Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quality of life in school-age children following liver transplantation.

A descriptive exploratory study was conducted to ascertain the quality of life in school-age children 3 to 6 years following liver transplantation for chronic liver disease. Thirty children were to be included, however only 25 were recruited, and 20 of the 25 children became the study sample. The 20 school-age children ranged in age from 5 years 4 months to 11 years 9 months. The setting for the study was a conference room adjoining a social work office in a 220-bed university-affiliated children's hospital located in a large city in the Northeastern United States. The data were collected through the use of individual interviews, which were audiotaped and transcribed, and the written completion of an 80-item, self-report inventory. Interviews ranged in length from 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes. They were scheduled at a time that was convenient to the children's yearly pediatrician follow-up examination. Since the children and their families lived in other states and countries a great distance from the hospital, all communication with the families and scheduling of appointments were coordinated by the secretary of the pediatrician. The children in this study experienced liver transplantation 3 to 6 years prior to the interview for biliary atresia (n = 15), alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency (n = 3), tyrosinemia (n = 1), and neonatal hepatitis (n = 1). Eighty-five percent of the children (n = 17) experienced liver transplantation before the age of 6 years, and 15 percent of the children (n = 3) experienced transplantation after 6 years of age. Responses from the modified Pigem's test, a projective test of children's values and attributes about self, and from the Zamberlan Questionnaire were content analyzed, then categorized according to the specific areas representative of the children's evaluation of the quality of life. Interrater reliability of the categories demonstrated 87% agreement of the coded items on the interview data. Five categories were derived from analysis of the interview and Pigem's data and included: (a) psychosocial adjustment at school and relationships with peers and family members; (b) internalization of the donor organ, the knowledge of the liver transplant experience, and thoughts about the donor person; (c) changes in physical appearance and physical functioning; (d) emotions, fears, or concerns about rejection and future outcome of the liver transplant(s); and (e) children's satisfaction with present and future life, and thoughts about self as reflected on the Pigem's test. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Beyond the classical monoscopic 3D in graph analytics: An experimental study of the impact of stereoscopy

Popular in the nineties, 3D visualization has since garnered much criticisms. While historically the vast majority of 3D visualization evaluations have been based on the classical Brunelleschi's perspective rendering, today new questions are raised with the recent access to high quality stereoscopic representations. Do these new interfaces offer improvements over the traditional 3D counterparts? This paper describes a comparative evaluation of monoscopic 3D and stereoscopic 3D for an important problem in graph visualization: the detection of communities. Our results show that stereoscopic 3D outperforms both 2D and monoscopic 3D in the task resolution. The 2D condition always yields the lower response times. Mono-scopic and stereoscopic 3D obtain similar response times. A complementary study based on an original methodology reveals that these apparent similarities actually correspond to different interaction strategies - rotations around the graph. Under the monoscopic condition, participants tend to explore the display space more thoroughly while under the stereoscopic condition, they seem to favor the adoption of a smaller set of viewpoints on the graph.
Shear velocity variation within the D″ region beneath the central Pacific

[1] Small-scale variability of shear velocity (Vs) structure in the D″ region beneath the central Pacific is imaged using 442 broadband tangential component S waveforms recorded in western North America for 37 intermediate and deep focus Tonga-Fiji earthquakes. Double-array stacking of spatially binned subsets of data reveals lateral variations in the relative timing and amplitude of deep mantle discontinuity reflections on scale lengths of about 130 km across the ∼6° × 8° region of D″ sampled. Waveform modeling using localized one-dimensional structures indicates variations of the Vs increase at the D″ discontinuity ranging from 0.5% to 2.3%, and discontinuity depths ranging from 2490 to 2735 km, deepening and weakening from southwest-to-northeast across the study area. Two abrupt Vs reductions are also detected within the D″ layer. We thus present a laterally variable three-layer model of the D″ region beneath the central Pacific. The complex structure may be associated with lateral thermal and chemical gradients that produce a lens of postperovskite material above an ultralow-velocity zone on the margin of a large low shear velocity province.
Optimal Dosing of Intravenous Unfractionated Heparin Bolus in Transient Ischemic Attack or Stroke

Early initiation of heparin therapy for treatment of stroke is not only associated with an improved outcome, but also with the risk of hemorrhagic transformation. We compared the efficacy of three unfractionated heparin bolus regimens (0 U/kg, 30 U/kg, or 80 U/kg) in achieving a therapeutic activated partial thromboplastin time over the first 6-hour period in a cohort of 54 patients admitted with transient ischemic attack or stroke. Patients treated with the low bolus dose (30 U/kg) were more often within the therapeutic range for activated partial thromboplastin time at two hours after the initial bolus than patients treated with the other regimens. The percentage of therapeutic activated partial thromboplastin time results within the first six hours of treatment was greater in the group treated with the low bolus dose. Using the low bolus dose may reduce complication rates and improve clinical outcomes in the future clinical trials.
Unsupervised Learning for Mental Stress Detection - Exploration of Self-organizing Maps

One of the major challenges in the field of ambulant stress detection lies in the model validation. Commonly, different types of questionnaires are used to record perceived stress levels. These only capture stress levels at discrete moments in time and are prone to subjective inaccuracies. Although, many studies have already reported such issues, a solution for these difficulties is still lacking. This paper explores the potential of unsupervised learning with Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) for stress detection. In unsupervised learning settings, the labels from perceived stress levels are not needed anymore. First, a controlled stress experiment was conducted during which relax and stress phases were alternated. The skin conductance (SC) and electrocardiogram (ECG) of test subjects were recorded. Then, the structure of the SOM was built based on a training set of SC and ECG features. A Gaussian Mixture Model was used to cluster regions of the SOM with similar characteristics. Finally, by comparison of features values within each cluster, two clusters could be associated to either relax phases or stress phases. A classification performance of 79.0% (±5.16) was reached with a sensitivity of 75.6% (±11.2). In the future, the goal is to transfer these first initial results from a controlled laboratory setting to an ambulant environment.
Mucus hypersecretion in asthma: causes and effects

Purpose of review Airway mucus plugging has long been recognized as a principal cause of death in asthma. However, molecular mechanisms of mucin overproduction and secretion have not been understood until recently. These mechanisms are reviewed together with ongoing investigations relating them to lung pathophysiology. Recent findings Of the five secreted gel-forming mucins in mammals, only MUC5AC and MUC5B are produced in significant quantities in intrapulmonary airways. MUC5B is the principal gel-forming mucin at baseline in small airways of humans and mice, and therefore likely performs most homeostatic clearance functions. MUC5AC is the principal gel-forming mucin upregulated in airway inflammation and is under negative control by forkhead box a2 (Foxa2) and positive control by hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1). Mucin secretion is regulated separately from production, principally by extracellular triphosphate nucleotides that bind P2Y2 receptors on the lumenal surface of airway secretory cells, generating intracellular second messengers that activate the exocytic proteins, Munc13-2 and synaptotagmin-2. Summary Markedly upregulated production of MUC5AC together with stimulated secretion leads to airflow obstruction in asthma. As MUC5B appears to mediate homeostatic functions, it may be possible to selectively inhibit MUC5AC production without impairing airway function. The precise roles of mucin hypersecretion in asthma symptoms such as dyspnea and cough and in physiologic phenomena such as airway hyperresponsiveness remain to be defined.
Multiagent based information dissemination in vehicular ad hoc networks

Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs) are a compelling application of ad hoc networks, because of the potential to access specific context information (e.g. traffic conditions, service updates, route planning) and deliver multimedia services (Voice over IP, in-car entertainment, instant messaging, etc.). This paper proposes an agent based information dissemination model for VANETs. A two-tier agent architecture is employed comprising of the following: 1) 'lightweight', network-facing, mobile agents; 2) 'heavyweight', application-facing, norm-aware agents. The limitations of VANETs lead us to consider a hybrid wireless network architecture that includes Wireless LAN/Cellular and ad hoc networking for analyzing the proposed model. The proposed model provides flexibility, adaptability and maintainability for traffic information dissemination in VANETs as well as supports robust and agile network management. The proposed model has been simulated in various network scenarios to evaluate the effectiveness of the approach.
Au th or ' s pe rs on al co py Defining Neighborhood Boundaries for Urban Health Research

The body of literature exploring neighborhood effects on health has increased rapidly in recent years, yet a number of methodologic concerns remain, including preferred methods for identification and delineation of study neighborhoods. In research combining census or other publicly available data with surveys of residents and/or street-level observations, questions regarding neighborhood definition take on added significance. Neighborhoods must be identified and delineated in such a way as to optimize quality and availability of data from each of these sources. IMPACT (Inner-City Mental Health Study Predicting HIV/AIDS, Club and Other Drug Transitions), a multilevel study examining associations among features of the urban environment and mental health, drug use, and sexual behavior, utilized a multistep neighborhood definition process including development of census block group maps, review of land use and census tract data, and field visits and observation in each of the targeted communities. Field observations were guided by a preidentified list of environmental features focused on the potential for recruitment (e.g., pedestrian volume), characteristics commonly used to define neighborhood boundaries (e.g., obstructions to pedestrian traffic, changes in land use), and characteristics that have been associated in the literature with health behaviors and health outcomes (such as housing type and maintenance and use of open spaces). This process, implemented in February through July 2005, proved feasible and offered the opportunity to identify neighborhoods appropriate to study objectives and to collect descriptive information that can be used as a context for understanding study results. (Am J Prev Med 2007;32(6S):S154–S159) © 2007 American Journal of Preventive Medicine
Dynamic three‐dimensional micropatterned cell co‐cultures within photocurable and chemically degradable hydrogels

In this paper we report on the development of dynamically controlled three‐dimensional (3D) micropatterned cellular co‐cultures within photocurable and chemically degradable hydrogels. Specifically, we generated dynamic co‐cultures of micropatterned murine embryonic stem (mES) cells with human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cells within 3D hydrogels. HepG2 cells were used due to their ability to direct the differentiation of mES cells through secreted paracrine factors. To generate dynamic co‐cultures, mES cells were first encapsulated within micropatterned photocurable poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels. These micropatterned cell‐laden PEG hydrogels were subsequently surrounded by calcium alginate (Ca‐Alg) hydrogels containing HepG2 cells. After 4 days, the co‐culture step was halted by exposing the system to sodium citrate solution, which removed the alginate gels and the encapsulated HepG2 cells. The encapsulated mES cells were then maintained in the resulting cultures for 16 days and cardiac differentiation was analysed. We observed that the mES cells that were exposed to HepG2 cells in the co‐cultures generated cells with higher expression of cardiac genes and proteins, as well as increased spontaneous beating. Due to its ability to control the 3D microenvironment of cells in a spatially and temporally regulated manner, the method presented in this study is useful for a range of cell‐culture applications related to tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Glucocorticoid receptor activation in the rat nucleus of the solitary tract facilitates memory consolidation: involvement of the basolateral amygdala

These experiments examined the involvement of glucocorticoid receptors (GRs or type II) located in the A2‐noradrenergic cell group of the rat nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) in modulating memory storage. Bilateral intra‐NTS infusions (0.5 μL) of the specific GR agonist RU 28362 (11β, 17β‐dihydroxy‐6,21‐dimethyl‐17α‐pregna‐4,6‐trien‐20yn‐3‐one), in doses ranging from 0.01 to 10.0 ng, immediately after inhibitory avoidance training produced a dose‐dependent enhancement of 48 h retention performance. Infusions of 0.1 or 1.0 ng of the agonist enhanced retention, whereas lower or higher doses were ineffective. Post‐training infusions of the GR antagonist RU 38486 [17β‐hydroxy‐11β‐(4‐dimethylaminophenyl)‐17α‐(1‐propynyl)‐oestra‐4,9‐dien‐3‐one, 0.01–10.0 ng] into the NTS did not significantly affect retention performance, but shifted the dose–response effects of post‐training systemic injections of the synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone to the right. These results indicate that activation of GRs in the NTS can influence memory formation for inhibitory avoidance training, and suggest that the effects of circulating glucocorticoids on memory are mediated, in part, by an activation of GRs in the NTS. Additionally, pretraining infusions of the β1‐adrenergic antagonist atenolol (0.5 μg in 0.2 μL) into the basolateral nucleus of the amygdala (BLA), a brain structure which receives noradrenergic projections from the NTS and is implicated in memory storage modulation, blocked the memory‐enhancing effects of the GR agonist (1.0 ng) infused into the NTS. These findings provide evidence that memory storage is modulated by glucocorticoid binding to GRs in noradrenergic cell bodies in the NTS and suggest that these modulatory effects are conveyed by ascending projections to the BLA.
High Level Design of Adaptive Real-time Embedded Systems - A Survey

Real time embedded systems (RTES) know a growing complexity due to modern applications requirements and architectures complexity especially with the addition of the multiprocessor feature. They are equally subject to a variety of constraints due to their mobility. They need to react to environment variability, resource limitations and timing constraints. An emergent solution to deal with this complexity is the integration of adaptation strategies in embedded systems design flow. The design space of multi-layer adaptation decisions is becoming increasingly vast and difficult to explore. Development of such systems at low system levels is therefore increasingly tedious especially with the limitations of computer aided design tools. Using MDE approach and the UML/MARTE profile for high abstraction level design is becoming a promising solution to ease the design of RTES. In the present paper we recall and classify existing works built around adaptive embedded systems. We concentrate on a set of criteria to help highlighting the shortages of existing approaches on modern adaptive RTES design. We focus on the design environment, adaptation features, online time constraints verification and performance assessment. Finally, we present our future works to cope with the limits of existing solutions while taking into account the observed criteria.
Distance measures for image segmentation evaluation

In this paper we present a study of evaluation measures that enable the quantification of the quality of an image segmentation result. Despite significant advances in image segmentation techniques, evaluation of these techniques thus far has been largely subjective. Typically, the effectiveness of a new algorithm is demonstrated only by the presentation of a few segmented images and is otherwise left to subjective evaluation by the reader. Such an evaluation criterion can be useful for different applications: the comparison of segmentation results, the automatic choice of the best fitted parameters of a segmentation method for a given image, or the definition of new segmentation methods by optimization. We first present the state of art of distance evaluation measures, and then, we compare several evaluation criteria.
Intrinsic scenario estimation by noise fuzzy clustering in group decision making

Group decision making is an important issue in many societies and various decision support frameworks have been developed. However, it is mostly difficult to put together various feelings of many decision makers into a solo decision because they often make their decision based on different scenarios. This paper introduces a noise clustering-based approach for estimating intrinsic scenarios in group decision making in Delphi method and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) contexts. In several experiments, it is demonstrated that the noise clustering-based approach is useful for putting together the decisions of same scenarios in multi-scenario situations.
The effects of customer orientation on the product performance of technological innovations: A comparison between SMEs and large companies

In a high-technology marketplace, consumers and producers simultaneously face a high uncertainty concerning these technological advanced products. Companies have to anticipate costumer demands way in advance to satisfy the market adequately. Among other things, this is the reason why there are failure rates among technological innovations as high as 65%, when these high-tech products are launched into the market. One way to counteract this fatal development is to integrate customers as early as possible in the product development process in order to achieve an optimal ‘fit’ between market needs and technological possibilities. This study analyses customer orientation as part of market-orientation within the biggest German industrial markets. In this context, 108 managers were asked to answer a survey in order to find out about their companies' customer-integration methods, which are used to let the users be part of the product development process. In addition, this paper analyses the relationship between customer orientation, new product performance and company size. Surprisingly, correlation analysis shows that there is no significant relationship between customer orientation and new product performance in the group of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), whereas this correlation is highly significant in the group of big companies. This fact leads to the conclusion that customer-orientation is not as important for SMEs as it is for larger companies. SMEs are by definition closer to the market. They have fewer customers and have to work side by side with them. In contrast, large companies have to compensate their lack of closeness by using customer orientation methods to boost product performance and, therefore, business performance. On the other side, SMEs have to concentrate on other ways to enhance their firm performance.
Genetic inhibition of telomerase results in sensitization and recovery of breast tumor cells

Telomerase, a ribonucleoprotein enzyme minimally composed of an RNA template (human telomerase RNA) and a catalytically active protein subunit (human telomerase reverse transcriptase), synthesizes telomeric repeats onto chromosome ends and is obligatory for continuous tumor cell proliferation. Telomerase is an attractive anticancer therapeutic target because its activity is present in >90% of human cancers, including >95% of breast carcinomas. Traditional chemotherapies lack the ability to effectively control and cure breast cancer, in part because residual cells are often resistant to DNA-damaging modalities. Although numerous telomerase inhibition strategies cause cancer cells to undergo apoptosis or senescence, there is often a lag period between the beginning of the treatment regimen and a biological effect. Thus, our goal for these studies was to show that effectively blocking telomerase genetically together with standard chemotherapeutic agents, doxorubicin/Adriamycin or Taxol, would increase the sensitization and efficacy for triggering senescence and/or apoptosis in cultures of breast cancer cells while reducing toxicity. We find that blocking telomerase in breast tumor cells substantially increases the sensitization at lower doses of Adriamycin or Taxol and that the kinetics of senescence/apoptosis is more rapid at higher concentrations. Combined with telomerase inhibition, Taxol treatment induced both apoptosis (its typical cell fate) and senescence, both at high enough levels to suggest that these two cellular responses are not mutually exclusive. Genetic inhibition of telomerase is eventually reversed due to up-regulation of endogenous telomerase activity without a net change in telomere length, suggesting that telomerase inhibition itself, not necessarily short telomeres, is important for sensitization. [Mol Cancer Ther 2009;8(5):1319–27]
In vitro protein synthesis and measurement of the stability of messenger RNA in the blue-green alga, anabaena variabilis.

A cell-free preparation of the blue-green alga, Anabaena variabilis, that incorporates 14C-labelled amino acids into protein has been prepared and characterized. The activation of amino acids to amino acid transfer RNAs was characterized, and assembly of these into peptides has been described with respect to cofactor requirements and antibiotic sensitivity. The properties of these systems and the effect of antibiotics on them are similar to those of bacteria. Both natural and synthetic messenger RNA were effective in peptide formation. The kinetics of incorporation of [14C]uracil into RNA has been examined and the stability of labelled RNA from A. variabilis measured by radioactivity loss and by its role in directing peptide synthesis. The half-life of messenger RNA from this organism is approximately 12 min, and as such is comparable to that of bacteria when based upon the mean generation time of the respective organisms.