Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adverse effects of chronic endogenous sympathetic drive induced by cardiac GS alpha overexpression.

To study the physiological effect of the overexpression of myocardial Gsalpha (protein levels increased by approximately threefold in transgenic mice), we examined the responsiveness to sympathomimetic amines by echocardiography (9 MHz) in five transgenic mice and five control mice (both 10.3 +/- 0.2 months old). Myocardial contractility in transgenic mice, as assessed by left ventricular (LV) fractional shortening (LVFS) and LV ejection fraction (LVEF) was not different from that of control mice at baseline (LVFS, 40 +/- 3% versus 36 +/- 2%; LVEF, 78 +/- 3% versus 74 +/- 3%). LVFS and LVEF values in transgenic mice during isoproterenol (ISO, 0.02 micrograms/kg per minute) infusion were higher than the values in control mice (LVFS, 68 +/- 4% versus 48 +/- 3%; LVEF, 96 +/- 1% versus 86 +/- 3%; P < .05). Norepinephrine (NE, 0.2 micrograms/kg per minute) infusion also increased LVFS and LVEF in transgenic mice more than in control mice (LVFS, 59 +/- 4% versus 47 +/- 3%; LVEF, 93 +/- 2% versus 85 +/- 3%; P < .05). Heart rates of transgenic mice were higher than those of control mice during ISO and NE infusion. In three transgenic mice with heart rates held constant, LV dP/dt rose by 33 +/- 2% with ISO (0.02 micrograms/kg per minute) and by only 13 +/- 2% in three wild-type control mice (P < .01). NE (0.1 micrograms/kg per minute) also induced a greater effect on LV dP/dt in the three transgenic mice with heart rates held constant compared with three wild-type control mice (65 +/ 8% versus 28 +/- 4%, P < .05). Pathological and histological analyses of older transgenic mouse hearts (16.0 +/- 0.8 months old) revealed hypertrophy, degeneration, atrophy of cells, and replacement fibrosis reflected by significant increases in collagen volume in the subendocardium (5.2 +/- 1.4% versus 1.2 +/- 0.3%, P < .05) and in the cross-sectional area of myocytes (298 +/- 29 versus 187 +/- 12 micron2, P < .05) compared with control mouse hearts. These results suggest that Gsalpha overexpression enhances the efficacy of the beta-adrenergic receptor-Gs-adenylyl cyclase signaling pathway. This in turn leads to augmented inotropic and chronotropic responses to endogenous sympathetic stimulation. This action over the life of the animal results in myocardial damage characterized by cellular degeneration, necrosis, and replacement fibrosis, with the remaining cells undergoing compensatory hypertrophy. As a model, this transgenic mouse offers new insights into the mechanisms of cardiomyopathy and heart failure and provides a new tool for their study.
Classification of Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Image Using Hierarchical Local-Receptive-Field-Based Extreme Learning Machine

This letter proposes a novel classification approach for a hyperspectral image (HSI) using a hierarchical local-receptive-field (LRF)-based extreme learning machine (ELM). As a fast and accurate pattern classification algorithm, ELM has been applied in numerous fields, including the HSI classification. The LRF concept originates from research in neuroscience. Considering the local correlations of spectral features, it is promising to improve the performance of HSI classification by introducing the LRFs. Recent research on deep learning has shown that hierarchical architectures with more layers can potentially extract abstract representation and invariant features for better classification performance. Therefore, we further extend the LRF-based ELM method to a hierarchical model for HSI classification. Experimental results on two widely used real hyperspectral data sets confirm the effectiveness of the proposed HSI classification approach.
Performance of a wavelet-based OFDM-CDMA high speed power line communication system

This paper derives an equivalent M-band discrete wavelet transmission mode of OFDM transmission systems, and presents a new quadrature M-band discrete wavelet-based OFDM-CDMA communication systems for high speed power line communication (PLC) channels. This system gives much better suppression inter-channel interference (ICI), inter-symbol interference (ISI), narrowband interference (NBI), multi-user interference (MUI) and noise interference performance, which is verified by simulation
Multifactorial genetics of exencephaly in SELH/Bc mice.

BACKGROUND The SELH/Bc mouse strain has 10-30% exencephaly and is an animal model for human neural tube closure defects. This study examined the number of causative genes, their dominance relationships, and linkage map positions. METHODS The SELH/Bc strain (S) was crossed to the normal LM/Bc strain (L) and frequencies of exencephaly were observed in the F(1), BC(1), and F(2) generations. 102 F(2) males were individually testcrossed by SELH/Bc. The extremes, the 10 highest and 10 zero exencephaly-producing F(2) sires, were typed for 109 SSLP marker loci in a genome screen. Next, the resultant five provisional chromosomal regions were tested for linkage in 31 F(2) exencephalic embryos. Finally, 12 males, SS or LL for the Chr 13 region on an LM/Bc background, were testcrossed by SELH/Bc. RESULTS The exencephaly frequencies in the F(1) (0.3%), BC(1) (4.4%), and F(2) (3.7%), and the distribution of F(2) males' testcross values (0-15.5%), indicated that the high risk of exencephaly in SELH/Bc is due to the cumulative effect of two or three loci. Linkage studies indicated the location of semidominant exencephaly-risk genes on Chr 13 near D13Mit13 (P < 0.001), Chr 5 near D5Mit168 (P < 0.025), and possibly Chr 11 near D11Mit10 (P < 0.07). The gene on Chr 13, Exen1, and the strong role of other loci were confirmed by the congenic males. CONCLUSIONS The high risk of exencephaly in SELH/Bc mice is caused by the cumulative effect of two to three semidominant genes. Candidate genes include Msx2, Madh5, Ptch, and Irx1 (Chr 13) and Actb and Rac1 (Chr 5).
Effect of antiresorptive therapy on day-to-day variation of urinary free deoxypyridinoline excretion.

Measurement of bone markers provides information about bone resorption and formation. One of the proposed clinical applications is to monitor antiresorptive therapy (1); however, this could be precluded because bone markers show day-to-day and circadian variation (2)(3)(4)(5)(6). High intraindividual variation might be the principal cause of limited utility in the individual patient. Most of the studies on variability were done in untreated individuals. Therefore we decided to evaluate the effect of antiresorptive therapy on day-to-day variation of urinary free deoxypyridinoline (DPD). Eight postmenopausal women (mean age, 62.5 ± 3.9 years) were studied. They all had osteoporosis (defined according WHO densitometric criteria) and pretherapy baseline DPD values above the upper limit of the reference interval …
Nitrogen Removal via Nitrite from Seawater Contained Sewage

Abstract Under the control of both pH and the concentration of free ammonia (FA), the nitrification–denitrification via nitrite pathway was accomplished in SBR to achieve enhanced biological nitrogen removal from seawater contained wastewater, which is used to flush toilet, under relatively high salinity. Several parameters including salinity, temperature, pH, and -N loading rate were studied to evaluate their effects. The results indicate that at different salinity the nitrogen removal efficiency is relative to ammonia-nitrogen loading rate. The nitrogen removal efficiency reaches above 90% when the -N loading does not exceed 0.15 kg -N/kgMLSS d. With the salinity increasing, the ammonia-nitrogen loading rate should be lowered to obtain high removal efficiency. The evaluation of temperature effect shows that nitrogen removal efficiency is promoted twice when reaction temperature is elevated from 20 to 30°C. Moderately high pH in the range of 7.5–8.5 has advantage to achieve effective nitrification–denitrification via nitrite, the process of which is caused by the selective inhibition of free ammonia (FA).
Sub-Doppler laser spectroscopy of molecular iodine at 578 nm

We carry out sub-Doppler laser spectroscopy of hyperfine components of rovibrational transitions of molecular iodine at 578 nm using second harmonic generation of an 1156-nm external-cavity diode laser. The absolute frequencies of the hyperfine components can be determined by using an optical frequency comb to referenced to the Coordinated Universal Time of the National Metrology Institute of Japan. The hyperfine components at 578 nm can be good frequency references for the 1So-3Po clock transition in atomic ytterbium.
Tobacco industry efforts to defeat the occupational safety and health administration indoor air quality rule.

OBJECTIVES We describe tobacco industry strategies to defeat the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Indoor Air Quality rule and the implementation of those strategies. METHODS We analyzed tobacco industry documents, public commentary on, and media coverage of the OSHA rule. RESULTS The tobacco industry had 5 strategies: (1) maintain scientific debate about the basis of the rule, (2) delay deliberation on the rule, (3) redefine the scope of the rule, (4) recruit and assist labor and business organizations in opposing the rule, and (5) increase media coverage of the tobacco industry position. The tobacco industry successfully implemented all 5 strategies. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that regulatory authorities must take into account the source, motivation, and validity of arguments used in the regulatory process in order to make accurately informed decisions.
Integration of RFID with Mobile Commerce for consumer marketing

Mobile commerce (M-commerce) and radio frequency identification (RFID) are two major industries which everyone recognizes their contribution at the overall world economy. In order to have an integrated information system, the purpose of this paper is to integrate RFID technology with M-commerce so as to promote products and unique cross-selling to consumers, which can transform a traditional retail industry to be more effective in coping with market changes. A RFID prototype system with mobile capabilities is being designed in an integration framework and a virtual retail store is being developed to demonstrate and enhances the feasibility of this convergence. The proposed prototype is analyzed at all three functional levels: device, application and process. The significance of the paper is to provide a novel approach by incorporate RFID and data mining technologies in M-commerce for consumer marketing.
Risk of Multiple Myeloma following Medication Use and Medical Conditions: A Case-Control Study in Connecticut Women

Background: Certain commonly used drugs and medical conditions characterized by chronic immune dysfunction and/or antigen stimulation have been suggested to affect important pathways in multiple myeloma tumor cell growth and survival. We conducted a population-based case-control study to investigate the role of medical history in the etiology of multiple myeloma among Connecticut women. Methods: A total of 179 incident multiple myeloma cases (21-84 years, diagnosed 1996-2002) and 691 population-based controls was included in this study. Information on medical conditions, medications, and medical radiation was obtained by in-person interviews. We calculated odds ratios (OR) as measures of relative risks using logistic regression models. Results: A reduced multiple myeloma risk was found among women who had used antilipid statin therapy [OR, 0.4; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.2-0.8] or estrogen replacement therapy (OR, 0.6; 95% CI, 0.4-0.99) or who had a medical history of allergy (OR, 0.4; 95% CI, 0.3-0.7), scarlet fever (OR, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.2-0.9), or bursitis (OR, 0.4; 95% CI, 0.2-0.7). An increased risk of multiple myeloma was found among women who used prednisone (OR, 5.1; 95% CI, 1.8-14.4), insulin (OR, 3.1; 95% CI, 1.1-9.0), or gout medication (OR, 6.7; 95% CI, 1.2-38.0). Conclusions: If our results are confirmed, mechanistic studies examining how prior use of insulin, prednisone, and, perhaps, gout medication might promote increased occurrence of multiple myeloma and how antilipid statins, estrogen replacement therapy, and certain medical conditions might protect against multiple myeloma may provide insights to the as yet unknown etiology of multiple myeloma. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15(12):2342–7)
Underwater image enhancement strategy with virtual retina model and image quality assessment

Underwater image enhancement is one of the most essential and fundamental tasks in ocean investigations recent years. In this paper, we made an attempt to develop one adaptive underwater image enhancement approach with the help of the virtual retina model and the image quality assessment (IQA). The virtual retina model, which yields comparatively high correlation with the human vision system, is first taken to achieve simultaneous ambiguity removing and detail enhancing of single image due to the specific mechanisms of different retinal sub-layers. After this, an adaptive image enhancement strategy is taken with one kind of no-reference image quality assessment based Patch Discrete Cosine Transform (PDCT), which indicates whether the image patches are naturally uniform or not. It is shown in the simulation experiment that the proposed approach could achieve great performances in both robustness and effectiveness, with good behaviors in the vision effects and precision for the underwater images.
Modeling Longitudinal Data with Nonignorable Dropouts Using a Latent Dropout Class Model

Summary. In longitudinal studies with dropout, pattern‐mixture models form an attractive modeling framework to account for nonignorable missing data. However, pattern‐mixture models assume that the components of the mixture distribution are entirely determined by the dropout times. That is, two subjects with the same dropout time have the same distribution for their response with probability one. As that is unlikely to be the case, this assumption made lead to classification error. In addition, if there are certain dropout patterns with very few subjects, which often occurs when the number of observation times is relatively large, pattern‐specific parameters may be weakly identified or require identifying restrictions. We propose an alternative approach, which is a latent‐class model. The dropout time is assumed to be related to the unobserved (latent) class membership, where the number of classes is less than the number of observed patterns; a regression model for the response is specified conditional on the latent variable. This is a type of shared‐parameter model, where the shared “parameter” is discrete. Parameter estimates are obtained using the method of maximum likelihood. Averaging the estimates of the conditional parameters over the distribution of the latent variable yields estimates of the marginal regression parameters. The methodology is illustrated using longitudinal data on depression from a study of HIV in women.
Relationship between tissue reperfusion and postinfarction left ventricular remodelling in patients with anterior wall myocardial infarction treated with primary coronary angioplasty.

INTRODUCTION Pathological left ventricular remodelling is considered the main cause of heart failure in patients after myocardial infarction. AIM The purpose of this study was to evaluate correlations between the degree of coronary microvascular reperfusion assessed by means of the angiographic myocardial blush grade (MBG) scale and adverse left ventricular remodelling in patients with acute myocardial infarction treated with primary coronary angioplasty. METHODS This study involved 92 consecutive patients, hospitalised because of their first anterior wall myocardial infarction, who underwent successful (TIMI-3 grade flow) primary coronary angioplasty. Angiographic myocardial reperfusion parameters (MBG, corrected TIMI Frame Count) were assessed. Three days and 6 months after the index PCI all patients underwent an echocardiographic examination and such parameters as end-diastolic volume (EDV), left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) and contractility index (WMSI) were calculated. RESULTS The patients were divided into two groups: group 1 with impaired myocardial reperfusion (MBG 0-1) (n=32) and group 2 with adequate tissue reperfusion (MBG 2-3) (n=60). Negative left ventricular remodelling was observed more frequently in group 1 than in group 2 (28.1% vs 10%, p=0.029). More patients in group 1 presented heart failure symptoms (56.3% vs 25%, p=0.013). CONCLUSIONS Failure of tissue reperfusion assessed by means of angiographic indices (MBG 0-1) in patients with myocardial infarction treated with primary coronary angioplasty is associated with a higher rate of adverse myocardial remodelling and heart failure at 6 months after myocardial infarction.
Further Comparison of Temperature Effects on Growth and Survival of Clostridium perfringens Type A Isolates Carrying a Chromosomal or Plasmid-Borne Enterotoxin Gene

ABSTRACT Clostridium perfringens type A isolates can carry the enterotoxin gene (cpe) on either their chromosome or a plasmid, but food poisoning isolates usually have a chromosomal cpe gene. This linkage between chromosomal cpe isolates and food poisoning has previously been attributed, at least in part, to better high-temperature survival of chromosomal cpe isolates than of plasmid cpe isolates. In the current study we assessed whether vegetative cells and spores of chromosomal cpe isolates also survive better than vegetative cells and spores of plasmid cpe isolates survive when the vegetative cells and spores are subjected to low temperatures. Vegetative cells of chromosomal cpe isolates exhibited about eightfold-higher decimal reduction values (D values) at 4°C and threefold-higher D values at −20°C than vegetative cells of plasmid cpe isolates exhibited. After 6 months of incubation at 4°C and −20°C, the average log reductions in viability for spores of plasmid cpe isolates were about fourfold and about threefold greater, respectively, than the average log reductions in viability for spores from chromosomal cpe isolates. C. perfringens type A isolates carrying a chromosomal cpe gene also grew significantly faster than plasmid cpe isolates grew at 25°C, 37°C, or 43°C. In addition, chromosomal cpe isolates grew at higher maximum and lower minimum temperatures than plasmid cpe isolates grew. Collectively, these results suggest that chromosomal cpe isolates are commonly involved in food poisoning because of their greater resistance to low (as well as high) temperatures for both survival and growth. They also indicate the importance of proper low-temperature storage conditions, as well as heating, for prevention of C. perfringens type A food poisoning.
Effect of HbA1C detection on the diagnostic screening for glucose metabolic disorders in polycystic ovary syndrome.

PURPOSE This study aimed to assess the effect of hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) detection on the diagnostic screening for glucose metabolic disorders in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 161 patients with PCOS (mean age = 23.68 +/- 4.23 years) were subjected to an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted to evaluate the fasting plasma glucose (FPG), and HbA1C was used to probe the sensitivity and specificity of abnormal glucose tolerance. RESULTS Based on the traditional standards of blood sugar, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes was 5.6%, and the pre-diabetes prevalence was 7.5%. Based on the HbA1C standards, 4.3% of patients were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and 10.6% of the diabetic patients can be considered as high-risk populations. Based on the combined standards of OGTT and HbA1C, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes was 6.2%, and the pre-diabetes prevalence was 12.4%. OGTT is considered the gold standard for identifying abnormal glucose tolerance, and HbA1C detection is considered to be stronger than FPG. The areas under the ROC curves of HbA1C and FPG were 0.968 and 0.672, respectively (p < 0.01). The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends the cut-off value of HbA1c > or = 5.7% and FPG > or = 5.6 mmol/l for identifying abnormal glucose tolerance. The sensitivity and specificity were 76.7% and 89.5% for HBA1C, as well as 40.5% and 94.3% for FPG, respectively. The positive and negative likelihood ratios were 7.3 and 0.26 for HbA1C, as well as 7.1 and 0.63 for FPG, respectively. CONCLUSION HbA1C detection can be used as a method for diagnosis and screening.
Similarity Aware SQL Based Group-By Operators for Multidimensional Relational Data

The SQL group-by operator plays crucial role in summarizing large datasets in a data analytics. Allowing similarity aware grouping provides a more rational view on real-world data that could lead to better insights. Existing similarity-based grouping operators primarily focus on onedimensional attributes. However correlated attributes, such as in spatial data, are processed independently. Hence, groups in the multi-dimensional space are not detected properly. To address this problem, two new SGB operators for multi-dimensional data are introduced. The first operator is the clique (or distance-to-all) nSGB, where all the tuples in a group are within some distance from each other. The second operator is the distance-to-any SGB, where a tuple belongs to a group if that tuple is within some distance from any other tuple in the group. Since a tuple may satisfy the membership criterion of multiple groups, we introduce three different semantics to deal with such a case: (i) eliminate the tuple, (ii) put the tuple in any one group, and (iii) create a new group for this tuple. The experimental study, based on TPC -H and a social check-in data proposes that the proposed algorithms can achieve up to three orders of magnitude improvement in performance over baseline methods developed to solve the same problem.
2D Hand Gesture Recognition Methods for Interactive Board Game Applications

PCT No. PCT/GB97/00739 Sec. 371 Date Oct. 23, 1998 Sec. 102(e) Date Oct. 23, 1998 PCT Filed Mar. 18, 1997 PCT Pub. No. WO97/40108 PCT Pub. Date Oct. 30, 1997An ink composition comprising a water-soluble reactive dye comprising at least three chromophoric groups linked to a polyamine; and a medium comprising at least one of a low melting point solid, an organic solvent and a mixture of water and one or more water-soluble organic solvent(s).
Ni(II) Complexes with bis(β-Acylvinyl)amines and (8-Quinolyl-β-acylvinyl)amines

The title complexes have been obtained and shown by elemental analysis, IR and PMR spectra to be octahedral. The trans structure has been assigned to bis(β-acylvinyl)amine complexes based on magnetic equivalence of geminal methyl groups in appropriately substituted representatives of this group of compounds. The (8-quinolyl-β-acylvinyl)-amine complexes may have either trans or s-cis (meso) configuration.
An Optimization Algorithm Based on Brainstorming Process

In this paper, the human brainstorming process is modeled, based on which two versions of Brain Storm Optimization (BSO) algorithm are introduced. Simulation results show that both BSO algorithms perform reasonably well on ten benchmark functions, which validates the effectiveness and usefulness of the proposed BSO algorithms. Simulation results also show that one of the BSO algorithms, BSO-II, performs better than the other BSO algorithm, BSO-I, in general. Furthermore, average inter-cluster distance Dc and inter-cluster diversity De are defined, which can be used to measure and monitor the distribution of cluster centroids and information entropy of the population over iterations. Simulation results illustrate that further improvement could be achieved by taking advantage of information revealed by Dc and/or De, which points at one direction for future research on BSO algorithms.