophil cytoplasmic antigens in systemic vasculitis and against double-stranded DNA and nucleosomes in SLE. A large variety of innovative and highly specific and sensitive autoantibody tests have been developed in the last years that are available to identify autoimmune kidney diseases at an early stage. Thus, serological in vitro diagnostics allow for appropriate interventional therapy in order to prevent disease progression often resulting in need of dialysis and transplantation.
Inhibition of Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase Limits Niacin-induced Vasodilation in Mice

Background: The use of niacin in the treatment of dyslipidemias is limited by the common side effect of cutaneous vasodilation, commonly termed flushing. Flushing is thought to be due to release of the vasodilatory prostanoids prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) and prostaglandin E2 from arachidonic acid metabolism through the cyclooxygenase pathway. Arachidonic acid is also metabolized by the cytochrome P450 system, which is regulated, in part, by the enzyme soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH). Methods: These experiments used an established murine model in which ear tissue perfusion was measured by laser Doppler to test the hypothesis that inhibition of sEH would limit niacin-induced flushing. Results: Niacin-induced flushing was reduced from 506 ± 126% to 213 ± 39% in sEH knockout animals. Pharmacologic treatment with 3 structurally distinct sEH inhibitors similarly reduced flushing in a dose-dependent manner, with maximal reduction to 143% ± 15% of baseline flow using a concentration of 1 mg/kg TPAU (1-trifluoromethoxyphenyl-3-(1-acetylpiperidin-4-yl) urea). Systemically administered PGD2 caused ear vasodilation, which was not changed by either pharmacologic sEH inhibition or sEH gene deletion. Conclusions: Inhibition of sEH markedly reduces niacin-induced flushing in this model without an apparent effect on the response to PGD2. sEH inhibition may be a new therapeutic approach to limit flushing in humans.
Blood Glucose Is Correlated with Cerebrospinal Fluid Neurotransmitter Metabolites

Medications which influence monoaminergic neurotransmission can also have an effect on glucose regulation. In order to better understand the role of central monoaminergic neurotransmission in blood glucose homeostasis, we explored the relation between blood glucose and cerebrospinal fluid metabolite concentrations of monoaminergic neurotransmitters. Under stringently controlled resting conditions, we measured fasting blood glucose and performed lumbar punctures on 41 healthy participants. Peripheral blood glucose concentrations were significantly correlated with the cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of the dopamine metabolite, homovanillic acid and the noradrenaline metabolite, 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol. These correlations may represent a homeostatic relation between brain neurotransmitter activity and blood glucose.
The Response of Exchange Rate Pass-Through to the Macroeconomic Environment

This paper offers new insights into the nature of exchange rate pass through modelling in the context of a Markov regime-switching environment. Using New Zealand data, the results indicate that pass through to import prices resulting from fluctuations in the exchange rate or exporter costs can be characterised as regime-specific. Furthermore, there is evidence that the probability of switching between higher and lower pass through regimes is significantly influ- enced by inflation where stable rates of inflation increase the probability of remaining in a low pass through regime.
Whole-brain MRI phenotyping in dysplasia-related frontal lobe epilepsy

Objective: To perform whole-brain morphometry in patients with frontal lobe epilepsy and evaluate the utility of group-level patterns for individualized diagnosis and prognosis. Methods: We compared MRI-based cortical thickness and folding complexity between 2 frontal lobe epilepsy cohorts with histologically verified focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) (13 type I; 28 type II) and 41 closely matched controls. Pattern learning algorithms evaluated the utility of group-level findings to predict histologic FCD subtype, the side of the seizure focus, and postsurgical seizure outcome in single individuals. Results: Relative to controls, FCD type I displayed multilobar cortical thinning that was most marked in ipsilateral frontal cortices. Conversely, type II showed thickening in temporal and postcentral cortices. Cortical folding also diverged, with increased complexity in prefrontal cortices in type I and decreases in type II. Group-level findings successfully guided automated FCD subtype classification (type I: 100%; type II: 96%), seizure focus lateralization (type I: 92%; type II: 86%), and outcome prediction (type I: 92%; type II: 82%). Conclusion: FCD subtypes relate to diverse whole-brain structural phenotypes. While cortical thickening in type II may indicate delayed pruning, a thin cortex in type I likely results from combined effects of seizure excitotoxicity and the primary malformation. Group-level patterns have a high translational value in guiding individualized diagnostics.
Adaptive Channel Estimation and Data Detection for Underwater Acoustic MIMO–OFDM Systems

In this paper, frequency and time correlation of the underwater channel are exploited to obtain a low-complexity adaptive channel estimation algorithm for multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) spatial multiplexing of independent data streams. The algorithm is coupled with nonuniform Doppler prediction and tracking, which enable decision-directed operation and reduces the overhead. Performance is demonstrated on experimental data recorded in several shallow-water channels over distances on the order of 1 km. Nearly error-free performance is observed for two and four transmitters with BCH(64,10) encoded quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) signals. With a 24-kHz bandwidth, overall data rates of up to 23 kb/s after coding were achieved with 2048 carriers. Good results have also been observed in two other experiments with varying MIMO-OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing) configurations.
Effects of pitch accents in attachment ambiguity resolution

Previous work has found that listeners prefer to attach ambiguous syntactic constituents to nouns produced with a pitch accent (Schafer, Carter, Clifton, & Frazier, 1996). This study examines what factors underlie previously established accent attachment effects by testing whether these effects are driven by a preference to attach syntactic constituents to new or important information (the Syntax Hypothesis) or whether there is a bias to respond to postsentence probe questions with an accented word (the Salience Hypothesis). One of the predictions of the Salience Hypothesis is that selection of accented words should be greater when a sentence is complex and processing resources are limited. The results from the experiments presented here show that the probability of listeners’ selecting accented words when asked about the interpretation of a relative clause varies with sentence type: listeners selected accented words more frequently in long sentences than in short sentences, consistent with the predictions of the Salience Hypothesis. Furthermore, Experiment 4 demonstrates that listeners are more likely to respond to postsentence questions with accented words than with nonaccented words, even when no ambiguity is present, and even when the response results in an incorrect answer. These findings suggest that accent-driven attachment effects found in earlier studies reflect a postsentence selection process rather than a syntactic processing mechanism.
Computational Methods for Audio-Visual Analysis of Emergent Leadership in Teams

Keywords: social computing ; emergent leadership ; perceived dominance ; nonverbal behavior ; audio-visual feature extraction ; language style ; unsupervised methods ; collective classification These Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne EPFL, n° 5662 (2013)Programme doctoral Genie electriqueFaculte des sciences et techniques de l'ingenieurInstitut de genie electrique et electroniqueLaboratoire de l'IDIAPJury: J.-Ph. Thiran (president), P. Dillenbourg, F. Pianesi, M. Schmid Mast Public defense: 2013-3-1 Reference doi:10.5075/epfl-thesis-5662Print copy in library catalog Record created on 2013-02-26, modified on 2017-05-10
Automated detection of adverse events using natural language processing of discharge summaries.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether natural language processing (NLP) can effectively detect adverse events defined in the New York Patient Occurrence Reporting and Tracking System (NYPORTS) using discharge summaries. DESIGN An adverse event detection system for discharge summaries using the NLP system MedLEE was constructed to identify 45 NYPORTS event types. The system was first applied to a random sample of 1,000 manually reviewed charts. The system then processed all inpatient cases with electronic discharge summaries for two years. All system-identified events were reviewed, and performance was compared with traditional reporting. MEASUREMENTS System sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value, with manual review serving as the gold standard. RESULTS The system correctly identified 16 of 65 events in 1,000 charts. Of 57,452 total electronic discharge summaries, the system identified 1,590 events in 1,461 cases, and manual review verified 704 events in 652 cases, resulting in an overall sensitivity of 0.28 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.17-0.42), specificity of 0.985 (CI: 0.984-0.986), and positive predictive value of 0.45 (CI: 0.42-0.47) for detecting cases with events and an average specificity of 0.9996 (CI: 0.9996-0.9997) per event type. Traditional event reporting detected 322 events during the period (sensitivity 0.09), of which the system identified 110 as well as 594 additional events missed by traditional methods. CONCLUSION NLP is an effective technique for detecting a broad range of adverse events in text documents and outperformed traditional and previous automated adverse event detection methods.
Auto-cut for web images

In this paper, we propose a novel automatic algorithm for foreground/background labeling. We aim to generate ROI cutout automatically for further processing such as image editing, classification and information retrieval. Different from traditional semi-supervised segmentation method, we use a rather weak prior on boundary label. Accordingly, a global cost function is proposed to combine our prior knowledge with pixel-level feature. We compute fuzzy matting components as building blocks to construct semantically meaningful mattes. Finally, these mattes are hierarchically clustered and ranked by central preference. Experimental results on a large benchmark data set demonstrate the performance of our algorithm.
Mobile graphical user interface and controller of fast pulse generator designed in LabVIEW

We developed user friendly mobile graphical user interface and controller of fast bipolar pulse generator. Graphical user interface was made on Nexus 7 with Data Dashboard for LabVIEW and controller was made with LabVIEW 2013 on MyRIO. The whole system was developed quite quickly, is user friendly and inexpensive. It was made with only one programming language on relatively inexpensive equipment. The user of our device sets seven electrical parameters of high-voltage bipolar pulses, arms the device and then starts the pulse delivery on tablet. We demonstrated that using LabVIEW developed controller on MyRIO pulses with resolution of 25 ns can be generated.
TMTprime: A Recommender System for MT and TM Integration

TMTprime is a recommender system that facilitates the effective use of both translation memory (TM) and machine translation (MT) technology within industrial language service providers (LSPs) localization workflows. LSPs have long used Translation Memory (TM) technology to assist the translation process. Recent research shows how MT systems can be combined with TMs in Computer Aided Translation (CAT) systems, selecting either TM or MT output based on sophisticated translation quality estimation without access to a reference. However, to date there are no commercially available frameworks for this. TMTprime takes confidence estimation out of the lab and provides a commercially viable platform that allows for the seamless integration of MT with legacy TM systems to provide the most effective (least effort/cost) translation options to human translators, based on the TMTprime confidence score.
Matching Techniques for Large Music Databases

With the growth in digital representations of music, and of music stored in these representations, it is increasingly attractive to search collections of music. One mode of search is by similarity, but, for music, similarity search presents several di(cid:14)culties: in particular, deciding what part of the music is likely to be perceived as the theme by a listener, and deciding whether two pieces of music with di(cid:11)erent sequences of notes represent the same theme. In this paper we propose a three-stage framework for matching pieces of music. We use the framework to compare a range of techniques for determining whether two pieces of music are similar, by experimentally testing their ability to retrieve di(cid:11)erent transcriptions of the same piece of music from a large collection of MIDI (cid:12)les. These experiments show that di(cid:11)erent comparison techniques di(cid:11)er widely in their e(cid:11)ec-tiveness; and that, by instantiating the framework with appropriate music manipulation and comparison techniques, pieces of music that match a query can be identi(cid:12)ed in a large collection.
Research on Key Techniques of Electromechanical Robot and Its Collaborative Design System

Against the backward of traditional robot design based on the pure mechanical method, we present a electromechanical robot based on ARM&DSP and its collaborative design system (ERCDS) based on modern design philosophy and techniques. First we give a development of industrial robot, and then we focuses on the embedded speech recognition system discussion on the collaborative communication platform based on Windows and Linux. We deeply explain the collaborative communication mechanism and the multi-layer architecture of ERCDS. It is an effective and efficient solution for the design for electromechanical system.
A Pragmatic-Context Usage Pattern for Services

The Pragmatic Web is a significant improvement of the original World Wide Web. The use of context is important in interactive services and become the focus of research on Pragmatic Web where the user’s context is changing rapidly. We are interested in the content, type and role of pragmatic-context, as swell how to use it in Pragmatic Web services. We propose an overview of the pragmatic-context definition, description and, in particular, a generic model that deal with pragmatic-context in order to provide users with more tailored composite services.
Coagulation F13A1 V34L, fibrinogen and homocysteine versus conventional risk factors in the pathogenesis of MI in young persons

Abstract Background: The pathogenesis of myocardial infarction (MI) involves environmental and genetic risk factors, with the latter putatively playing significant roles in younger patients. Genetic variability in coagulation factors comprises one such group. The coagulation factor 13 subunit A (F13A1) Val34Leu polymorphism (rs5985) has yielded variable findings in literature, with no prior South Asian data. Methods: We studied the frequency of this polymorphism using the amplification-created restriction-enzyme site (ACRES) polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) in 101 MI patients aged below 40 years and 103 controls along with plasma fibrinogen and serum homocysteine levels. Results: The distribution of Val/Val, Val/Leu and Leu/Leu genotypes was similar among cases (72.3%, 26.7% and 1.0%) and controls (78.6%, 19.4% and 1.9%, respectively). Val and Leu allele frequencies were 85.6% and 14.4% among patients and 88.3% and 11.7% among controls, respectively (p = .416). Mean plasma fibrinogen was higher in patients vis-à-vis controls (3.1 versus 3.7 g/l; p < .001) but homocysteine was elevated in both patients (52%) and controls (67%) (p = .225). Multivariate analysis revealed hypertension (p < .001, OR 6.16) and smoking (p < .001, OR 5.48) to impart strongest risk followed by positive family history, plasma fibrinogen levels and male gender. Conclusions: Despite its small sample size, this first South Asian study suggests neither protective nor deleterious effects of the F13A1 Val34Leu polymorphism on the risk of MI in young persons. The Leu allele frequency is intermediate to that reported from the West and the Far East. Traditional risk factors contribute greatly to risk even in younger MI patients in South Asia.
Occupancy distribution of a DQDB station based on a queueing system with Markov-structured service requirements

The queue occupancy distribution of the distributed queue-dual-bus (DQDB) station is derived through the formulation and exact analysis of a queuing model with the following characteristic: the packet service time requirements depends on the state of an underlying Markov-structured process at the time when the packet is forwarded to the server (head of the queue). Numerical results are presented and compared with simulation results to evaluate the accuracy of the involved approximations. <<ETX>>