Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clinical and financial implications of hospital malnutrition in Spain.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this review is to analyse the studies about cost and clinical implications that malnutrition causes in the Spanish hospitals. MATERIAL AND METHODS The review of the literature was carried out through a bibliographic search in Web of Science following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria and analyse the cost of treatment of malnourished and anorexia nervosa (AN) patients RESULTS: Seventeen studies with economic data related to malnutrition were included. The employment of a nutritional screening is the first tool to determinate the prevalence. Malnutrition is related to an incremental cost due to a longer hospital stay, expensive treatment, and higher rate of readmissions. Malnourished patients present more clinical complications, more infections, and higher mortality. No studies were found with economic data of AN in Spain. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of malnutrition is over 20%, with the elderly patients being the most affected. Nutritional screening is not implanted in all Spanish hospitals in spite of its proven cost-effectiveness. The cost and the clinical implications of malnutrition make this disease a health national problem. The knowledge of the real cost of AN treatment would increase the interest of public institutions on the development of specific Nutritional Screening tools for an early detection of AN.
Novel diversity in mitochondrial genomes of deep-sea Pennatulacea (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Octocorallia)

Abstract We present the first documented complete mitogenomes of deep-sea Pennatulacea, representing nine genera and eight families. These include one species each of the deep-sea genera Funiculina, Halipteris, Protoptilum and Distichoptilum, four species each of Umbellula and Pennatula, three species of Kophobelemnon and two species of Anthoptilum, as well as one species of the epi- and mesobenthic genus Virgularia. Seventeen circular genomes ranged from 18,513 bp (Halipteris cf. finmarchica) to 19,171 bp (Distichoptilum gracile) and contained all genes standard to octocoral mitochondrial genomes (14 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes and one transfer RNA). We found at least three different gene orders in Pennatulacea: the ancestral gene order, the gene order found in bamboo corals (Family Isididae), and a novel gene order. The mitogenome of one species of Umbellula has a bipartite genome (∼13 kbp and ∼5 kbp), with good evidence that both parts are circular.
Immunoglobulin D (IgD) and IgD receptor expression in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

ABSTRACT Objective: Immunoglobulin D (IgD) levels are often elevated in patients with autoimmune diseases. However, the oncogenic activities of IgD and IgD receptor (IgDR) in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) have not been reported in detail. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the expression of IgD and IgDR in patients with DLBCL. Methods: Membrane IgD (mIgD) and IgDR expression in tissue samples was analyzed using IHC, mIgD and IgDR expression on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was analyzed by FCM, and secreted IgD (sIgD) level was analyzed by ELISA. Fisher’s exact test and Spearman correlation analysis were used to evaluate the relationship between IgD, IgDR, and clinical parameters. Results: The pathological lymph nodes of 34 patients with DLBCL were studied, and mIgD and IgDR expression was found in 16 and 19 patients. mIgD and IgDR expression was upregulated in patients with DLBCL and mIgD expression was significantly associated with IgDR expression. Further correlation analysis showed that mIgD expression was correlated with serum β2-MG level and Hans algorithm as germinal center B (GCB), whereas IgDR expression correlated with serum LDH level, IPI score and GCB. ELISA showed that sIgD level was significantly increased in DLBCL patients and it correlated with serum β2-MG and LDH levels. FCM showed that mIgD and IgDR expression in PBMCs of patients with DLBCL was significantly higher than that in healthy controls. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that overexpression of IgD and IgDR is an abnormal activation state in DLBCL.
Information retrieval and analysis for a Modern organization

With the growing volume and demand for data a major concern for an Organization is to discover what data there actually is, what it contains and how it is being used and by who. The amount of data and the disparate systems used to handle this data increase in their number and complexity every year and unifying these systems becomes more and more complex. In this work we describe an Intelligent search engine system, specifically designed to tackle the problem of information retrieval and sharing in a large multifaceted organization, that already has many systems in place for each Department, which is an integral part of a joint Operational Data Platform(ODP) for data exploration and processing.
Semantic annotation of tabular data in PDF documents via crowdsourcing

I, A Q M Saiful Islam, declare that this thesis titled, 'Semantic annotation of tabular data in PDF documents via crowdsourcing' and the work presented in it are my own. I confirm that: This work was done wholly or mainly while in candidature for a research degree at this University. Where any part of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree or any other qualification at this University or any other institution, this has been clearly stated. Where I have consulted the published work of others, this is always clearly attributed. Where I have quoted from the work of others, the source is always given. With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own work. I have acknowledged all main sources of help. Where the thesis is based on work done by myself jointly with others, I have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself. Signed: Date: i " Computers are incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid. Human beings are incredibly slow, inaccurate, and brilliant. Together they are powerful beyond imagination. " There are a lot of valuable tabular information that is only available in PDF documents. In order to apply query over those table information in a uniform way and to interlink them with related information, the semantics are missing there. This thesis describes the current problems of annotate tabular data semantically inside PDF documents and provides a solution to annotate and query over the data inside those tables. As a part of the solution a prototype has been developed. The architecture of the solution focuses on publishing annotated data in a crowdsourced manner. Earlier research work in this field does not sufficiently address the annotation of tabular data in PDF documents. The prototype was built as a multi user web application.To extracting data from PDF, this thesis proposes an algorithm focusing on a relatively simple structure of table cells. The proposed solution annotates the tabular data using available ontologies and resources from the DBpedia linked open dataset derived from Wikipedia and publishes the annotated table in a uniform structure using the RDF Data Cube Vocabulary. The annotations are stored in a triple store and can be queried via a SPARQL endpoint. Apart from annotation of tabular data, the prototype provides a functionality to export the selected tabular data as CSV for further custom use. To obtain feedback about …
Gait shape control for 2-D.O.F bipedal robots using hybrid virtual holonomic constraints

Motion control for bipedal robots is an active research area because bipedal robots can perform tasks and work in terrain where wheeled robots cannot. Researchers have developed bipedal robots that are able to walk, run and perform predefined tasks such as stair climbing. Mimicking human motion is one of the potential benefits of bipedal robots. In the robotics and control literature, many controllers have been presented that achieve dynamically stable gait motions (i.e. stable walking). This thesis studies virtual holonomic constraint (VHC) based control laws that generate stable gaits for 2-DOF bipedal robots. The planar 2-DOF robot under study is modelled as a hybrid automaton and consists of three physical components: a stance leg, a swing leg and a hip mass. The robot is actuated by a hip torque and an ankle torque. For the continuous phase, the dynamics of the robot are similar to a rigid double pendulum except that the robot has an “extra” mass attached to its hip position. At ground impact events, the system’s configuration variables are redefined and the associated velocities change instantaneously. The ground is modelled as an inclined surface with no curvature. Due to the hybrid nature of 2-DOF bipedal robots, this thesis extends the notion of VHC to hybrid VHC for a general Euler-Lagrange system with impacts and applies it to a 2-DOF bipedal robot. For any desired gait of the 2-DOF robot, the motion of the swing leg can be expressed as a function of the stance leg. Using this function, a hybrid VHC is generated and the control objective becomes enforcing the hybrid VHC. A design procedure is developed that returns a feasible hybrid VHC for the 2-DOF bipedal robot. The concept of VHC motivates the design of feedback linearizing controllers that drive the states of the robot to a constraint manifold. Feedback linearizing controllers are designed that enforce the hybrid VHC. In this framework, two possible control laws are presented. The first control law generates a fully actuated robot in closed-loop configuration. Sufficient conditions for stability are given and proven. The second control law yields an under-actuated system in closed-loop configuration. This control design is shown to consume no energy as long as the hybrid VHC that models a passive gait is enforced. The stability of this controller is studied numerically through the method of Poincaré sections.
Influence of Inflammatory and Oxidative Stress Pathways on Longitudinal Symptom Experiences in Children With Leukemia

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of oxidative stress (F2-isoprostanes) and inflammatory (interleukin [IL]-8) biomarkers on symptom trajectories during the first 18 months of childhood leukemia treatment. Method: A repeated-measures design was used to evaluate symptoms experienced by 218 children during treatment. A symptom cluster (fatigue, pain, and nausea) was explored over four time periods: initiation of post-induction therapy, 4 and 8 months into post-induction therapy, and the beginning of maintenance therapy (12 months postinduction). F2-isoprostanes and IL-8 were evaluated in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples collected at baseline (diagnosis) and then at the four time periods. The longitudinal relationships of these biomarkers with the symptom cluster were examined using the longitudinal parallel process. Results: Pain and fatigue levels were highest during the post-induction phases of treatment and decreased slightly during maintenance therapy, while nausea scores were relatively stable. Even in the later phases of treatment, children continued to experience symptoms. CSF levels of the biomarkers increased during the post-induction phases of treatment. Early increases in the biomarkers were associated with more severe symptoms during the same period; patients who had increased biomarkers over time also experienced more severe symptoms over time. Conclusions: Findings reveal that children experienced symptoms throughout the course of leukemia treatment and support hypothesized longitudinal relationships of oxidative stress and inflammatory biomarkers with symptom severity. Activation of the biomarker pathways during treatment may explain underlying mechanisms of symptom experiences and identify which children are at risk for severe symptoms.
A novel mechanism of mixing by pulsing corals

ABSTRACT The dynamic pulsation of xeniid corals is one of the most fascinating phenomena observed in coral reefs. We quantify for the first time the flow near the tentacles of these soft corals, the active pulsations of which are thought to enhance their symbionts' photosynthetic rates by up to an order of magnitude. These polyps are approximately 1 cm in diameter and pulse at frequencies between approximately 0.5 and 1 Hz. As a result, the frequency-based Reynolds number calculated using the tentacle length and pulse frequency is on the order of 10 and rapidly decays as with distance from the polyp. This introduces the question of how these corals minimize the reversibility of the flow and bring in new volumes of fluid during each pulse. We estimate the Péclet number of the bulk flow generated by the coral as being on the order of 100–1000 whereas the flow between the bristles of the tentacles is on the order of 10. This illustrates the importance of advective transport in removing oxygen waste. Flow measurements using particle image velocimetry reveal that the individual polyps generate a jet of water with positive vertical velocities that do not go below 0.1 cm s−1 and with average volumetric flow rates of approximately 0.71 cm3 s−1. Our results show that there is nearly continual flow in the radial direction towards the polyp with only approximately 3.3% back flow. 3D numerical simulations uncover a region of slow mixing between the tentacles during expansion. We estimate that the average flow that moves through the bristles of the tentacles is approximately 0.03 cm s−1. The combination of nearly continual flow towards the polyp, slow mixing between the bristles, and the subsequent ejection of this fluid volume into an upward jet ensures the polyp continually samples new water with sufficient time for exchange to occur. Highlighted Article: Pulsating soft corals generate continual flow towards the polyp, allow slow mixing between the bristles, and eject this fluid in an upward jet to maximize mixing.
Research and Realization of a 128-Bit Multiply-Add-Fused Unit

High-performance and high-precision floating-point processing has been the object of scientific computing. This paper proposes the design of a 128-bit fused multiply-add unit. In the multiplication module reuse of the 57bit multiplication modules, the width of the data is reduced. This enhanced multiply-add-fused unit needs a LOP circuit to deal with three operands, simplify the encoding, shorten the delay and reduce the circuit size. The synthesis result shows that the design can work at 202MHz, the data arrival time is 4. 93μs, the area is 191,000 gates.
Functional expression of electrogenic sodium bicarbonate cotransporter 1 (NBCe1) in mouse cortical astrocytes is dependent on S255‐257 and regulated by mTOR

The electrogenic sodium bicarbonate cotransporter 1, NBCe1 (SLC4A4), is the major bicarbonate transporter expressed in astrocytes. It is highly sensitive for bicarbonate and the main regulator of intracellular, extracellular, and synaptic pH, thereby modulating neuronal excitability. However, despite these essential functions, the molecular mechanisms underlying NBCe1‐mediated astrocytic response to extracellular pH changes are mostly unknown. Using primary mouse cortical astrocyte cultures, we investigated the effect of long‐term extracellular metabolic alkalosis on regulation of NBCe1 and elucidated the underlying molecular mechanisms by immunoblotting, biotinylation of surface proteins, intracellular H+ recording using the H+‐sensitive dye 2′,7′‐bis‐(carboxyethyl)‐5‐(and‐6)‐carboxyfluorescein, and phosphoproteomic analysis. The results showed significant downregulation of NBCe1 activity following metabolic alkalosis without influencing protein abundance or surface expression of NBCe1. During alkalosis, the rate of intracellular H+ changes upon challenging NBCe1 was decreased in wild‐type astrocytes, but not in cortical astrocytes from NBCe1‐deficient mice. Alkalosis‐induced decrease of NBCe1 activity was rescued after activation of mTOR signaling. Moreover, mass spectrometry revealed constitutively phosphorylated S255‐257 and mutational analysis uncovered these residues being crucial for NBCe1 transport activity. Our results demonstrate a novel mTOR‐regulated mechanism by which NBCe1 functional expression is regulated. Such mechanism likely applies not only for NBCe1 in astrocytes, but in epithelial cells as well.
Production of CAR T-cells by GMP-grade lentiviral vectors: latest advances and future prospects

Abstract Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells represent a paradigm shift in cancer immunotherapy and a new milestone in the history of oncology. In 2017, the Food and Drug Administration approved two CD19-targeted CAR T-cell therapies (Kymriah™, Novartis, and Yescarta™, Kite Pharma/Gilead Sciences) that have remarkable efficacy in some B-cell malignancies. The CAR approach is currently being evaluated in multiple pivotal trials designed for the immunotherapy of hematological malignancies as well as solid tumors. To generate CAR T-cells ex vivo, lentiviral vectors (LVs) are particularly appealing due to their ability to stably integrate relatively large DNA inserts, and to efficiently transduce both dividing and nondividing cells. This review discusses the latest advances and challenges in the design and production of CAR T-cells, and the good manufacturing practices (GMP)-grade production process of LVs used as a gene transfer vehicle. New developments in the application of CAR T-cell therapy are also outlined with particular emphasis on next-generation allogeneic CAR T-cells.
Composite and Cascaded Generalized-K Fading Channel Modeling and Their Diversity and Performance Analysis

Composite and Cascaded Generalized-K Fading Channel Modeling and Their Diversity and Performance Analyses Imran Shafique Ansari The introduction of new schemes that are based on the communication among nodes has motivated the use of composite fading models due to the fact that the nodes experience different multipath fading and shadowing statistics, which subsequently determines the required statistics for the performance analysis of different transceivers. The end-to-end signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) statistics plays an essential role in the determination of the performance of cascaded digital communication systems. In this thesis, a closed-form expression for the probability density function (PDF) of the end-end SNR for independent but not necessarily identically distributed (i.n.i.d.) cascaded generalized-K (GK) composite fading channels is derived. The developed PDF expression in terms of the Meijer-G function allows the derivation of subsequent performance metrics, applicable to different modulation schemes, including outage probability, bit error rate for coherent as well as non-coherent systems, and average channel capacity that provides insights into the performance of a digital communication system operating in N cascaded GK composite fading environment.
Review of alginate-based hydrogel bioprinting for application in tissue engineering

The dawn of 3D printing in medicine has given the field the hope of vitality in many patients fighting a multitude of diseases. Also entitled bioprinting, this appertains to its sequential printing of precursor ink, embodying cells and polymer/composite in a predetermined trajectory. The precursor ink, in addition to cells, is predominantly constituted of hydrogels due to its biodegradability and ability to mimic the body’s anatomy and mechanical features, e.g. bones, etc. This review paper is devoted to explicating the bioprinting (3D/4D) of alginate hydrogels, which are extracts from brown algae, through extrusion additive manufacturing. Alginates are salt derivatives of alginic acid and constitute long chains of polysaccharides, which provides pliability and gelling adeptness to their structure. Alginate hydrogel (employed for extrusion) can be pristine or composite relying on the requisite properties (target application controlled or in vivo environment), e.g. alginate-natural (gelatin/agarose/collagen/hyaluronic acid/etc) and alginate-synthetic (polyethylene glycol (PEG)/pluronic F-127/etc). Extrusion additive manufacturing of alginate is preponderate among others with its uncomplicated processing, material efficiency (cut down on wastage), and outspread adaptability for viscosities (0.03–6 * 104 Pa.s), but the procedure is limited by resolution (200 μm) in addition to accuracy. However, 3D-fabricated biostructures display rigidness (unvarying with conditions) i.e. lacks a smart response, which is reassured by accounting time feature as a noteworthy accessory to printing, interpreted as 4D bioprinting. This review propounds the specific processing itinerary for alginate (meanwhile traversing across its composites/blends with natural and synthetic consideration) in extrusion along with its pre-/during/post-processing parameters intrinsic to the process. Furthermore, propensity is also presented in its (alginate extrusion processing) application for tissue engineering, i.e. bones, cartilage (joints), brain (neural), ear, heart (cardiac), eyes (corneal), etc, due to a worldwide quandary over accessibility to natural organs for diverse types of diseases. Additionally, the review contemplates recently invented advance printing, i.e. 4D printing for biotic species, with its challenges and future opportunities.
Descriptive analysis of real-world medication use pattern of statins and antiplatelet agents among patients with acute coronary syndrome in Hong Kong and the USA

Objectives The objective was to explore the differences in medication use pattern of lipid-lowering drug (LLD) and antiplatelet agents among post-percutaneous coronary intervention patients with acute coronary syndrome aged <65 in Hong Kong (HK) and the USA. Design Retrospective study. Setting This study used deidentified claims data from Clinformatics Data Mart database (OptumInsight, Eden Prairie, Minnesota, USA) and electronic health records from HK Hospital Authority Clinical Data Analysis and Reporting System database. Participants We used 1 year prescription records of LLDs and antiplatelet agents among 1013 USA patients and 270 HK Chinese patients in 2011–2013. Primary and secondary outcome measures Continuity was investigated on the assumption that one defined daily dose represented 1 day treatment. Medication possession ratio method was used to evaluate the adherence. Multivariate-adjusted logistic regressions were constructed to compare the good continuity and adherence levels in the merged database with the cutoffs set at 80%, and Cox proportional hazard models were built using the time to discontinuation as the dependent variable, to assess the persistence level. Results HK Chinese patients were less adherent (67.41% vs 84.60%, adjusted odds ratio (AOR) for Americans over Chinese=2.23 (95% CI=1.60 to 3.12), p<0.001) to antiplatelet agents compared with American patients but better adherent to statins (90.00% vs 78.18%, AOR=0.37 (0.23 to 0.58), p<0.001). The discontinuation with statins was more common in American patients (13.33% vs 34.25%, adjusted hazard ratio (AHR)=2.95 (2.05 to 4.24), p<0.001). Low-to-moderate potency statins and clopidogrel were favoured by our HK local physicians, while American patients received higher doses of statins and prasugrel. Conclusions We seemed to find HK physicians tended to prescribe cheaper and lower doses of statins and antiplatelet agents when compared with the privately insured patients in the USA, though the adherence and persistence levels of HK patients with statins were relatively good.