Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spontaneous variability of cardiac output in ventilated critically ill patients

Objective: To define the magnitude of spontaneous cardiac output variability over time in sedated medical intensive care unit patients attached to a continuous cardiac output monitor, and to determine whether high level positive end‐expiratory pressure or inverse inspiratory‐to‐expiratory (I:E) ratio ventilation resulted in greater variability over time than low positive end‐expiratory pressure with conventional I:E ratio ventilation. Design: Prospective study. Setting: Medical intensive care unit in a tertiary medical center. Patients: A total of 22 hemodynamically stable acute respiratory failure patients with a pulmonary artery catheter inserted for hemodynamic monitoring Interventions: After being sedated, patients were randomized alternately to receive pressure control ventilation first at setting A (high positive end‐expiratory pressure [15 cm H2O] with conventional I:E ratio [1:2]) and then at setting B (low positive end‐expiratory pressure [5 cm H2O] with inverse I:E ratio [2:1]), or vice versa, and then at setting C (low positive end‐expiratory pressure [5 cm H2O] with conventional I:E ratio [1:2]). Each ventilation setting period lasted 1 hr. Measurements and Main Results: Cardiac output (CO) was measured continuously. The continuous CO value displayed was updated every 30‐60 secs. The updated value reflected an average of the previous 3‐6 mins. The coefficient of variation (CV) of CO for each setting in each patient was calculated to represent the spontaneous variability. The mean CO ± SD and CV of each setting was 5.7 ± 1.8 L/min and 4.4% for setting A, 5.6 ± 1.5 L/min and 4.6% for setting B, and 5.9 ± 1.7 L/min and 4.8% for setting C. Analysis of variance revealed no significant differences between the CVs of the three settings. The 95% confidence interval for the COs for each setting was approximately the mean CO ± 0.1 × mean CO measured. Conclusions: In critically ill sedated medical intensive care unit patients with stable hemodynamics, the spontaneous variability of cardiac output over time was not significant. High positive end‐expiratory pressure (15 cm H2O) and inverse ratio ventilation (2:1) did not contribute to increased spontaneous variability of cardiac output.
[Prognostic value of D-dimer in patients with sepsis in emergency department: a prospective study].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the value of the concentration of D-dimer in predicting 28-day mortality of sepsis patients in emergency department in order to determine its prognostic values. METHODS A prospective study was conducted. A total of 766 sepsis patients treated in the emergency department of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital of the Capital Medical University from October 2009 to July 2010 were enrolled, and admission blood samples were obtained for D-dimer measurement (solid phase immune chromatography). A variety of clinical and laboratory variables were recorded. With 28 days as end point, the D-dimer levels, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHEII) score, and simplify acute physiology score II (SAPSII) were compared respectively between survivors and non-survivors. The status of each patient was ascertained, and the association between the concentration of D--dimer and 28-day mortality was assessed. RESULTS Two hundred and thirty-three patients died during the 28--day observation period among 766 patients. D--dimer concentration (μg/L) among deceased were significantly higher than those of survivors [1220.0 (789.0, 1835.0) vs. 323.0 (158.0, 642.0), P < 0.01]. The level of D-dimer showed positive correlation with APACHEII score and SAPSII [r₁=0.643, r₂=0.632, both P < 0.01]. D-dimer concentration had an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) of 0.880 for predicting 28-day mortality, with 95% confidence interval (95%CI) 0.855-0.904, P < 0.001; the optimal D-dimer cut point for predicting 28-day mortality was 663.5 μg/L. D--dimer concentration higher than 663.5 μg/L, APACHEII score higher than 19.5 and SAPSII higher than 39.5 were the independent predictors of 28-day mortality [odds ratio (OR): 17.5, 15.7, 19.6, all P < 0.001]. The 28-day mortality (1.4%, 12.3%, 64.2%), APACHEII score [11 (9, 13), 13 (11, 16), 19 (15, 22)] and SAPSII [24 (18, 29), 31 (24, 36), 40 (33, 49)] showed statistically significant among D--dimer <250.0, 250.0--663.5, >663.5 μg/L three groups (all P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS D-dimer concentration is an independent predictor of 28--day mortality in patients with sepsis. D--dimer level shows a high predictive value in patients with sepsis, similar to APACHE II score and SAPSII. It can be helpful in risk stratification in septic patients.
Implementation of intelligent data acquisition systems for fusion experiment using EPICS and FlexRIO technology

Currently, the hardware devices and software tools used in data acquisition systems (DAQs) for diagnostics in fusion experiments are not standardized. This implies that the implementation of new requirements, needed by scientists and diagnostic experts, demand a big amount of time in the developing of a new hardware and software, delaying the integration of new experiments. The solution presented in this paper consists on a design model that gives the possibility of developing intelligent and reconfigurable data acquisition systems, for an easy integration in fusion diagnostics. The main hardware components used for this design model are the RIO/FlexRIO devices from National Instruments, which are embedded systems based on FPGA, and PXI/PXIe technology. The main software element is an EPICS device support based on asynDriver software technology that provides easy integration in EPICS environment. The result of integrating both elements is a methodology for developing complex DAQ systems, using reconfigurable hardware for implementing any kind of customized data acquisition with preprocessing. The methodology has been evaluated obtaining results and performance figures in three different applications integrated in an ITER fast controller.
Comparative analysis of the new guidelines and consensuses for the management of hypothyroidism, thyroid nodules, and differentiated thyroid cancer.

1 Department of Translational Medicine, The John Curtin School of Medical Research, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia 2 Endocrine Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital de Clinicas, Universidade Federal do Parana (SEMPR/ HC-UFPR), Curitiba, PR, Brazil 3 Laboratory of Cancer Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, SP, Brazil
Unusual sequence organization in CenB, an inverting endoglucanase from Cellulomonas fimi

The nucleotide sequence of the cenB gene was determined and used to deduce the amino acid sequence of endoglucanase B (CenB) of Cellulomonas fimi. CenB comprises 1,012 amino acids and has a molecular weight of 105,905. The polypeptide is divided by so-called linker sequences rich in proline and hydroxyamino acids into five domains: a catalytic domain of 607 amino acids at the N terminus, followed by three repeats of 98 amino acids each which are greater than 60% identical, and a C-terminal domain of 101 amino acids which is 50% identical to the cellulose-binding domains of C. fimi cellulases Cex and CenA. A deletion mutant of the cenB gene encodes a polypeptide lacking the C-terminal 333 amino acids of CenB. The truncated polypeptide is catalytically active and, like intact CenB, binds to cellulose, suggesting that CenB has a second cellulose-binding site. The sequence of amino acids 1 to 461 of CenB is 35% identical, with a further 15% similarity, to that of a cellulase from avocado, which places CenB in cellulase family E. CenB releases mostly cellobiose and cellotetraose from cellohexaose. Like CenA, CenB hydrolyzes the beta-1,4-glucosidic bond with inversion of the anomeric configuration. The pH optimum for CenB is 8.5, and that for CenA is 7.5.
Transport of dsRNA into Cells by the Transmembrane Protein SID-1

RNA interference (RNAi) spreads systemically in plants and nematodes to silence gene expression distant from the site of initiation. We previously identified a gene, sid-1, essential for systemic but not cell-autonomous RNAi in Caenorhabditis elegans. Here, we demonstrate that SID-1 is a multispan transmembrane protein that sensitizes Drosophila cells to soaking RNAi with a potency that is dependent on double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) length. Further analyses revealed that SID-1 enables passive cellular uptake of dsRNA. These data indicate that systemic RNAi in C. elegans involves SID-1–mediated intercellular transport of dsRNA.
In vitro test system for evaluation of immune activation potential of new single-stranded DNA-based therapeutics.

Aptamers are synthetic single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) molecules with the ability to fold into complex three-dimensional structures. They can bind their targets with a high selectivity and affinity, thus they have an enormous potential as therapeutic agents. However, since aptamers are synthetic and especially since certain sequences can increasingly bind to the pattern recognition receptors of the immune cells when applied in vivo, they can induce an immune activation. Here, we established a real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) based assay to evaluate aptamers-induced immune activation prior to in vivo studies. Human whole blood or plasmacytoid dendritic cell line (PMDC05) were incubated with CpG, R10-60 aptamer, start library, or a CpG containing aptamer. After 2 and 4 h, cytokine expression was measured using qRT-PCR to determine immune reaction against different aptamers. CpG containing a phosphorothioate backbone led to a significant up-regulation of CCL-7, IFN-1α, IFN-1β in whole blood after 4 h. Compared to the samples without ssDNA, significantly higher TNF-α expression was detected after the R10-60 aptamer incubation for 4 h. The stimulation of PMDC05 cells with different ssDNA enabled more sensitive detection of aptamer sequence specific immune activation. After 4 h, CpG led to a significantly higher expression of CCL-8, CXCL-10, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IFN-1β, and TNF-α. R10-60 aptamer caused a significant up-regulation of IL-1β, IFN-1β, and TNF-α. Negative control aptamers did not induce an immune activation. The use of this assay before starting with in vivo studies will facilitate the in vitro prediction of immune activation potential of aptamers.
Public health services use in a mountainous area, Vietnam: implications for health policy

Aims : The aim of this study is to describe the use of public health services in different social and ethnic groups and to explore the implementation of user fee exemption in a mountainous area in Vietnam. Methods: A cross-sectional household survey with a structured questionnaire and a four-week diary were used to collect information on illnesses, health seeking behaviour and socioeconomic factors. Three communes in a mountainous district in Northern Vietnam were selected and a random sample of 1,452 individuals in 300 households was drawn. Results: Self-medication was most common (57%) while 30% used public health services when suffering from a health problem. Persons living far from health services attended public health services less frequently than the others (adjusted OR=0.28; 95% CI 0.15-0.51). This was especially the case for ethnic minorities who were less likely to use public health services than the others were (adjusted OR=0.47; 95% CI 0.25-0.87). Persons with mild conditions tended to use public health services less than those with more severe conditions (OR=0.19; 95% CI 0.10-0.37). Health services use was similar among women and men, but the total expenditure per visit was higher for men. Almost no patients supposed to get free attendance had been exempted from user fees. Conclusions : It was found that there was a geographical inequity in use of public health services while there was relatively equal use of these services between social, gender, and ethnic groups. Long distance in combination with failure of the fee exemption may increase inequity in use of health services in remote and isolated areas. These observations contribute to the basis for implementation of the Vietnamese health policy, emphasizing efficiency and equity.
In vivo detection of hESC-RPE cells via confocal near-infrared fundus reflectance.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE To investigate whether the confocal near-infrared reflectance (NIR) imaging modality could detect the in vivo presence of retinal pigment epithelium cells derived from embryonic human stem cells (hESC-RPE) implanted into the subretinal space of the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) rat. MATERIALS AND METHODS Monthly NIR images were obtained from RCS rats implanted with either hESC-RPE seeded on a parylene membrane (n = 14) or parylene membrane without cells (n = 14). Two independent, masked investigators graded the images. Histology and immunohistochemistry were performed at different time points (150, 210, and 270 postnatal days of age). RESULTS NIR images revealed that an average of 20.53% of the parylene membrane area was covered by hESC-RPE. RPE-65 and TRA-1-85 confirmed the presence of human-specific RPE cells in those animals. No areas corresponding to cells were found in the group implanted with membrane only. Intergrader agreement was high (r = 0.89-0.92). CONCLUSION The NIR mode was suitable to detect the presence of hESC-RPE seeded on a membrane and implanted into the subretinal space of the RCS rat.
Impact of Disease Severity, Illness Beliefs, and Coping Strategies on Outcomes in Psoriatic Arthritis

Little is known about how people with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) cope with and manage their condition, but data show that psychological problems are underrecognized and undertreated. The Common Sense Self‐Regulatory Model (CS‐SRM) suggests illness beliefs, mediated by coping, may influence health outcomes. The study aimed to investigate the roles of disease severity, illness beliefs, and coping strategies in predicting depression, anxiety, and quality of life (QoL) in people with PsA. Additionally, we aimed to assess the role of depression and anxiety in predicting QoL.
Computer Literacy Level AMONG Primary School Teachers in BIDA: Implications for E-Governance Deployment

The adoption of electronic government (or e-government) by any country is a direct implication that the majority of its citizens; if not all must possess high level of computer literacy. This paper therefore investigates the computer literacy levels of primary school teachers in Bida with a view to find out their degree of acceptance of e-governance as a system. The study uses descriptive survey of a hundred (100) teachers who were randomly selected from 10 schools in Bida as respondents. The research instrument used was a selfreporting questionnaire titled: Teachers Computer Literacy Questionnaire (TCLQ) with internal consistency of 0.65. The result, which was presented using group percentages and barcharts, shows that there is high level of computer literacy among the teachers as well as revealing highest percentage of respondents with positive feelings for e-products a factor of acceptance of e-governance. General Terms Information Systems
Setting HUMS condition indicator thresholds by modeling aircraft and torque band variance

Health and usage management systems (HUMS) compute a number of condition indicators (CIs) from physical measurements, such as vibration. These CIs are used to characterize the health of the component. When the CI exceeds some threshold, the component is deemed to be in warning (perform additional analysis) or alarm (component is faulted and requires maintenance). This work presents an approach for the robust configuration of thresholds to control false alarm while maintaining reliable detection. Results are presented for this methodology applied to the CIs monitoring a typical helicopter drive train.
STABILITY OF TIME-VARYING DISCRETE-TIME CASCADES

Abstract Stability results for analysis of time-varying discrete-time cascaded systems are presented. Most of these results parallel their continuous-time counterparts although there are some important differences in the proof techniques that are used. More importantly, some fundamental differences between stability properties of discrete-time and continuous-time cascades are pointed out and illustrated via examples.
Probabilistic Load Forecasting via Quantile Regression Averaging on Sister Forecasts

The majority of the load forecasting literature has been on point forecasting, which provides the expected value for each step throughout the forecast horizon. In the smart grid era, the electricity demand is more active and less predictable than ever before. As a result, probabilistic load forecasting, which provides additional information on the variability and uncertainty of future load values, is becoming of great importance to power systems planning and operations. This paper proposes a practical methodology to generate probabilistic load forecasts by performing quantile regression averaging on a set of sister point forecasts. There are two major benefits of the proposed approach. It can leverage the development in the point load forecasting literature over the past several decades and it does not rely so much on high-quality expert forecasts, which are rarely achievable in load forecasting practice. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach and make the results reproducible to the load forecasting community, we construct a case study using the publicly available data from the Global Energy Forecasting Competition 2014. Compared with several benchmark methods, the proposed approach leads to dominantly better performance as measured by the pinball loss function and the Winkler score.
Efficacy of the urinary bladder for isolation of Borrelia burgdorferi from naturally infected, wild Peromyscus leucopus

The efficacy of culturing urinary bladder tissue for Borrelia burgdorferi from naturally infected, wild Peromyscus leucopus mice was determined. The urinary bladder cultures were as efficient as spleen, kidney, and blood tissue cultures. The rapid B. burgdorferi isolation (mean, 6 days) from mouse urinary bladders should aid in defining new Lyme disease foci.
Limitations of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy

Purpose of review Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) is the preferred modality for the treatment of renal and upper ureteric calculi. The present review focuses on the limitations of ESWL, where recent developments have tried to identify patients who are unlikely to succeed with ESWL and where improvements in shock wave delivery may increase successful stone fragmentation. Recent findings Evaluation of patients prior to ESWL is especially important, and the use of imaging in the decision process, with the use of computed tomography attenuation values and skin-to-stone distance, can help improve our ability to identify suitable patients for shock wave treatment. Continued research into the methods of shock wave delivery techniques and lithotripter designs will help achieve better stone fragmentation rates with reduced side effects. Summary The importance of traditional factors in predicting ESWL success, such as stone size, location, composition and renal anatomy, are well known. More recently, authors have created nomograms to predict stone-free outcome after ESWL. Others have used the information obtained from computed tomography to predict stone comminution. In addition, modifications in shock wave delivery by altering shock rate and voltage have been researched in an effort to improve shock wave efficacy.
The effect of the neuroprotective agent riluzole on MRI parameters in primary progressive multiple sclerosis: a pilot study

Progressive axonal loss is the most likely pathologic correlate of irreversible neurologic impairment in primary progressive multiple sclerosis. In a run-in versus treatment trial, we show that the neuroprotective agent riluzole seems to reduce the rate of cervical cord atrophy and the development of hypointense T1 brain lesions on magnetic resonance imaging.
Towards DevOps in the Embedded Systems Domain: Why is It So Hard?

DevOps is a predominant phenomenon in the web domain. Its two core principles emphasize collaboration between software development and operations, and the use of agile principles to manage deployment environments and their configurations. DevOps techniques, such as collaboration and behaviour-driven monitoring, have been used by web companies to facilitate continuous deployment of new functionality to customers. The techniques may also offer opportunities for continuous product improvement when adopted in the embedded systems domain. However, certain characteristics of embedded software development present obstacles for DevOps adoption, and as yet, there is no empirical evidence of its adoption in the embedded systems domain. In this study, we present the challenges for DevOps adoption in embedded systems using a multiple-case study approach with four companies. The contribution of this paper is to introduce the concept of DevOps adoption in the embedded systems domain and then to identify key challenges for the DevOps adoption.
The Relationship between Corruptive Contexts, Organizational Ethics Practices, and Anti-Corruption Performance on the Two Sides of the Taiwan Strait

This study develops a framework to explore the relationships between corruptive contexts, organizational ethical practices, and anti-corruption performance on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. Results show that effective management of organizational ethics practices can enhance anti-corruption performance. However 21.8 percent of participants identified led the ethics in their organizations as being of the ”ethically lax type. ” indicating that ethics practices are not satisfactory. This study suggests that each organization should emphasize leadership in order to reduce corruption opportunities and motivation, establishing a legitimate interactive mechanism with government authorities. With such an ethical system and the resulting synergy between the public and private sectors in place, it will be possible combat corruption, reinforce organizational ethics and performance, and promote anti-corruption performance.
A 40 GHz CMOS VCO with resonated negative-conductance cell

The design of a 40 GHz voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) in 90 nm CMOS technology has been presented in this paper. An optimized topology of resonated negative-conductance cell was utilized to relax the serious trade-off in the design of millimeter-wave VCO. From On-wafer measurement results, the fabricated 40 GHz VCO achieves 8.9 % frequency tuning range and -96.7 dBc/Hz phase noise at 1 MHz offset, while consuming only 1.65 mW dc power. An excellent balance of all critical performance parameters has been realized, resulting in a FOMT (figure-of-merit) of -185.4 dBc/Hz.
Simulation and minimization of waiting time in rows of elevators of public buildings

The objective of this work is to analyze and understand the operation of the elevators system, simulating and optimizing the traffic of individuals in elevators. Passive elements (queues) and active (processors/servers) are analyzed. A simulation methodology is developed for passive and active elements using the system methodology to discrete events. The heuristic method is used in an attempt to find the best configuration/geometry that minimizes waiting times in the queue. It will be seen that by changing the configuration of the elevator system, the waiting time in the elevator queues can be shortened. It is concluded that depending on the configuration of the matrix of the elevator system, a reduction of up to 13%.