Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hypertension as a determinant of survival for patients treated with home dialysis.

BACKGROUND Previous studies of the risks of hypertension for dialysis patients have yielded conflicting results. The aim of this study was to investigate, in a home dialysis population with low rates of diabetes and antihypertensive drug use, whether blood pressure (BP) was an independent risk factor for survival. METHODS The outcome of 168 consecutive patients (94 male, 88% Caucasian), aged 48 years (SD 16), who began home hemodialysis (HD; N = 124) or home continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD; N = 44) between January 1, 1985 and December 31, 1994 were analyzed retrospectively. Only 4.7% of patients took antihypertensive drugs while on dialysis. The patients were followed to December 31, 1998 with the primary outcome being all-cause mortality. Censoring events were transplantation, transfer to another center and treatment modality change. The Cox proportional hazard model was used with baseline predictors. RESULTS Seventy-one patients died and the median overall survival was 4.2 years (5.6 on HD, 2.2 on CAPD, P < 0.0001). Mean BP at start of dialysis predicted survival on its own (P = 0.0009) and in the joint Cox model (P = 0.047). Other significant predictors in the joint model were age [10 year increase, relative hazard (RH) = 1.55, P = 0.0008], albumin (10 g/L decrease, RH = 2.05, P = 0.007), diabetes (RH = 3.42, P = 0.015) and peripheral vascular disease (RH = 2.19, P = 0.02) but not dialysis modality (RH = 1.63, P = 0.13). High and low mean blood pressure (BP) values at the start of dialysis were associated with the highest mortality. CONCLUSIONS Among the home dialysis patients, most of whom did not require antihypertensive drugs, hypertension was a risk factor for survival and patients with mid-range BP values survived the longest.
Association between serum phosphate and calcium, long-term blood pressure, and mortality in treated hypertensive adults

Objectives: Abnormalities of bone mineral parameters are associated with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease and the general population. Methods: We assessed the impact of baseline serum phosphate and calcium on longitudinal blood pressure (BP) control and survival in hypertensive adults. We studied 9260 hypertensive adults followed for 40 years (151 789 person-years). Changes in BP over initial 5-year follow-up were analysed using generalized estimating equations. Survival analyses were performed using Cox proportional hazards model. Results: Serum phosphate levels were higher in hypertensive women (1.10 mmol/l ± 0.20) than compared to men (1.02 mmol/l ± 0.21). In treated hypertensive patients, higher baseline serum phosphate was significantly associated with poor longitudinal SBP reduction (one standard deviation increase in phosphate was associated with 0.22 and 0.59 mmHg higher SBP at 5 years in men and women, respectively). Higher serum phosphate was significantly associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in men, whereas in men and women, serum calcium significantly predicted all-cause and noncardiovascular mortality. In hypertensive patients with chronic kidney disease, higher phosphate was significantly associated with poorer survival. Conclusion: In hypertensive patients, serum phosphate and calcium are significantly associated with reduced all-cause and cardiovascular survival and this appears not to be related to BP control.
Accelerometer Sensor Specifications to Predict Hydrocarbon Using Passive Seismic Technique

The ambient seismic ground noise has been investigated in several surveys worldwide in the last 10 years to verify the correlation between observed seismic energy anomalies at the surface and the presence of hydrocarbon reserves beneath. This is due to the premise that anomalies provide information about the geology and potential presence of hydrocarbon. However a technology gap manifested in nonoptimal detection of seismic signals of interest is observed. This is due to the fact that available sensors are not designed on the basis of passive seismic signal attributes and mainly in terms of amplitude and bandwidth. This is because of that fact that passive seismic acquisition requires greater instrumentation sensitivity, noise immunity, and bandwidth, with active seismic acquisition, where vibratory or impulsive sources were utilized to receive reflections through geophones. Therefore, in the case of passive seismic acquisition, it is necessary to select the best monitoring equipment for its success or failure. Hence, concerning sensors performance, this paper highlights the technological gap and motivates developing dedicated sensors for optimal solution at lower frequencies. Thus, the improved passive seismic recording helps in oil and gas industry to perform better fracture mapping and identify more appropriate stratigraphy at low frequencies.
In Silico Screening and Validation of PDGFRA Inhibitors Enhancing Radioiodine Sensitivity in Thyroid Cancer

Aberrant activation of platelet-derived growth factor receptor α (PDGFRA) has been implicated in tumorigenesis and radioiodine resistance of thyroid cancer, indicating its therapeutic potential. In the present study, we confirmed the association between PDGFRA and radioiodine resistance in thyroid cancer using bioinformatics analysis and constructed a prediction model of PDGFRA inhibitors using machine learning and molecular docking approaches. We then performed a virtual screening of a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) derived compound library and successfully identified 4’,5,7-trimethoxyflavone as a potential PDGFRA inhibitor. Further characterization revealed a significant inhibitory effect of 4’,5,7-trimethoxyflavone on PDGFRA-MAPK pathway activation, and that it could upregulate expression of sodium iodide symporter (NIS) as well as improve radioiodine uptake capacity of radioiodine-refractory thyroid cancer (RAIR-TC), suggesting it a potential drug lead for the development of new RAIR-TC therapy.
Assessing the Influence of Rock Music on Emotions

27 Using projective and objective measures, effects of rock music on emotion were investigated. Sixty students were randomly assigned to three conditions: hard rock, soft rock, and no music. One group listened to hard rock music while taking a projective test with five ink blots and an objective test with an Emotional Assessment Scale (EAS). The same procedure was used for the second group while listening to soft rock. A control group was given the same procedure with no music. Two one way analyses of variance and a Pearson’s correlation were used to determine if types of music affected one’s emotions using projective and objective measures. Significant differences were discovered comparing music with: projective measures, F (2, 59) = 4.41, p < . 05, the preference of soft rock over hard rock, r (40) = . 37, p < . 01, and six of eight emotions on the EAS. Data analyses revealed significant differences between types of rock music and their effects on emotions. ABSTRACT
A comparative study of selected physical properties of five root-canal sealers.

AIM To investigate selected physical properties of five root-canal sealers. METHODOLOGY The solubility, film thickness, flow, working and setting times of Roth 801, Tubli-Seal EWT, AH Plus, Apexit and Endion were evaluated. Solubility was measured by weight change of standard specimens in water over a 3-month period. Film thickness was measured as the distance between weighted glass slides containing a standard quantity of sealer. Flow was assessed by rate of sealer extrusion through a standard bore diameter, after unit time. Working time was taken as the point at which flow rate was reduced by 10%. The indentation test using a modified Gilmore needle was employed to investigate the setting times. RESULTS AH Plus was the least soluble, whilst Apexit was the most unstable in water. The solubility values in increasing order were: AH Plus<Tubli-Seal EWT<Endion<Apexit. Also, AH Plus had the highest film thickness. All sealers showed comparable flow rates. The working time varied from 50 min for Endion to over 2 h for AH Plus and Tubli-Seal EWT. The range of setting times recorded was from 70 min for Tubli-Seal EWT to 8 days for Roth 801. CONCLUSIONS 1. AH Plus showed the greatest stability in solution and Tubli-Seal EWT performed well, but Apexit and Endion had higher solubility values. 2. The film thickness values in increasing order were: Tubli-Seal EWT<Apexit<Endion=Roth 801<AH Plus. 3. The flow rates for all sealers were similar. 4. The working times for all sealers were greater than 50 min. 5. Roth 801 did not set when incubated in volumes sufficient to fill the test matrices.
Mantle shear–wave tomography and the fate of subducted slabs

A new seismic model of the three–dimensional variation in shear velocity throughout the Earth's mantle is presented. The model is derived entirely from shear bodywave travel times. Multibounce shear waves, core–reflected waves and SKS and SKKS waves that travel through the core are used in the analysis. A unique aspect of the dataset used in this study is the use of bodywaves that turn at shallow depths in the mantle, some of which are triplicated. The new model is compared with other global shear models. Although competing models show significant variations, several large–scale structures are common to most of the models. The high–velocity anomalies are mostly associated with subduction zones. In some regions the anomalies only extend into the shallow lower mantle, whereas in other regions tabular high–velocity structures seem to extend to the deepest mantle. The base of the mantle shows long–wavelength high–velocity zones also associated with subduction zones. The heterogeneity seen in global tomography models is difficult to interpret in terms of mantle flow due to variations in structure from one subduction zone to another. The simplest interpretation of the seismic images is that slabs in general penetrate to the deepest mantle, although the flow is likely to be sporadic. The interruption in slab sinking is likely to be associated with the 660 km discontinuity.
Competitive Inhibition of Abscisic Acid-Regulated Gene Expression by Stereoisomeric Acetylenic Analogs of Abscisic Acid

The properties of two enantiomeric synthetic acetylenic abscisic acid (ABA) analogs (PBI-51 and PBI-63) in relation to ABA-sensitive gene expression are reported. Using microspore-derived embryos of Brassica napus as the biological material and their responsiveness to ABA in the expression of genes encoding storage proteins as a quantitative bioassay, we measured the biological activity of PBI-51 and PBI-63. Assays to evaluate agonistic activity of either compound applied individually showed a dose-dependent increase in napin gene expression on application of PBI-63. Maximal activity of about 40 [mu]M indicated that PBI-63 was an agonist, although somewhat weaker than ABA. PBI-63 has a similar stereochemistry to natural ABA at the junction of the ring and side chain. In contrast, PBI-51 showed no agonistic effects until applied at 40 to 50 [mu]M. Even then, the response was fairly weak. PBI-51 has the opposite stereochemistry to natural ABA at the junction of the ring and side chain. When applied concurrently with ABA, PBI-63 and PBI-51 had distinctly different properties. PBI-63 (40 [mu]M) and ABA (5 [mu]M) combined gave results similar to the application of either compound separately with high levels of induction of napin expression. PBI-51 displayed a reversible antagonistic effect with ABA, shifting the typical ABA dose-response curve by a factor of 4 to 5. This antagonism was noted for the expression of two ABA-sensitive genes, napin and oleosin. To test whether this antagonism was at the level of ABA recognition or uptake, ABA uptake was monitored in the presence of PBI-51 or PBI-63. Neither compound decreased ABA uptake. Treatments with either PBI-51 or PBI-63 showed an effect on endogenous ABA pools by permitting increases of 5- to 7-fold. It is hypothesized that this increase occurs because of competition for ABA catabolic enzymes by both compounds. The fact that ABA pools did not decrease in the presence of PBI-51 suggests that PBI-51 must exert its antagonistic properties through direct competition with ABA at a hormone-recognition site.
Tourism Demand Forecasting Considering Environmental Factors: A Case Study for Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding

Effectively prediction of the tourism demand is of great significance to rationally allocate resources, improve service quality, and maintain the sustainable development of scenic spots. Since tourism demand is affected by the factors of climate, holidays, and weekdays, it is a challenge to design an accurate forecasting model obtaining complex features in tourism demand data. To overcome these problems, we specially consider the influence of environmental factors and devise a forecasting model based on ensemble learning. The model first generates several sub-models, and each sub-model learns the features of time series by selecting informative sequences for reconstructing the forecasting input. A novel technique is devised to aggregate the outputs of these sub-models to make the forecasting more robust to the non-linear and seasonal features. Tourism demand data of Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in recent 5 years is used as a case to validate the effectiveness of our scheme. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme can accurately forecasting tourism demand, which can help Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding to improve the quality of tourism management and achieve sustainable development. Therefore, the proposed scheme has good potential to be applied to accurately forecast time series with non-linear and seasonal features.
Effect of alveolar macrophages on Toxoplasma gondii

As pulmonary involvement can occur in disseminated toxoplasmosis in immunosuppressed patients, studies were initiated to define local mechanisms of resistance of the lung to Toxoplasma gondii. Alveolar macrophages were obtained from normal mice and mice chronically infected with T. gondii by bronchopulmonary lavage and cultured in vitro. Although normal alveolar macrophages were difficult to infect with Toxoplasma, they supported intracellular multiplication of this organism. When exposed to Toxoplasma that had been pretreated with heat-inactivated serum containing specific antibody, the number of intracellular organisms increased remarkably, and the macrophages destroyed the coated parasites. After development of chronic infections with Toxoplasma, there was a transient period during which a striking increase in numbers of alveolar macrophages was observed in lavage specimens. These macrophages differed from those of normal alveolar macrophages. There was a greater percentage of large cells, a greater tendency to spread on glass, and an increased number of intracellular Toxoplasma, and the cells were activated to kill or inhibit multiplication of the parasite. During the period when activated macrophages were demonstrable in bronchopulmonary washings, histological changes in the lungs revealed a marked mononuclear cell infiltrate. These studies support a role for the activated alveolar macrophage as an effector in resistance of the lung to infection with Toxoplasma.
Left ventricle segmentation in dynamic cardiac CT using random walks method.

PURPOSE Segmentation of the left ventricle (LV) in cardiac CT (CCT) images is difficult due to the intensity heterogeneity arising from accumulation of contrast agent in papillary muscle and trabeculae carneae. In this study, we demonstrated the random walks method for LV segmentation in CCT through cardiac phases. METHODS 63 CCT data sets from 7 patients with 9 cardiac phases were included in this study. All cardiac CT examinations were performed with GE 64-detector CT scanner with ECG gating. In each patient, 60-80 ml iohexol was injected at a flow rate of 5 ml/sec followed by 60 ml normal saline solution. Random walks (RW) based on probability of labels was used for LV segmentation. The LV delineations generated by the experienced physician (MD), conventional image-based method (IB), and RW were compared. RESULTS In general the contours segment the LV closely by RW and MD, but the discrepancies in papillary muscle and trabeculae carneae were observed while using the IB method. CONCLUSION We showed the RW method potentially improved LV segmentation as compared to the volume by conventional IB method. In this study, we demonstrated the clinical feasibility of LV volume segmentation using random walks algorithm.
Mitigating Computer Limitations in Replicating Numerical Simulations of a Neural Network Model With Hodgkin-Huxley-Type Neurons

Computational experiments have been very important to numerically simulate real phenomena in several areas. Many studies in computational biology discuss the necessity to obtain numerical replicability to accomplish new investigations. However, even following well-established rules in the literature, numerical replicability is unsuccessful when it takes the computer's limitations for representing real numbers into consideration. In this study, we used a previous published recurrent network model composed by Hodgkin-Huxley-type neurons to simulate the neural activity during development. The original source code in C/C++ was carefully refactored to mitigate the lack of replicability; moreover, it was re-implemented to other programming languages/software (XPP/XPPAUT, Python and Matlab) and executed under two operating systems (Windows and Linux). The commutation and association of the input current values during the summation of the pre-synaptic activity were also analyzed. A total of 72 simulations which must obtain the same result were executed to cover these scenarios. The results were replicated when the high floating-point precision (supplied by third-party libraries) was used. However, using the default floating-point precision type, none of the results were replicated when compared with previous results. Several new procedures were proposed during the source code refactorization; they allowed replicating only a few scenarios, regardless of the language and operating system. Thus, the generated computational “errors” were the same. Even using a simple computational model, the numerical replicability was very difficult to be achieved, requiring people with computational expertise to be performed. After all, the research community must be aware that conducting analyses with numerical simulations that use real number operations can lead to different conclusions.
Protective Roles of the Fractalkine/CX3CL1-CX3CR1 Interactions in Alkali-Induced Corneal Neovascularization through Enhanced Antiangiogenic Factor Expression1

Macrophages accumulate during the course of corneal neovascularization, but its mechanisms and roles still remain elusive. To address these points, we herein examined corneal neovascularization after alkali injury in mice deficient in fractalkine receptor/CX3CR1, which is normally expressed by macrophages. After alkali injury, the mRNA expression of CX3CR1 was augmented along with accumulation of F4/80-positive macrophages and Gr-1-positive neutrophils in the corneas. Compared with wild-type mice, CX3CR1-deficient mice exhibited enhanced corneal neovascularization 2 wk after injury, as evidenced by enlarged CD31-positive areas. Concomitantly, the accumulation of F4/80-positive macrophages, but not Gr-1-positive neutrophils, was markedly attenuated in CX3CR1-deficient mice compared with wild-type mice. The intraocular mRNA expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was enhanced to similar extents in wild-type and CX3CR1-deifient mice after the injury. However, the mRNA expression of antiangiogenic factors, thrombospondin (TSP) 1, TSP-2, and a disintegrin and metalloprotease with thrombospondin (ADAMTS) 1, was enhanced to a greater extent in wild-type than CX3CR1-deificient mice. A double-color immunofluorescence analysis demonstrated that F4/80-positive cells also expressed CX3CR1 and ADAMTS-1 and that TSP-1 and ADAMTS-1 were detected in CX3CR1-positive cells. CX3CL1 enhanced TSP-1 and ADAMTS-1, but not VEGF, expression by peritoneal macrophages. Moreover, topical application of CX3CL1 inhibited corneal neovascularization at 2 wk, along with enhanced intraocular expression of TSP-1 and ADAMTS-1 but not VEGF. Thus, these observations indicate that accumulation of CX3CR1-positive macrophages intraocularly can dampen alkali-induced corneal neovascularization by producing antiangiogenic factors such as TSP-1 and ADAMTS-1 and suggest the potential therapeutic efficacy of using CX3CL1 against alkali-induced corneal neovascularization.
A Case Report of Pulmonary‐Renal Syndrome Treated With Continuous Hemodiafiltration and Hemodialysis

Abstract: This case describes a 40‐year‐old man complaining of general malaise, dyspnea with hemoptysis and anuria. Laboratory data indicated renal failure and the presence of systemic inflammation. His chest radiograph and computed tomography showed bilateral diffuse interstitial alveolar infiltration. These findings indicated acute deterioration of chronic renal dysfunction complicated by interstitial pneumonitis. He initially received daily conventional hemodialysis (HD), an antibiotic and oxygen therapy. However, his renal and pulmonary function continued to deteriorate. Antineutrophil cytoplasm antibodies against myeloperoxidase (MPO‐ANCA) and antibodies against proteinase 3 (PR3‐ANCA) were negative. We suspected that his pulmonary‐renal syndrome was caused by ANCA‐negative vasculitis. We applied mechanical ventilation, pulsed methylprednisolone therapy and continuous hemodiafiltration (CHDF) combined with HD. PaO2/FiO2 ratio and mean pulmonary arterial pressure gradually improved after initiation of CHDF. He was finally separated from mechanical ventilation after 44 days in the hospital. He is currently alive with the support of conventional HD.
Automatic landmark extraction from three-dimensional head scan data

Automatic extraction of anatomic landmarks from three-dimensional (3-D) head scan data is a typical, also challenging application of 3-D image analysis. This paper explored approaches to automatically identify landmarks based on their geometric appearance in a 3-D data set. We investigated the geometric features of most important landmarks of the head/face, especially invariant surface characteristics such as mean and Gaussian curvature, and other external characteristics as well. Based on the analysis of these features, we define a number of methods and operators to locate each extractable landmark from 3-D scan data. Starting from nose, the process to locate face landmarks can be conducted in a structural way and we reduced the image analysis of each landmark to a local area. Ideally, the characteristic map derived from a 3-D digital image should deliver a meaningful image for analysis. However, due to noise and void in the data set, it is not unusual the characteristic map has to be post-processed or re-computed. A number of experiments is conducted to find the suitable computational technique and additional steps are taken to obtain a satisfied characteristic map.