Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neuro-EPO by Nasal Route as a Neuroprotective Therapy in Brain Ischemia

Cerebral vascular diseases (CVD) are the third leading cause of death in industrialized countries and in Cuba affect the 50% of the population above 60 years old [1-2]. The mortality is exponentially increased with age and doubles every five years. A total of 22,000 annual cases are estimated in Cuba, a country where life expectance should increase to 80 years in the near future [1]. CVD are often followed by a high social and individual cost as a consequence of disability and family affectation. The most problematic among such diseases is ischemic cerebral vascular disease, characterized by the reduction of cerebral blood flow (CBF) below a critical level. From this initial event several processes take place to induce the clinical symptoms of cerebral ischemia [3]. Prioritized attention has been granted to CVD prevention in Cuba for reduction of mortality and morbidity indexes associated with these diseases. Risk factors and patients suffering from transient ischemic attacks (TIA) have received special consideration [4]. While most strategies, such as thrombolysis, are aimed at CBF recovery, neuroprotection intents to increment cell survival through the modification of the ischemic cascade [4, 5]. The most important therapeutic strategy in patients with ischemic stroke is directed to improve CBF and to reduce or block sub cellular and cellular metabolic consequences [6]. Some proposals point to more than just a partial solution to the problem of ischemic cascade and call for combined therapies and the use of molecules involved in endogenous neuroprotection. [5-7]. A good candidate could be human recombinant erythropoietin (rHuEPO), which has been employed in the treatment of renal insufficiency associated anemia, and in cancer patients suffering anemia as a consequence of chemo and radiotherapy. The effect of rHu-EPO in the protection of brain cells from ischemic injury has been investigated during the last decade [8-14]. Given the systematic failures in clinical trials using proven neuroprotection ability molecules in animal models [16], it seems logical to reevaluate the therapeutic strategy for therapeutic treatment in the acute phase of stroke.
Complex regional pain syndrome type I (reflex sympathetic dystrophy)

Rarely does a syndrome undergo an intentional name change to reduce misunderstanding about its etiology and treatment. The disorder still commonly referred to as reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) is as controversial as any seen by neurologists. The unusual and sometimes dramatic tissue changes observed in the affected distal extremity has led to names as varied as "minor causalgia," "traumatic angiospasm," "peripheral acute trophoneurosis," and"postinfarctional sclerodactyly. " Reflex sympathetic dystrophy as a three word term suffers from three flaws. First, it implies that the problem is a reflexive response to an insult, a simplistic and nonspecific extension of the"vicious circle" theory. Second, it suggests that the sympathetic nervous system causes the pain, and implies by extension that sympathetic blockade relieves the pain. Available techniques for blocking the sympathetic nervous system are not selective; local anesthetic blocks of the sympathetic chain may also relieve pain by spreading to sensory nerves, by systemic redistribution of local anesthetic, and by placebo effects.1 In addition, many patients who otherwise meet the definition of …
Assessing the need for developing a comprehensive content-validated pressure ulcer guideline.

Healthcare professionals need evidence-based strategies and guidelines for care to optimize pressure ulcer prevention and management. Differences among pressure ulcer guidelines confuse caregivers, reducing consistency of care. To assess the need for a comprehensive content-validated guideline document, the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care Guideline Subcommittee evaluated current pressure ulcer guideline recommendations by compiling 10 pressure ulcer-specific guidelines existing before June 2008 on the National Guideline Clearinghouse website along with the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (draft), European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (draft), and Wound Healing Society guidelines. Steps for each aspect of pressure ulcer management were compiled and inconsistent recommendations identified. Currently available pressure ulcer guidelines were found to differ in definitions, aspects of care, validation, evidence criteria, and procedural recommendations, potentially affecting consistency and quality of all aspects of pressure ulcer management, including diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and outcomes measurement. To address these inconsistencies, a comprehensive list of Pressure Ulcer Care Initiative (PUCI) steps was prepared for content validation and posted on www.aawconline. org, enabling healthcare professionals interested in improving the consistency and quality of pressure ulcer prevention and care to participate in this process. All steps with a content validity index > 0.75 (rated clinically relevant by survey respondents) and/or with A-level standardized clinical evidence support will be included in the comprehensive PUCI guideline. Content validation of recommendations is an important first step to improving the consistency of pressure ulcer care.
Abnormal Involuntary Movements in Neuroleptic-Naive Children and Adolescents

Objective: To determine the prevalence of and identify risk factors for abnormal involuntary movements in a well-characterized community sample of neuroleptic-naive children and adolescents. Method: The Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS) was administered to 390 subjects aged 3–17 years who were in foster care. Additional instruments were used to assess intellect and behaviour problems. Results: A total 12.6% of subjects had at least 1 rating of “mild” movements on AIMS; these included 4.1% with at least 2 ratings of “mild” or 2 of “moderate” severity. Significant risk factors for movement disorder were younger age, lower IQ, and more severe behaviour problems. The abnormal movements were usually orofacial, and the affected subjects were generally unaware of these movements. Conclusion: The base prevalence of abnormal involuntary movements must be considered in children and adolescents assessed for medication in order to determine the true rate of motor side effects.
Automated Enhanced Parallelization of Sequential C to Parallel OpenMP

- The paper presents the work towards implementation of a technique to enhance parallel execution of auto-generated OpenMP programs by considering the architecture of on-chip cache memory, thereby achieving higher performance. It avoids false-sharing in 'for-loops' by generating OpenMP code for dynamically scheduling chunks by placing each core’s data cache line size apart. It has been found that most of the parallelization tools do not deal with significant issues associated with multicore such as false-sharing, which can degrade performance. An open-source parallelization tool called Par4All (Parallel for All), which internally makes use of PIPS (Parallelization Infrastructure for Parallel Systems) - PoCC (Polyhedral Compiler Collection) integration has been analyzed and its power has been unleashed to achieve maximum hardware utilization. The work is focused only on optimizing parallelization of for-loops, since loops are the most time consuming parts of code. The performance of the generated OpenMP programs have been analyzed on different architectures using Intel® VTune™ Performance Analyzer. Some of the computationally intensive programs from PolyBench have been tested with different data sets and the results obtained reveal that the OpenMP codes generated by the enhanced technique have resulted in considerable speedup. The deliverables include automation tool, test cases, corresponding OpenMP programs and performance analysis reports.
Calcium concentration jumps reveal dynamic ion selectivity of calcium‐activated chloride currents in mouse olfactory sensory neurons and TMEM16b‐transfected HEK 293T cells

Ca2+‐activated Cl− channels play relevant roles in several physiological processes, including olfactory transduction, but their molecular identity is still unclear. Recent evidence suggests that members of the transmembrane 16 (TMEM16, also named anoctamin) family form Ca2+‐activated Cl− channels in several cell types. In vertebrate olfactory transduction, TMEM16b/anoctamin2 has been proposed as the major molecular component of Ca2+‐activated Cl− channels. However, a comparison of the functional properties in the whole‐cell configuration between the native and the candidate channel has not yet been performed. In this study, we have used the whole‐cell voltage‐clamp technique to measure functional properties of the native channel in mouse isolated olfactory sensory neurons and compare them with those of mouse TMEM16b/anoctamin2 expressed in HEK 293T cells. We directly activated channels by rapid and reproducible intracellular Ca2+ concentration jumps obtained from photorelease of caged Ca2+ and determined extracellular blocking properties and anion selectivity of the channels. We found that the Cl− channel blockers niflumic acid, 5‐nitro‐2‐(3‐phenylpropylamino)benzoic acid (NPPB) and DIDS applied at the extracellular side of the membrane caused a similar inhibition of the two currents. Anion selectivity measured exchanging external ions and revealed that, in both types of currents, the reversal potential for some anions was time dependent. Furthermore, we confirmed by immunohistochemistry that TMEM16b/anoctamin2 largely co‐localized with adenylyl cyclase III at the surface of the olfactory epithelium. Therefore, we conclude that the measured electrophysiological properties in the whole‐cell configuration are largely similar, and further indicate that TMEM16b/anoctamin2 is likely to be a major subunit of the native olfactory Ca2+‐activated Cl− current.
Suicides in the indigenous and non-indigenous populations in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Northwestern Russia, and associated socio-demographic characteristics

Background To describe suicide rates in the indigenous and non-indigenous populations of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (NAO) in 2002–2012, as well as associated socio-demographic characteristics. Study design Retrospective population-based mortality study. Methods Data from autopsy reports were used to identify 252 cases of suicide in the NAO in 2002–2012. Data on socio-demographic characteristics of these cases were obtained from passports and medical records at local primary health care units, and were then linked to total population data from the Censuses in 2002 and 2010. Suicide rates for the indigenous Nenets population and the non-indigenous population were standardized to the European standard population. The rates were also estimated according to different socio-demographic characteristics and compared by calculating relative risks. Results The crude suicide rates were 79.8 per 100,000 person-years (PYs) in the Nenets population and 49.2 per 100,000 PYs in the non-indigenous population. The corresponding standardized estimates were 72.7 per 100,000 PYs and 50.7 per 100,000 PYs. The highest suicide rates in the Nenets population were observed in the age group 20–29 years (391 per 100,000 PYs), and in females aged 30–39 years (191 per 100,000 PYs). Socio-demographic characteristics associated with high suicide rates in the Nenets population were age 20–39 years, male, urban residence, having secondary school or higher education, being an employee or employer, and being single or divorced. Males aged 20–29 years, and females aged 30–39 and aged 70 years and above had the highest suicide rates in the non-indigenous population (137.5, 21.6 and 29.9 per 100,000 PYs, respectively). The elevated suicide rates observed in the non-indigenous population were associated with male sex, rural residence, secondary school education, being an employee or employer, and being single or divorced. Conclusions Suicide rates in the NAO were substantially higher among the indigenous Nenets population than the non-indigenous population, and were associated with different socio-demographic characteristics.
Une nouvelle stratégie de calcul de modèles réduits PGD basée sur l'erreur en relation de comportement

Dans ce papier, nous introduisons un nouvel algorithme pour calculer un modele reduit PGD (Proper Generalized Decomposition) base sur la minimisation de l'erreur en relation de comportement. L'objectif de cette methode est de procurer une meilleure estimation des modes PGD et un indicateur immediat, robuste et garanti de l'erreur de reduction. On comparera cette methode a l'ensemble des algorithmes classiques de calcul PGD sur un cas test de thermique transitoire unidimensionnel, propose par S. Idelsohn. En particulier, on etudiera les limites de la PGD.
Antioxidant vitamin C improves endothelial function in obstructive sleep apnea.

RATIONALE Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with oxidative stress, endothelial dysfunction, and increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVE We tested the hypothesis that endothelial dysfunction in patients with OSA is linked to oxidative stress. METHODS In the present study, we measured flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery by ultrasound in 10 otherwise healthy, untreated patients with OSA and 10 age-and sex-matched control subjects without sleep-disordered breathing before and after intravenous injection of the antioxidant vitamin C. The investigator performing the FMD measurements was blinded to the status of the patients. RESULTS When compared with control subjects, baseline FMD was significantly reduced in the patients with OSA. After intravenous injection of 0.5 g vitamin C, vasoreactivity remained unchanged in the control subjects. In the patients with OSA, ascorbate led to an increase in FMD to a level comparable to that observed in the control group. CONCLUSION The reduced endothelial-dependent vasodilation in untreated patients with OSA acutely improves by the free radical scavenger vitamin C. These results are in favor of oxidative stress being responsible for the endothelial dysfunction in OSA. Antioxidant strategies should be explored for the treatment of OSA-related cardiovascular disease.
Depolarisation‐evoked Ca2+ waves in the non‐excitable rat megakaryocyte

1 A combination of patch clamp, confocal microscopy and immunohistochemistry was used to examine the spatial properties of Ca2+ signalling in the rat megakaryocyte, a non‐excitable cell type in which membrane potential can markedly modulate agonist‐evoked Ca2+ release. 2 Intracellular calcium ion concentration ([Ca2+]i) increases, stimulated by both ADP and depolarisation, frequently originated from a peripheral locus and spread as a wave throughout the cell. Spatially restricted [Ca2+]i increases, consistent with elementary Ca2+ release events, were occasionally observed prior to ADP‐evoked waves. 3 ADP‐ and depolarisation‐evoked Ca2+ waves travelled approximately twice as fast around the periphery of the cell compared to across its radius, leading to a curvilinear wavefront. There was no sigificant difference between wave velocities generated by the two stimuli. 4 Immunohistochemical staining of type III IP3 receptors, the endoplasmic reticulum‐specific protein GRP78/BiP and calreticulin indicated a major peripheral location of the cellular Ca2+ stores which probably accounts for the accelerated wave velocity at the cell periphery. 5 These data demonstrate that [Ca2+]i increases, stimulated by depolarisation or the agonist ADP, have indistinguishable spatial properties, providing evidence that similar underlying mechanisms are responsible for their generation.
Study of the machinability of compacted graphite iron for drilling process

CGI - Compacted Graphite Iron - has reached an important status for automotive industry, mainly in the last ten years. The material has been used for manufacturing parts as brake discs, exhaust manifolds, engine heads and diesel engine blocks. The superior strength characteristics of CGI, as compared to gray iron, allows the manufacturing of engines for higher pressure operating combustion chambers, therefore more efficient and with lower emissions levels. Also thinner walls are possible, generating lighter engines. However there are some technical challenges to overcome, mainly related to the machining process of the parts. This research intends to study the machinability of CGI, in order to develop a new alloy with improved characteristics of machinability, so the production costs for CGI automotive parts can be reduced. The study uses a reference material, gray iron FC-250, widely used for engine blocks manufacturing. The machinability of the referred material is compared to five different CGI alloys by means of drilling experiments. The considered machinability criteria are the tool wear and the cutting forces. The experiments led to the development of a CGI-450 with machinability 83% (relative to FC-250), therefore with excellent potential qualities for engine block and other auto parts manufacturing.
Dynamic Load Effect on Tracked Robot Obstacle Performance

A portable tracked robot with arms is introduced in this paper. A 3-DOF arm mounted on top of the robot is used to hold the sensor system, and the motions of robot's swing arms improve its obstacle performance. At first, the stability analysis of obstacle performance based on robot's CG position is discussed from crossing ditch and climbing obstacle. And then dynamic load (3-DOF arm) effect on the track robot obstacle performance is discussed in detail. The dynamic models of three critical poses of crossing ditch and climbing obstacle are made. From these models, the relationships between inertia forces and obstacle performance are obtained, which are validated by experiments. The results help to design and control the robot.
Identification of Point Mutations in Clinical Staphylococcus aureus Strains That Produce Small-Colony Variants Auxotrophic for Menadione

ABSTRACT Staphylococcus aureus small-colony variants (SCVs) are implicated in chronic and relapsing infections that are difficult to diagnose and treat. Despite many years of study, the underlying molecular mechanisms and virulence effect of the small-colony phenotype remain incompletely understood. We sequenced the genomes of five S. aureus SCV strains recovered from human patients and discovered previously unidentified nonsynonymous point mutations in three genes encoding proteins in the menadione biosynthesis pathway. Analysis of genetic revertants and complementation with wild-type alleles confirmed that these mutations caused the SCV phenotype and decreased virulence for mice.
Cognitive guidance system for the blind

The main categories that protrude from assistive devices for the blind persons are: Electronic travel aids (ETAs), electronic orientation aids (EOAs), and position locator devices (PLDs). This work comes in the category (ETAs). In this paper, we present an addition to the long cane indoors through a noninvasive device that will be able to help in navigation to blind people and visually impaired. The system uses stereoscopic vision and the sensor Kinect to infer about the distances of objects relative to cameras and the search of obstacle planes in the scene. This will be done using stereo vision, vanishing point and fuzzy rules. The vanishing point will help us in structured spaces to have a main direction. Since the guidance system anchors to a spatial reference system, the vanishing point is used like a virtual compass which helps the blind to orient himself towards a goal. Reinforced with fuzzy decision rules, the system gives support to the blind to avoid obstacles, thus the blind is able to cross structured spaces avoiding obstacles and without the need of a cane since this is little practical in interiors.
Analysis and Optimization of Leaky-Wave Radiation at Broadside From a Class of 1-D Periodic Structures

Radiation at broadside from leaky waves is studied for one-dimensional periodic structures modeled by means of a transmission line periodically loaded by series or shunt loads. Radiation at broadside occurs via an axially fast spatial harmonic in a neighborhood of the open-stopband frequency; operation in such a frequency range is studied here by means of an approximate asymptotic Bloch analysis of the adopted equivalent network and a simple array-factor calculation of the radiated far field. The condition of equal values for the phase and attenuation constants of the radiating spatial harmonic is shown to give rise to maximum radiation at broadside in the lossless case and to the splitting of a single peak of the radiation pattern at broadside into two distinct peaks in both the lossless and the lossy cases. The 3 dB frequency band for broadside radiation is characterized in terms of the leaky-pole locations in the complex plane and an approximate formula for the antenna bandwidth is provided. Numerical results illustrating these properties are provided, including full-wave simulations of a specific structure through the method of moments
Solving dense linear systems on accelerated multicore architectures. (Résoudre des systèmes linéaires denses sur des architectures composées de processeurs multicœurs et d'accélerateurs)

In this PhD thesis, we study algorithms and implementations to accelerate the solution of dense linear systems by using hybrid architectures with multicore processors and accelerators. We focus on methods based on the LU factorization and our code development takes place in the context of the MAGMA library. We study different hybrid CPU/GPU solvers based on the LU factorization which aim at reducing the communication overhead due to pivoting. The first one is based on a communication avoiding strategy of pivoting (CALU) while the second uses a random preconditioning of the original system to avoid pivoting (RBT). We show that both of these methods outperform the solver using LU factorization with partial pivoting when implemented on hybrid multicore/GPUs architectures. We also present new solvers based on randomization for hybrid architectures for Nvidia GPU or Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor. With this method, we can avoid the high cost of pivoting while remaining numerically stable in most cases. The highly parallel architecture of these accelerators allow us to perform the randomization of our linear system at a very low computational cost compared to the time of the factorization. Finally we investigate the impact of non-uniform memory accesses (NUMA) on the solution of dense general linear systems using an LU factorization algorithm. In particular we illustrate how an appropriate placement of the threads and data on a NUMA architecture can improve the performance of the panel factorization and consequently accelerate the global LU factorization. We show how these placements can improve the performance when applied to hybrid multicore/GPU solvers.
Cytokine gene expression in monocytes of patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass surgery evaluated by real‐time PCR

Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) surgery induces systemic release of proinflammatory cytokines causing unspecific inflammatory reactions. This study deals with the development of a sensitive technique for detecting changes at the mRNA level in monocytes of patients undergoing CPB surgery, by using real‐time PCR. Blood samples from patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass grafting were obtained at six different time points. RNA was extracted from isolated monocytes and cDNA was synthesized by reverse transcriptase. CPB surgery induced gene expression of IL‐β, IL‐6, IL‐8, and TNF‐alpha, followed by a decrease below the preoperative expression values 6 h post CPB. High significant increases in gene expression for IL‐8 at the end of surgery (p = 0.001) were detected. Real‐time PCR is a powerful tool for getting simultaneously numerous sensitive, accurate, and reliable results from small amounts of biological material. This method avoids time‐consuming and hazardous post‐PCR manipulations and decreases the potential risk of PCR contamination.