Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hypoglycemia and risk of death in critically ill patients.

BACKGROUND Whether hypoglycemia leads to death in critically ill patients is unclear. METHODS We examined the associations between moderate and severe hypoglycemia (blood glucose, 41 to 70 mg per deciliter [2.3 to 3.9 mmol per liter] and ≤40 mg per deciliter [2.2 mmol per liter], respectively) and death among 6026 critically ill patients in intensive care units (ICUs). Patients were randomly assigned to intensive or conventional glucose control. We used Cox regression analysis with adjustment for treatment assignment and for baseline and postrandomization covariates. RESULTS Follow-up data were available for 6026 patients: 2714 (45.0%) had moderate hypoglycemia, 2237 of whom (82.4%) were in the intensive-control group (i.e., 74.2% of the 3013 patients in the group), and 223 patients (3.7%) had severe hypoglycemia, 208 of whom (93.3%) were in the intensive-control group (i.e., 6.9% of the patients in this group). Of the 3089 patients who did not have hypoglycemia, 726 (23.5%) died, as compared with 774 of the 2714 with moderate hypoglycemia (28.5%) and 79 of the 223 with severe hypoglycemia (35.4%). The adjusted hazard ratios for death among patients with moderate or severe hypoglycemia, as compared with those without hypoglycemia, were 1.41 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.21 to 1.62; P<0.001) and 2.10 (95% CI, 1.59 to 2.77; P<0.001), respectively. The association with death was increased among patients who had moderate hypoglycemia on more than 1 day (>1 day vs. 1 day, P=0.01), those who died from distributive (vasodilated) shock (P<0.001), and those who had severe hypoglycemia in the absence of insulin treatment (hazard ratio, 3.84; 95% CI, 2.37 to 6.23; P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS In critically ill patients, intensive glucose control leads to moderate and severe hypoglycemia, both of which are associated with an increased risk of death. The association exhibits a dose-response relationship and is strongest for death from distributive shock. However, these data cannot prove a causal relationship. (Funded by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council and others; NICE-SUGAR ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00220987.).
A 2.4µA continuous-time electrode-skin impedance measurement circuit for motion artifact monitoring in ECG acquisition systems

A continuous time electrode skin impedance monitoring system is implemented in parallel with ECG monitoring. To avoid degradation of the ECG signal quality, chopper stabilized AC current sources are adopted. Measured impedance signal is used as a reference signal input for a post processing adaptive filter removing motion artifacts in the ECG signal. The impedance measurement core is implemented in 0. 5µm CMOS process and dissipates 2. 4µA from a 2V.
Seasonality, Incidence, and Repeat Human Metapneumovirus Lower Respiratory Tract Infections in an Area With a High Prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type-1 Infection

Background: There is limited information regarding the epidemiology of human metapneumovirus (hMPV) from Africa, despite it being identified as a common pathogen in children with pneumonia. Objectives: Determine the epidemiology of severe hMPV-associated lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) in human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV) infected and uninfected children. Methods: Nasopharyngeal aspirate samples from children hospitalized for LRTI between January 2000 and December 2002 were analyzed for common respiratory viruses using an immunfluorescence assay; and 2715 available nasopharyngeal aspirate samples were tested for hMPV by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction targeting its fusion protein. Phylogenetic analysis of the fusion (F) gene was performed on samples associated with repeat hMPV infections in the same child. Results: hMPV was identified perennially and was the second most commonly identified respiratory virus (11.3% versus 21.1% for respiratory syncytial virus, P < 0.0001) in HIV-uninfected children. The burden of hospitalization for hMPV-LRTI was 5.4 (95% CI: 3.5–7.5) fold greater in HIV-infected (2935 per 100,000) compared with HIV-uninfected children [575 (95% CI: 472–695) per 100,000]. HIV-infected children had greater evidence of bacterial coinfection and a higher mortality rate than did uninfected children. Repeat hMPV associated hospitalizations involved homologous (B2 subgroup) and heterologous (A1 and B2) hMPV. Conclusions: There is a high burden of hMPV-LRTI and repeat severe infections occur from homologous and heterologous subgroups of the virus.
Thrombin, Thrombomodulin and TAFI in the Molecular Link Between Coagulation and Fibrinolysis

The thrombin thrombomodulin dependent activation of the plasma protein TAFI (Thrombin Activatable Fibrinolysis Inhibitor) and Subsequent Inhibition of Fibrinolysis by the TAFIa is described. Work to date indicates that TAFIa is a carboxypeptidase B enzyme that suppress fibrinolysis most likely by down regulating the cofactor functions of partially degraded fibrin. The existence of TAFI provides the explanation for the apparent profibrinolytic effect of activated protein C. and implies the existence of an explicit molecular connection between the blood coagulation of fibrinolytic cascades that is expressed through the thrombin thrombomodulin dependent activation of TAFI. Thus, thrombin generation can, in principle, result in the suppression of fibrinolysis.
Distributed Intelligent Systems for Network Security Control

The great number of heterogeneous interconnected operating systems gives greater access to intruders and makes it easier for malicious users to break systems security policy. Also, a single security control agent is insufficient to monitor multiple interconnected hosts and to protect distributed operating systems from hostile uses. This paper shows the ability of distributed security controller’s agents to correlate data stream from heterogeneous hosts and to trace abnormal behavior in order to protect network security. An experimental study is done to improve our proposed approach.
The Role of Knowledge in Failure Detection During Exploratory Software Testing

We present a field study on how testers use knowledge to detect failures while performing exploratory software testing in industrial settings. We video recorded 12 testing sessions in four industrial organizations, having our subjects think aloud while performing their usual exploratory testing work. Using applied grounded theory, we studied how the subjects detected failures, and what type of knowledge they utilized. The results show how testers recognize failures based on their personal knowledge without detailed test case descriptions. The knowledge is classified under categories of domain knowledge such as users needs and goals, system knowledge such as interactions of many features and the workings of the system as a whole, and general software engineering knowledge. We found that testers applied their knowledge either as a test oracle to determine whether a result was correct or not, or as a test wizard, guiding them in selecting objects for test and designing tests. Additionally, we studied the knowledge in relation to defect detection difficulty and visible failure symptoms. We conclude that exploratory testing can be an efficient method for utilizing domain experts in testing as a high proportion of failures detected based on domain knowledge were straightforward to reveal.
Principles of Soft Verification

This paper considers messages protected with the Message Authentication Code (MAC) for the sake of authenticity. The standard forward error correcting channel code is assumed, which reduces the error rate, but no repeat mechanism exists to correct the remaining errors. The uncorrected errors cause the rejection of messages with a wrong MAC, as a successful MAC verification (â€œhardâ€ verification) demands errorless message and errorless MAC. This paper introduces the extension of â€œhardâ€ verification of MACs, whose result is â€œtrueâ€ or â€œfalseâ€ , to â€œsoftâ€ verification, that outputs additionally a trust level as verification result. This allows the acceptance of corrected messages and their MACs, even if a few bits of the MAC are different from the expected value. The costs are a loss of trust, as trust is defined for the successful standard or â€œhardâ€ verification, i.e. for errorless message and its MAC. Therefore â€œTrust Outputâ€ is accompanied with the output of the verification process. A definition of â€œTrust Levelâ€ will be given, together with an algorithm of â€œsoftâ€ verification, which provides such Trust Output. This algorithm is based on a Soft Output channel decoder, which provides a reliability value for each bit, which is used as soft input for the proposed algorithm, â€œSoft Input Trust Outputâ€ . Simulation results show an essential improvement of the acceptance rate of MACs - at the cost of a reduced trust level. The reduction can be calculated and the maximum permitted reduction of the trust level can be preset.
Adaptive threshold procedures: BUDTIF.

Consideration of recent psychoacoustic research reveals that, independent of the general acceptance of the theory of signal detectability, threshold methodology continues to play a major role in the acquisition of psychoacoustic data. Although adaptive methods are widely used, the newer, finite‐trial, adaptive methods are not—possibly owing to a misconception regarding the impossibility of obtaining psychometric function slopes and information other than threshold with such methods. The simplest of the finite‐trial adaptive methods, the Block Up‐and‐Down, Two‐Interval Forced‐Choice (BUDTIF) method is investigated, and an attempt is made to show the feasibility and efficiency of obtaining such information with an adaptive method. Specifically, the variability and bias of repeated thresholds obtained using human subjects with two‐, four‐. and eight‐trial block sizes and from 16 to 144 per threshold were determined. Results indicate that, for a target performance level of 75%, a block of four trials leads to.
A Simplified Natural Gradient Learning Algorithm

Adaptive natural gradient learning avoids singularities in the parameter space of multilayer perceptrons. However, it requires a larger number of additional parameters than ordinary backpropagation in the form of the Fisher information matrix. This article describes a new approach to natural gradient learning that uses a smaller Fisher information matrix. It also uses a prior distribution on the neural network parameters and an annealed learning rate. While this new approach is computationally simpler, its performance is comparable to that of Adaptive natural gradient learning.
Microcredit Impacts: Evidence from a Randomized Microcredit Program Placement Experiment by Compartamos Banco

Theory and evidence have raised concerns that microcredit does more harm than good, particularly when offered at high interest rates. We use a clustered randomized trial, and household surveys of eligible borrowers and their businesses, to estimate impacts from an expansion of group lending at 110% APR by the largest microlender in Mexico. Average effects on a rich set of outcomes measured 18-34 months postexpansion suggest no transformative impacts.
Structure–Activity Relationship Analysis of the Peptide Deformylase Inhibitor 5‐Bromo‐1H‐indole‐3‐acetohydroxamic Acid

SAR by NMR: A series of indole compounds derived from 5‐bromo‐1H‐indole‐3‐acetohydroxamic acid were synthesized. Their inhibitory activities were evaluated against purified peptide deformylases (PDFs), and their antibacterial activities against B. subtilis, E. coli (wild type and tolC), and a variety of pathogens were also determined. The potency of the best inhibitors was related to the NMR footprints of the respective acids with 15N‐labeled E. coli Ni‐PDF.
Resource allocation in OFDMA-based distributed antenna systems

This paper proposes and investigates an optimal resource allocation scheme in the downlink multiuser distributed antenna system (DAS), which is one of the promising systems to provide high data rate in wireless communications. Compared with the conventional cellular system, the resource allocation in the multiuser DAS must consider the conditions of multiple channels between multiple remote antenna unites (RAUs) and any user, which increases the complexity of the resource allocation. Orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) is also considered for the resource allocation in the downlink DAS. Therefore, subcarrier allocation, power allocation and bit allocation are studied in the OFDMA-based DAS. To reduce the complexity of the resource allocation in the downlink OFDMA-based DAS, the chunk allocation technique is also adopted by grouping a set of neighboring subcarriers into one chunk and allocating resources to users chunk by chunk. In order to provide insights in the OFDMA-based DAS, the effect of the number of RAUs used to communicate with each user is investigated. The numerical results show that based on the proposed resource allocation scheme, the location of the user can impact the number of RAUs that a user needs to connect.
The carboxy-terminal 14 amino acids of phage lambda N protein are dispensable for transcription antitermination

The analogous N proteins encoded by lambdoid bacteriophages lambda, 21, and 22 are very different in amino acid sequence, except at their carboxy-terminal ends. Since N lambda remains functional despite the deletion of most of its terminal region of homology to N21, that region of homology cannot represent a region of conserved function.
Proteomic and Metabolomic Approaches to Cell Physiology and Pathophysiology Proteasome inhibition in skeletal muscle cells unmasks metabolic derangements in type 2 diabetes

Lubna Al-Khalili, Thais de Castro Barbosa, Jörgen Östling, Julie Massart, Pablo Garrido Cuesta, Megan E. Osler, Mutsumi Katayama, Ann-Christin Nyström, Jan Oscarsson, and Juleen R. Zierath Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; AstraZeneca Research and Development, Mölndal, Sweden; and Department of Functional Biology, Physiology Area, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain
Windowing-based adaptive unscented Kalman filter for spacecraft relative navigation

In this paper, we study the problem of nonlinear filtering with unknown measurement noise covariance matrix. An adaptive filtering algorithm has been developed by integrating an estimate of the measurement noise covariance matrix into the unscented Kalman filter (UKF). The windowing approach is adopted to estimate the noise covariance matrix based on a set of innovation sequences in the window. Instead of predicting the noise covariance matrix by the historical innovation sequences, the innovation at the present time is utilized and a heuristic rule is suggested to extract the diagonal elements in the estimated matrix. An application to spacecraft relative navigation illustrates that the proposed filter performs better than the existing adaptive UKF. Simulation results show that the measurement noise variances can be estimated accurately with some penalty of time delay.
Enhanced Hepatic Microsomal Activity by Pretreatment of Rats with Acetone or Isopropanol

Summary Rat liver microsomes isolated from rats pretreated orally with acetone or isopropanol possessed an enhanced capacity to bind 14CCl4 and 14CHCl3 covalently and to demethylate DMN. The N-demethylation of ethylmorphine was unchanged by this pretreatment. Since there was no increase in the level of microsomal protein, and microsomal cytochrome P-450 or the activity of NADPH-cytochrome c reductase, the mechanism of this enhanced metabolism remains unclear. The authors acknowledge the excellent technical assistance of E. M. Boykins, M. A. Williams and W. Saul.
Spatial variation in the fitness of divergent aposematic phenotypes of the poison frog, Dendrobates tinctorius

Aposematic species use brightly coloured signals to warn potential predators of their unpalatability. The function of these signals is largely believed to be frequency‐dependent. All else being equal, stabilizing selection is expected to constrain the evolution of novel signals. However, despite the expected frequency‐dependant function of aposematic signals, interpopulation variation in aposematic signals is ubiquitous in nature. Here, we used clay models of the poison frog Dendrobates tinctorius to test the nature of selection in regions containing varying frequencies of frogs possessing the local aposematic signal. Our findings support a role for stabilizing selection in maintaining the local signal type in a region of high signal frequency; however, we observe a lack of stabilizing selection at one site coincident with a decrease in the density of frogs possessing the local signal. Spatial variation in local aposematic signal frequencies may facilitate the evolution of novel signal types by altering the adaptive landscape for divergent aposematic phenotypes. Our results provide evidence for spatial variation in the selective regime acting on aposematic signals within an established aposematic system and highlight the need for further study of the nature of selection acting across different spatial scales in diverse aposematic systems.
Expression of the AZR1 gene (ORF YGR224w), encoding a plasma membrane transporter of the major facilitator superfamily, is required for adaptation to acetic acid and resistance to azoles in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In this work, we report results on the functional analysis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae ORF YGR224w, predicted to code for an integral membrane protein, with 14 potential transmembrane segments, belonging to the major facilitator superfamily (MFS) of transporters which are required for multiple‐drug resistance (MDR). This MFS–MDR homologue is required for yeast adaptation to high stress imposed by low‐chain organic acids, in particular by acetic acid, and for resistance to azoles, especially to ketoconazole and fluconazole; the encoding gene was thus named the AZR1 gene. These conclusions were based on the higher susceptibility to these compounds of an azr1Δ deletion mutant strain compared with the wild‐type and on the increased resistance of both azr1Δ and wild‐type strains upon increased expression of the AZR1 gene from a centromeric plasmid clone. AZR1 gene expression reduces the duration of acetic acid‐induced latency, although the growth kinetics of adapted cells under acetic acid stress is apparently independent of AZR1 expression level. Fluorescence microscopy observation of the distribution of the Azr1–GFP fusion protein in yeast living cells indicated that Azr1 is a plasma membrane protein. Studies carried out to gain some understanding of how this plasma membrane putative transporter facilitates yeast adaptation to acetic acid did not implicate Azr1p in the alteration of acetic acid accumulation into the cell through the active efflux of acetate. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Structure and Expression of Murine Cytomegalovirus Immediate-Early Gene 2 MARTIN MESSERLE , '

The immediate-early gene ie2 of murine cytomegalovirus was characterized. The 1.75-kb ie2 transcript is spliced from three exons, of 78, 124, and 1,283 nucleotides, which are separated by introns of 1,245 and 364 nucleotides. An ATG codon located in the third exon leads into an open reading frame of 391 codons. Immediate-early expression of the predicted polypeptide was confirmed by immunoprecipitation of a 43-kDa protein by using an antiserum raised against a bacterial fusion protein. The predicted IE2 amino acid sequence has regions with similarity to amino acid sequences of members of the human cytomegalovirus US22 family.
Familial risk factors for microvascular complications and differential male-female risk in a large cohort of American families with type 1 diabetes.

CONTEXT Type 1 diabetes (T1D) complications are responsible for much of the disease morbidity. Evidence suggests that familial factors exert an influence on susceptibility to complications. OBJECTIVES We investigated familial risk factors and gender differences for retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy. DESIGN AND SETTING This study was a case-control design nested on a cohort of T1D families. We collected data (questionnaire, medical records) starting in 1988. Follow-up has been ongoing since 2004. PATIENTS There were 8114 T1D patients among 6707 families. All patients had T1D onset age younger than 30 yr and required insulin treatment. Patients who remained without a complication after more than 15 yr of diabetes were considered to be without that complication for our analyses. RESULTS A complication in a sibling increased the risk for that complication among probands: odds ratio 9.9 (P < 0.001) for retinopathy, 6.2 for nephropathy (P < 0.001), and 2.2 for neuropathy (P < 0.05). Compared with male probands, a female T1D proband had 1.7-fold higher retinopathy risk (P < 0.001) and 2-fold higher neuropathy risk (P < 0.001). T1D cases with onset between ages 5 and 14 yr had an increased complications risk compared with subjects diagnosed either at a very young age or after puberty. The presence of one complication significantly increased the risk for others. If a parent had type 2 diabetes, the risk for nephropathy increased (odds ratio 1.9, P < 0.01, but T1D in a parent did not increase the risk). CONCLUSIONS We confirmed that familial factors influence T1D microvascular pathologies, suggesting a shared genetic basis for complications, perhaps independent of T1D susceptibility. We also found an unexpected increased female risk for complications.
Development of precise electroformed Wolter mirror for X-ray astronomy

Electroforming replication is an essential technique for fabricating full-shell, grazing-incidence mirrors for use in space, laboratories, and synchrotron experiments. For X-ray astronomy, a nickel electroforming replication process was developed and is used to produce lightweight and high-resolution X-ray mirrors. In addition, the electroforming process for fabricating X-ray mirrors for use in synchrotron experiments has undergone remarkable development over the past decade. We expect that the use of the ground-based electroforming replication process for the production of optics for Xray astronomy will lead to further improvements in the performance of X-ray telescopes. This paper describes our ongoing development efforts in the nickel-electroforming replication process, including the results of a pilot study.
Lack of Effect of Recombinant Human Growth Hormone on the In Vitro Activities of Antiretroviral Drugs against Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1

ABSTRACT We studied the effects of recombinant human growth hormone (r-hGH) on human immunodeficiency virus type 1 replication by growing both wild-type and drug-resistant variants of virus in the presence of various concentrations of eight different antiretroviral drugs. r-hGH had no significant effect on either viral replication or the 50% inhibitory concentrations of these compounds.
Isolation and Preliminary Characterization of Novel Polysialogangliosides from Embryonic Chick Brain

Abstract Preparative thin‐layer chromatography was used to isolate from embryonic chick brains four different polysialogangliosides which moved below GT1b on TLC plates. These possessed molar sialic acid‐to‐sphingosine ratios of 4:1, 5:1, 6:1, and 7:1, respectively. Mild neuraminidase (Clostridium perfringens) treatment of the three most highly sialylated fractions gave GTlb and GDlb transiently, but the only accumulating ganglioside was GM1. All three polysialogangliosides were also found in Elasmobranch brains. During development of the chicken the concentrations of the two most slow‐moving fractions (“hexa”‐, and “septa”‐sialogangliosides) decreased.