Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Anakinra for Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Systematic Review

Objective. To perform a systematic review of clinical effectiveness and safety of anakinra in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods. We searched Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and the reference lists of included articles for randomized controlled trials comparing anakinra to placebo in adults with RA. Results. Five trials involving 2846 patients, 781 randomized to placebo and 2065 to anakinra, were included. There was a significant improvement in the number of participants achieving American College of Rheumatology (ACR)20 (38% vs 23%) treated with anakinra 50–150 mg daily versus placebo after 24 weeks. ACR50 (18% vs 7%), ACR70 (7% vs 2%), Health Assessment Questionnaire, visual analog scale for pain, Larsen radiographic scores, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate all demonstrated significant improvement with anakinra versus placebo as well. There were no statistically significant differences noted in the number of withdrawals, deaths, adverse events (total and serious), and infections (total and serious). An increase in incidence of serious infections in anakinra versus the placebo group (1.8% vs 0.6%) was noted that may be clinically significant. Injection site reactions were significantly increased, occurring in 71% of anakinra versus 28% of placebo group. Conclusion. Anakinra is a relatively safe and modestly efficacious biologic therapy for RA. More studies are needed to evaluate safety and efficacy, especially in comparison to other therapies, and adverse event data for the longterm use of anakinra have yet to be assessed.
Associations Between Preschoolers' Daytime and Nighttime Sleep Parameters by El-Sheikh, Arsiwalla, Staton, Dyer, and Vaughn

This interesting and important article by El-Sheikh, Arsiwalla, Staton, Dyer, and Vaughn is among the first to examine correlations between objectively measured nocturnal sleep quality and quantity and daytime sleep (napping) in preschool-aged children attending day care, and has a number of policy and practical caregiver implications, particularly in regards to optimizing readiness for learning during this critical developmental period. The relation between “institutionalized” daytime sleep and nocturnal sleep occurring in the home has largely been unexplored, but clearly has a potential impact on a host of domains relevant to normal child development (i.e., mood regulation and social-emotional functioning, behavioral regulation, and cognitive functions). The substantial numbers of children in this age group regularly attending day care (60%), coupled with the alarming evidence that many preschool-aged children are getting less than the recommended amount of sleep at night, has created a scenario in which it is
VITAMIN D STATUS IN RELATION TO NUTRITIONAL DEPLETION AND MUSCLE FUNCTION IN PATIENTS WITH ADVANCED PULMONARY DISEASE

Muscle weakness is an important complication of advanced pulmonary disease and it is associated with reduced functional activity and lower survival. Vitamin D may be involved in muscle function. The aim of this study was to investigate determinants of calcidiol (25-hydroxycholecalciferol, the major circulating indicator of vitamin D) status and associations between vitamin D metabolites and muscle function in relation to nutritional depletion. Fifty-two percent of the underweight patients (n = 42) and 55% of the normal-weight ones (n = 29) had vitamin D deficiency (< 37.5 nmol/L). The resulting models of linear regression showed that, for the calcidiol model, 24.7% of the variation for calcidiol was explained by fat mass index, vitamin D intake, and FEV1/FVC. The results further suggested that vitamin D intake was a stronger predictor of calcidiol status in the underweight patients than in the normal-weight ones. In the resulting models for 6-minute walking distance, calcidiol was a significant predictor, which tended to be more marked in the underweight patients than in the normal-weight ones. Low serum calcidiol concentration was associated with fat mass, lung obstruction, and low intake of vitamin D, especially in the underweight patients, and calcidiol was a predictor of walking distance.
Controlling a Smartphone Using Gaze Gestures as the Input Mechanism

The emergence of small handheld devices such as tablets and smartphones, often with touch sensitive surfaces as their only input modality, has spurred a growing interest in the subject of gestures for human–computer interaction (HCI). It has been proven before that eye movements can be consciously controlled by humans to the extent of performing sequences of predefined movement patterns, or “gaze gestures” that can be used for HCI purposes in desktop computers. Gaze gestures can be tracked noninvasively using a video-based eye-tracking system. We propose here that gaze gestures can also be an effective input paradigm to interact with handheld electronic devices. We show through a pilot user study how gaze gestures can be used to interact with a smartphone, how they are easily assimilated by potential users, and how the Needleman-Wunsch algorithm can effectively discriminate intentional gaze gestures from otherwise typical gaze activity performed during standard interaction with a small smartphone screen. Hence, reliable gaze–smartphone interaction is possible with accuracy rates, depending on the modality of gaze gestures being used (with or without dwell), higher than 80 to 90%, negligible false positive rates, and completion speeds lower than 1 to 1.5 s per gesture. These encouraging results and the low-cost eye-tracking equipment used suggest the possibilities of this new HCI modality for the field of interaction with small-screen handheld devices.
Volume-rendered helical computerized tomography angiography in the detection and characterization of intracranial aneurysms.

OBJECT The goal of this study was to evaluate the utility of volume-rendered helical computerized tomography (CT) angiography in patients with intracranial aneurysms. The authors compared the abilities of CT angiography, digital subtraction (DS) angiography, and three-dimensional time-of-flight magnetic resonance (MR) angiography to characterize aneurysms. METHODS Helical CT angiography was performed in 45 patients with suspected intracranial aneurysms by using volume-rendered multiplanar reformatted (MPR) images. Digital subtraction angiography was performed using biplane angiography. These studies and those performed using MR angiography were interpreted in a blinded manner. Two neurosurgeons and two interventional neuroradiologists independently graded the utility of CT angiography with respect to aneurysm characterization. Fifty-five aneurysms were detected. Of these, 48 were evaluated for treatment. Computerized tomography angiography was judged to be superior to both DS and MR angiography in the evaluation of the arterial branching pattern at the aneurysm neck (compared with DS angiography, p = 0.001, and with MR angiography, p = 0.007), aneurysm neck geometry (compared with DS angiography, p = 0.001, and with MR angiography, p = 0.001), arterial branch incorporation (compared with DS angiography, p = 0.021, and with MR angiography, p = 0.001), mural thrombus (compared with DS angiography, p < 0.001), and mural calcification (compared with DS angiography, p < 0.001, and with MR angiography, p < 0.001). For surgical cases, CT angiography had a significant impact on treatment path (p = 0.001), operative approach (p = 0.001), and preoperative clip selection (p < 0.001). For endovascular cases, CT angiography had an impact on treatment path (p < 0.02), DS angiography study time (p = 0.01), contrast agent usage (p = 0.01), and coil selection (p = 0.02). Computerized tomography angiography provided unique information about 39 (81%) of 48 aneurysms, especially when compared with DS angiography (p = 0.003). The sensitivity and specificity of CT angiography compared with DS angiography was 1. The sensitivity and specificity of CT and DS angiography studies compared with operative findings were 0.98 and 1, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Computerized tomography angiography is equal to DS angiography in the detection and superior to DS angiography and MR angiography in the characterization of brain aneurysms. Information contained in volume-rendered CT angiography images had a significant impact on case management.
JsSandbox: A Framework for Analyzing the Behavior of Malicious JavaScript Code using Internal Function Hooking

Recently, many malicious users have attacked web browsers using JavaScript code that can execute dynamic actions within the browsers. By forcing the browser to execute malicious JavaScript code, the attackers can steal personal information stored in the system, allow malware program downloads in the client’s system, and so on. In order to reduce damage, malicious web pages must be located prior to general users accessing the infected pages. In this paper, a novel framework (JsSandbox) that can monitor and analyze the behavior of malicious JavaScript code using internal function hooking (IFH) is proposed. IFH is defined as the hooking of all functions in the modules using the debug information and extracting the parameter values. The use of IFH enables the monitoring of functions that API hooking cannot. JsSandbox was implemented based on a debugger engine, and some features were applied to detect and analyze malicious JavaScript code: detection of obfuscation, deobfuscation of the obfuscated string, detection of URLs related to redirection, and detection of exploit codes. Then, the proposed framework was analyzed for specific features, and the results demonstrate that JsSandbox can be applied to the analysis of the behavior of malicious web pages.
Lightweight coordinated checkpointing in cloud computing

Fault tolerance is actually an essential issue in cloud computing to face failures and minimize their damages. The checkpointing is a powerful fault tolerance technique that consists of saving the transient state of a computation system on a persistent storage from which the execution state can be restarted in case of failure. The coordinated checkpointing is an efficient checkpointing strategy because it is domino effect-free and it needs only the last stored checkpoint to ensure a consistent state. In this paper we propose a lightweight coordinated checkpointing for cloud computing that minimizes the overload of classical coordinated checkpointing by minimizing the number of the participating virtual machines (VMs) in each checkpointing interval. The experimental results prove that our proposal reduces the overload and improves the system performances.
Lineage-restricted neural precursors can be isolated from both the mouse neural tube and cultured ES cells.

We have previously identified multipotent neuroepithelial (NEP) stem cells and lineage-restricted, self-renewing precursor cells termed NRPs (neuron-restricted precursors) and GRPs (glial-restricted precursors) present in the developing rat spinal cord (A. Kalyani, K. Hobson, and M. S. Rao, 1997, Dev. Biol. 186, 202-223; M. S. Rao and M. Mayer-Proschel, 1997, Dev. Biol. 188, 48-63; M. Mayer-Proschel, A. J. Kalyani, T. Mujtaba, and M. S. Rao, 1997, Neuron 19, 773-785). We now show that cells identical to rat NEPs, NRPs, and GRPs are present in mouse neural tubes and that immunoselection against cell surface markers E-NCAM and A2B5 can be used to isolate NRPs and GRPs, respectively. Restricted precursors similar to NRPs and GRPs can also be isolated from mouse embryonic stem cells (ES cells). ES cell-derived NRPs are E-NCAM immunoreactive, undergo self-renewal in defined medium, and differentiate into multiple neuronal phenotypes in mass culture. ES cells also generate A2B5-immunoreactive cells that are similar to E9 NEP-cell-derived GRPs and can differentiate into oligodendrocytes and astrocytes. Thus, lineage restricted precursors can be generated in vitro from cultured ES cells and these restricted precursors resemble those derived from mouse neural tubes. These results demonstrate the utility of using ES cells as a source of late embryonic precursor cells.
High-gain amplifier with n-type transistors

A high-gain amplifier topology, with all single n-type enhancement transistors, is proposed in this paper. This type of circuits are essential in transparent TFT technologies, such as GIZO and ZnO that lack complementary type transistor. All circuits were simulated using BSIM3V3 model of a 0.35 μm CMOS technology, due to the absence of a complete electrical model for the TFTs. Results reveal that the proposed circuit promise more gain, lower power consumption and higher bandwidth than the existing solutions under identical bias conditions.
Hybrid fNIRS-EEG based discrimination of 5 levels of memory load

In this study, we show that both electroencephalograhy (EEG) and functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) can be used to discriminate between 5 levels of memory load. We induce memory load with the memory updating task, which is known to robustly generate memory load and allows us to define 5 different levels of load. Typical experiments only discriminate between low and high workload or up to a maximum of three classes. To the best of our knowledge, the memory updating task has not been used in combination with brain activity measurements before. Here, accuracies of up to 93% are achieved for the binary classification between very high and very low workload. On average, two levels of workload could be discriminated with 74% accuracy. Classification between the full five classes yielded 44% accuracy on average. Despite the fact that EEG results consistently outperformed the results obtained with fNIRS, we could show that the feature-level fusion of both modalities increased robustness of classification results. A reliable discrimination between different levels of memory load could be used to adapt user interfaces or present the right amount of information to a learner.
Imaging of various surface properties of fluorescently labelled phospholipid Langmuir–Blodgett films with a combined scanning probe microscope

We present results of phase separation of a single‐component system of 1,2‐dihexadecanoyl‐sn‐glycero‐3‐phospho‐[N‐(4‐nitrobenz)‐2‐oxa‐1,3‐diazolyl]ethanolamine in which a liquid‐condensed (LC) phase co‐exists with a liquid‐expanded (LE) phase. Domain formation in the co‐existence region was studied using a newly developed combined scanning near‐field optical microscope–atomic force microscope (SNOM–AFM). We demonstrate for the first time that the topographic, friction, fluorescence and surface potential distributions for a phase‐separated single‐component Langmuir–Blodgett film between the LE and LC phases can be simultaneously observed using the SNOM–AFM with a thin‐step etched optical fibre probe.
Detection of chromosomal aneusomy by fluorescence in situ hybridization for patients with nipple discharge

Breast carcinoma and precancer are believed to start in the lining of the milk duct or lobule. Ductography and fiberoptic ductoscopy (FDS) are used to identify abnormal intraductal lesions, although it is difficult to distinguish malignant from benign cases. Therefore, we studied the clinical usefulness of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis of a numerical aberration of chromosomes (aneusomy) using ductal lavage from patients with nipple discharge.
Antibiotic Susceptibility of Anaerobic Ruminal Bacteria

This study demonstrated that 15 species of ruminal bacteria with no previous history of contact with antibiotics are susceptible to bacitracin, chloramphenicol, chlortetracycline, erythromycin, novobiocin, oleandomycin, oxytetracycline, penicillin, tetracycline, tylosin, and vancomycin. A number of the species were not inhibited by kanamycin, neomycin, polymyxin, and streptomycin. The data suggest that antibiotic-resistant cells occur within susceptible cultures of these species. Streptococcus bovis FD-10 and a nonruminal anaerobe, Bacteroides melaninogenicus BE-1, showed similar antibiotic susceptibilities. Images Fig. 1
Scleroderma stellatum versus Scleroderma bermudense: the status of Scleroderma echinatum and the first record of Veligaster nitidum from the Virgin Islands

The type of Scleroderma stellatum from Brazil exhibits a sharp echinulate, dark brown peridium, and the type of S. bermudense from Bermuda has a peridium that is loosely woven and fibrillose, whitish to pale brownish. These characters indicate two independent species. This information is contrary to that of Guzmán in 1970, who interpreted S. bermudense to be a synonym of S. stellatum based on the similar spores. Scleroderma echinatum from Borneo and Panama, as recently discussed by Guzmán and Ovrebo, also has an echinulate, dark brown peridium and is a synonym of S. stellatum. All these fungi have a stellate dehiscence. New records of S. bermudense from the Greater Antilles and Mexico’s Pacific Coast, and Veligaster nitidum from Virgin Islands also are discussed.
Insulin Antibody Response to a Short Course of Human Insulin Therapy in Women With Gestational Diabetes

OBJECTIVE To assess the insulin antibody (IA) response to human insulin (HI) therapy in women with gestational diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS IAs were measured by a competitive radiobinding assay in 50 women with gestational diabetes before and during treatment with HI and after delivery. At delivery, 15 maternal-cord blood sample pairs were analyzed for IA. As a reference, we searched for IA in 25 new-onset type I diabetic patients, before and at 3, 6, and 12 months after insulin therapy. RESULTS Insulin autoantibodies (IAAs) were detected in 1 of 50 women with gestational diabetes and 4 of 16 type I diabetic patients (P < 0.05). At the end of pregnancy after 9.3 ± 6.8 weeks on insulin therapy, 22 of 50 (44%) women with gestational diabetes became IA+ and 4 additional women were found to be positive 2 months postpartum. After 3 months on insulin, type I diabetic patients showed a higher rate of IA positivity (92%, P < 0.001). IA titers at the end of pregnancy were associated with the cumulative insulin dose (r = 0.29, P < 0.05). Postpartum, IA disappeared slowly in most IA+ women, but two women still showed IA 2 years after delivery Titers in cord blood were strongly related to those in maternal blood (r = 0.74, P < 0.01). The rate of adverse fetal outcome did not differ in IA− and IA+ mothers (27 vs. 40%, NS). CONCLUSIONS HI is immunogenic, and a short course of HI therapy induces IA in ∼ 50% of women with gestational diabetes and 92% of type I diabetic patients. In women with gestational diabetes, insulin dose is slightly associated with IA titers. These IAs apparently cross the placenta. Fetal outcome does not differ according to the maternal IA status, and IAs disappear gradually after delivery but may remain positive for 2 years after delivery.
Fast and Accurate Current Sensing in a Multiphase Buck Converter

Voltage regulator modules (VRM), which are used to power advanced microprocessors, have stringent efficiency and transient response requirements. A multiphase buck converter scheme with inner current loop control is one of the candidates for use in this application because of its ability to achieve fast dynamic current response under step-load conditions. In order to realize the full potential of the scheme, a small, efficient and accurate current sensor with high bandwidth is essential. The paper proposes a current sensing technique capable of high performance based on current transformers. The requirements and the design of the current transformer to be used in the scheme are presented. Finally, experimental results on a step down buck converter, controlled in peak current mode using such a sensor, are provided to confirm its performance. The proposed technique can also be applied to several other types of power converters besides the multiphase buck converter
Control strategy based on double coordinates for three-phase grid-connected inverters

The conventional indirect current control mode for three-phase grid-connected inverter is analyzed according to mathematical model of inverter. The d-axis component of inverter voltage is always equal to peak voltage of power grid if power factor (PF) is equal to 1 and equivalent line resistor is ignored. A novel indirect current control strategy, which uses closed-loop of d-axis component of grid current to adjust q-axis component of inverter voltage, is proposed according to this conclusion. The power factor is affected by R and accuracy of measured grid voltage. In order to improve the power factor, a control strategy for grid-connected inverter based on double d-q coordinates is proposed. The different variables are located in different coordinates. However, all variables are still satisfied parallelogram law and the inverter can run in unity power factor. The validity and advancement of the proposed control scheme are verified by the simulation results.
Chemical Characterization of the Lipopolysaccharide of Pseudomonas solanacearum

The carbohydrates present in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Pseudomonas solanacearum are rhamnose, xylose, 2-amino-2-deoxyglucose, glucose, heptose, and 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate. LPS extracted from cultures grown on either glycerol or glucose (as the major source of carbon) and extracted after various incubation periods had similar compositions. The LPS from several strains of the bacterium contained the same component sugars, but the amounts of each sugar varied considerably. It was observed, however, that xylose and 2-amino-2-deoxyglucose increased proportionately with rhamnose, the major component. Phenol-water-extracted LPS contained measurable amounts of nucleic acid, protein, and arabinan, but none of these polymers were detected in LPS extracted with phenol-chloroform-petroleum ether. Polysaccharides liberated from LPS by mild acid hydrolysis were purified by gel filtration. Carbohydrate analysis of the LPS from a virulent, fluidal strain (K60) showed that the O-specific antigen consisted of rhamnose, xylose, and 2-amino-2-deoxyglucose in the proportions 4:1:1. The LPS of an avirulent, afluidal strain (B1) lacked the O-specific antigen; the R-core region consisted of rhamnose, glucose, heptose, and 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate. Methylation analysis indicated that the K60 O-specific antigen was composed of a hexasaccharide repeating unit containing 3-, 2-, and 3,4-substituted rhamnopyranosyl residues, 3-substituted 2-amino-2-deoxyglucose, and terminal xylopyranose in the molar ratios 2:1:1:1:1.
Brain activity recognition with a wearable fNIRS using neural networks

Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) has taken the focus in the domain of Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) in the recent years. However, there is not yet a defined standard for the treatment of data obtained through fNIRS. This study aims at evaluating the performance of deep neural networks and convolutional neural networks in the classification of different stimulus in the prefrontal cortex, caused by predefined activities: subtractions, word generation, and rest. After optimizing both types of networks, experimental results suggest deep neural networks to be more precise, but convolutional neural networks to be faster to train. It also shows that neither type of network is able to distinguish subtraction from word generation.