Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recombinant factor VIIa reverses the in vitro and ex vivo anticoagulant and profibrinolytic effects of fondaparinux

Summary. Background: Fondaparinux is a synthetic pentasaccharide, which selectively inhibits coagulation factor (F) Xa, and is registered for prevention of venous thromboembolism following hip fracture, hip replacement, and knee replacement surgery. Recently, it was shown that recombinant FVIIa (rFVIIa) reverses anticoagulant effects of fondaparinux in healthy volunteers. Objectives: In this study, we have explored the in vitro and ex vivo effects of rFVIIa on clot formation and thrombin‐activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor (TAFI)‐mediated down‐regulation of fibrinolysis after fondaparinux administration. Methods: In vitro clot lysis assays were performed in pooled normal plasma from healthy volunteers to which fondaparinux was added, and in serial samples from healthy volunteers who received a single bolus dose of fondaparinux, a single bolus dose of rFVIIa, or both. Results and conclusions: Fondaparinux significantly delayed clot formation, and clot lysis was significantly increased due to decreased activation of TAFI. Addition of recombinant FVIIa corrected the inhibited clot formation induced by fondaparinux, and the acceleration of clot lysis was partially reversed. In vivo administration of fondaparinux (10 mg) to healthy volunteers similarly resulted in accelerated plasma clot lysis. Subsequent administration of rFVIIa (90 µg kg−1) normalized the clot lysis time up to 6 h postadministration. rFVIIa might be a good therapeutic option in patients treated with fondaparinux who develop bleeding complications, since both clot formation as well as fibrinolytic resistance are improved.
L1-regularized least squares sparse extreme learning machine for classification

Extreme Learning Machines (ELM) is a class of supervised learning models that have three basic steps: A random projection of the input space followed by some nonlinear operation and finally a linear output layer of weights. The basic ELM uses pseudo matrix inverse to estimate the output layer weights which usually leads to over fitting. Recent research suggested the use of L2-norm regularization to enhance the sparsity of the output layer. This paper proposes the use of the L1-norm LASSO formulation, since the L1-norm promotes sparsity in the solution of the output layer weights and it has been shown to produce the sparsest solutions in many applications. Extensive comparison between the basic ELM, the L1-norm and the L2-norm is conducted over a number of classification tasks, with significant improvement in sparseness using the proposed approach with better performance than that reported in the literature.
Feedback Can Double the Prelog of Some Memoryless Gaussian Networks

We exhibit two memoryless Gaussian networks where the capacity-gains afforded by feedback are unbounded in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The networks are instances of the Gaussian broadcast channel and the two-user Gaussian interference channel. To demonstrate the capacity-gains we propose and analyze a novel feedback coding scheme. For the broadcast channel with two receivers it is shown that if the noise sequences at the two receivers are perfectly anticorrelated, then, at high SNR, feedback asymptotically doubles the sum-capacity. The same holds if the noise sequences are perfectly correlated provided that they are of unequal variances. This result extends to the multi-receiver broadcast channel: if the noise sequences are all different and have a rank-one covariance matrix, then, at high-SNR, feedback asymptotically multiplies the sum-capacity by the number of receivers. However, as we show, these multiplicative gains collapse when the feedback is noisy. For the two-receiver Gaussian broadcast channel with noise-free feedback we also derive the high-SNR asymptotic sum-capacity. The expansion is exact in the sense that, as the SNR tends to infinity, the difference between the sum-capacity and our asymptotic expression tends to zero. If the noise sequences are perfectly anticorrelated or if they are perfectly correlated and of unequal variances, then the asymptotic expansion is as if the transmitter communicated to the two receivers over two parallel Gaussian channels. Otherwise, the asymptotic expansion is the same as if the receivers could cooperate. For the two-user interference channel it is shown that if the noises experienced by the two receivers are perfectly correlated or perfectly anticorrelated, then for most channel-gains feedback doubles the high SNR sum-capacity.
Estimating head orientation based upon sky-ground representation

The sense of balance is the basic skill of biological system. It is combined and unified with other motion skills of animals. By sensing the direction of the gravity from accelerometers, we can acquire a universal vertical reference which makes it much easier to estimation head orientation from visual sensors. This paper proposes a new method of estimating head orientation of a humanoid-like mobile robot by mounting a fisheye camera on its head. The camera rotation is estimated based upon a sky-ground representation, which is a spherical image combined with a vertical reference determined by sensing the direction of gravity. The spherical image can then be divided into two parts, sky part and ground part, along the horizon. Since the direction of the gravity is acquired from accelerometers, what we require to estimate about camera rotation is only the yaw component. Since the yaw rotation does not give rise to any content change for the sky part (the upper part of a spherical image), but a shift along the azimuth angle in a polar spherical coordinate system, the yaw component can be estimated by a phase correlation method which is referred to as the Fourier shift property. By combining the gravity with visual cues, we can estimate camera rotation without accumulated errors for a local scene. In our method no complicated computation is required and robust results are acquired for a dynamic and cluttered outdoor environment even if there is some illumination change.
Enhanced cell growth using non-woven scaffolds of multilobal fibres

Multilobal fibres contain several grooves and have higher surface area than round fibres. Cell density can be enhanced when cultured on scaffolds manufactured with multilobal fibres. This study compared the cell growth of dermal fibroblasts and osteoblast-like SaOS2 cells on polymeric scaffolds produced from multilobal fibres to the conventional round-fibred scaffolds. Cells were cultured on round nylon 6,6, trilobal nylon 6,6, round polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and multilobal PET scaffolds for 14 days. There were more cells cultured on trilobal nylon 6,6 and PET multilobal scaffolds than their round counterparts. Preference to the type of multilobal scaffolds was cell dependent. Fibroblasts increased by 21.8 ± 1.9 fold to 6.3 × 105 cells (p < 0.001) when cultured on trilobal nylon 6,6 scaffolds while SaOS2 cells exhibited a 16.7 ± 2.8 fold increase (2.9 × 105 cells, p < 0.001) on the multilobal PET scaffolds after 14 days of culture. The ability of multilobal fibres to accommodate large quantities of cells presents an excellent alternative to round fibres as scaffolds for tissue engineering.
Increased bronchoalveolar IgG2/IgG1 ratio is a marker for human lung allograft rejection.

BACKGROUND Lung allograft rejection (AR) is thought to involve T-helper-1 (Th-1) lymphocytes mediating both cellular immunity and alloantibody production. Th-1 lymphocytes produce gamma interferon (gamma IFN) and induce IgG2 production, suggesting that increased IgG2 production might occur during AR. The purpose of this study was to determine if locally altered bronchoalveolar IgG2/IgG1 ratios might correlate with AR. METHODS Eighteen recipients of lung allografts underwent a total of 25 bronchoscopies for surveillance or at times of suspected infection or AR. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), serum collection, and transbronchial biopsy (TB) were performed on all patients. gamma IFN, IgG1, IgG2 levels, and the ratio of IgG2/IgG1 were determined in serum and BAL and matched with TB histology. Five nonsmoking normal volunteers undergoing bronchoscopy, BAL, and serum collection served as controls. RESULTS IgG2 was upregulated in allograft BAL during AR as determined by the ratio IgG2/IgG1 (2.91 +/- 0.79 SEM vs 0.62 +/- SEM, p < 0.019, IgG2/IgG1, AR BAL vs non-AR BAL, respectively). An IgG2/IgG1 > or = 1 in allograft BAL (95% confidence intervals 1.26 to 4.56) was 80% specific and 91% sensitive for the diagnosis of AR with a positive predictive value of 92%. A BAL IgG2/IgG1 < 1 (95% confidence interval 0.27 to 0.97) had a negative predictive value of 77%. After therapy in two patients the elevated IgG2/IgG1 ratio reversed to normal (ie, < 1) with histologic resolution of AR. CONCLUSIONS Human lung AR is associated with a locally increased IgG2/IgG1 ratio suggesting locally upregulated Th-1 lymphocyte activity during lung AR.
Enhancement of Auranofin-Induced Apoptosis in MCF-7 Human Breast Cells by Selenocystine, a Synergistic Inhibitor of Thioredoxin Reductase

Thioredoxin system plays an important role in regulation of intracellular redox balance and various signaling pathways. Thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) is overexpressed in many cancer cells and has been identified as a potential target of anticancer drugs. Auranofin (AF) is potent TrxR inhibitor with novel in vitro and in vivo anticancer activities. Selenocystine (SeC) is a nutritionally available selenoamino acid with selective anticancer effects through induction of apoptosis. In the present study, we demonstrated the synergistic effects and the underlying molecular mechanisms of SeC in combination with AF on MCF-7 human breast cancer cells. The results showed that SeC and AF synergistically inhibited the cancer cell growth through induction of ROS-dependent apoptosis with the involvement of mitochondrial dysfunction. DNA damage-mediated p53 phosphorylation and down-regulation of phosphorylated AKT and ERK also contributed to cell apoptosis. Moreover, we demonstrated the important role of TrxR activity in the synergistic action of SeC and AF. Taken together, our results suggest the strategy to use SeC and AF in combination could be a highly efficient way to achieve anticancer synergism by targeting TrxR.
Migration velocity analysis in factorized VTI media

One of the main challenges in anisotropic velocity analysis and imaging is simultaneous estimation of velocity gradients and anisotropic parameters from reflection data. Approximating the subsurface by a factorized VTI (transversely isotropic with a vertical symmetry axis) medium provides a convenient way of building vertically and laterally heterogeneous anisotropic models for prestack depthmigration.The algorithm for P‐wave migration velocity analysis (MVA) introduced here is designed for models composed of factorized VTI layers or blocks with constant vertical and lateral gradients in the vertical velocity VP0. The anisotropic MVA method is implemented as an iterative two‐step procedure that includes prestack depth migration (imaging step) followed by an update of the medium parameters (velocity‐analysis step). The residual moveout of the migrated events, which is minimized during the parameter updates, is described by a nonhyperbolic equation whose coefficients are determined by 2D semblance scanning.
Nonretinal projections to the medial terminal accessory optic nucleus in rabbit and rat: A retrograde and anterograde transport study

The distribution and density of the nonretinal projections to the rabbit medial terminal accessory optic nucleus (MTN) have been studied after injections of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) into the MTN in seven rabbits, and confirmation for the presence of certain of these projections has been made in the rabbit or rat by utilizing anterograde transport of tritiated leucine or leucine/proline after appropriate injections into cerebral cortical areas and brainstem nuclei.
Noninvasive ventilation for acute respiratory failure

Purpose of reviewThis article reviews the use of noninvasive ventilation (NIV) in patients with acute respiratory failure (ARF), with a critical review of the most recent literature in this setting. Recent findingsThe efficacy of NIV is variable depending on the cause of the episode of ARF. In community-acquired pneumonia, NIV is often associated with poor response, with better response in patients with preexisting cardiac or respiratory disease. In patients with pandemic influenza H1N1 and severe ARF, NIV has been associated with high failure rates but relatively favorable mortality. In acute respiratory distress syndrome, NIV should be used very cautiously and restricted to patients with mild–moderate acute respiratory distress syndrome without shock or metabolic acidosis due to the high failure rate observed in several reports. Despite limited evidence, NIV may improve the outcomes of patients with chest trauma and severe ARF. In postoperative ARF, both continuous positive airway pressure and NIV are effective to improve clinical outcomes, particularly in those with abdominal, cardiac, and thoracic surgery. SummaryAlthough patients with severe hypoxemic ARF are, in general, less likely to be intubated when NIV is used, the efficacy is different among these heterogeneous populations. Therefore, NIV is not routinely recommended in all patients with severe hypoxemic ARF.
A Smart Ambient Sound Aware Environment for Be Quiet Reminding

This paper presents a prototype of a smart sound aware environment that captures ambient sounds, analyzes sound situations and gives a be-quiet reminder to someone who generates sound exceeding certain volume level and disturbing others in the same site. It shows the microphone net to sense sound data and the speaker net to send be-quiet reminders. All computers are interconnected with a P2P network atop of the TOMSCOP platform. It discusses how sound data is captured and processed, and when a be-quiet reminder decision is made with analyzing contexts of sounds and users in a room. Some preliminary experimental results are given
Association of pattern dystrophy with an HTRA1 single-nucleotide polymorphism.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate if adult-onset foveomacular vitelliform dystrophy (AOFVD) and butterfly-shaped pigment dystrophy (BSPD) are associated with risk single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). METHODS This was a tertiary referral center-based cross-sectional study including 35 consecutive patients with BSPD and AOFVD, 317 patients with AMD, and 159 unaffected individuals. Demographics, clinical information, and ophthalmic imaging studies were collected. Sequencing was performed for the peripherin/RDS and BEST1 genes, and genotyping was performed for SNPs in the genes for complement factor H (CFH) (rs1061170), HTRA1 (rs11200638), and complement component 3 (C3) (rs2231099). RESULTS Adult-onset foveomacular vitelliform dystrophy and BSPD were diagnosed in 24 (68.6%) and 11 (31.4%) of the 35 patients, respectively. The mean (SD) age of patients with pattern dystrophy (PD) was 75.3 (10) years and median visual acuity was 0.7. Pattern dystrophy was associated with the HTRA1 risk allele compared with unaffected individuals (odds ratio, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.11-2.66; P = .03). The HTRA1 SNP showed similar prevalence in patients with AMD and PD. The CFH risk allele was significantly less common in patients with PD compared with patients with AMD (odds ratio, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.28-0.76; P = .002). No mutations in peripherin/RDS or BEST1 were detected. CONCLUSIONS The AOFVD and BSPD phenotypes are associated with an HTRA1 risk SNP. These phenotypes often present in elderly individuals who do not carry peripherin/RDS gene mutations and are associated with retinal pigment epithelium alterations and increased risk for choroidal neovascularization. Further research is required to evaluate if AOFVD and BSPD phenotypes in aged individuals are associated with AMD.
Aluminum Tolerance in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) (II. Aluminum-Stimulated Excretion of Malic Acid from Root Apices)

We investigated the role of organic acids in conferring Al tolerance in near-isogenic wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) lines differing in Al tolerance at the Al tolerance locus (Alt1). Addition of Al to nutrient solutions stimulated excretion of malic and succinic acids from roots of wheat seedlings, and Al-tolerant genotypes excreted 5- to 10-fold more malic acid than Al-sensitive genotypes. Malic acid excretion was detectable after 15 min of exposure to 200 [mu]M Al, and the amount excreted increased linearly over 24 h. The amount of malic acid excreted was dependent on the external Al concentration, and excretion was stimulated by as little as 10 [mu]M Al. Malic acid added to nutrient solutions was able to protect Al-sensitive seedlings from normally phytotoxic Al concentrations. Root apices (terminal 3–5 mm of root) were the primary source of the malic acid excreted. Root apices of Al-tolerant and Al-sensitive seedlings contained similar amounts of malic acid before and after a 2-h exposure to 200 [mu]M Al. During this treatment, Al-tolerant seedlings excreted about four times the total amount of malic acid initially present within root apices, indicating that continual synthesis of malic acid was occurring. Malic acid excretion was specifically stimulated by Al, and neither La, Fe, nor the absence of Pi was able to elicit this response. There was a consistent correlation of Al tolerance with high rates of malic acid excretion stimulated by Al in a population of seedlings segregating for Al tolerance. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that the Alt1 locus in wheat encodes an Al tolerance mechanism based on Al-stimulated excretion of malic acid.
A Transformed Conflict Graph-Based Resource-Allocation Scheme Combining Interference Alignment in OFDMA Femtocell Networks

To deal with ever-growing wireless services and to increase network throughput, it has been proposed to deploy femtocells with frequency reuse based on orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA). However, the interference poses big challenges, particularly for dense deployment scenarios. The resource allocation with joint consideration of subchannel assignment and interference alignment (IA) is different from the traditional problems. First, we need to select the users to perform IA since the number of participant users is limited by the feasibility constraint, and the interference power levels are different due to the path loss. Second, IA increases the degrees of freedom (DoFs) while occupying the additional signal dimension of the participant user; hence, the entirety of the participants in IA require more subchannels compared with the nonparticipants when each of the users transmits the same number of streams. In this paper, we propose a transformed conflict graph-based resource-allocation scheme, where the users are selected according to the effect of IA on the requirement under the feasibility constraint. Then, the subchannel assignment can be modeled as a classical color problem. Extensive simulations show that our scheme can approximate the optimal scheme in a small network and effectively improve the satisfactory ratio of users compared with the scheme without IA in dense femtocell networks.
Performance Analysis of Proactive and Reactive Routing Protocols for Ad hoc Networks

Mobile Ad hoc networks are the collection of wireless nodes that can exchange information dynamically among them without pre existing fixed infrastructure. Because of highly dynamic in nature, performance of routing protocols is an important issue. In addition to this routing protocols face many challenges like limited battery backup, limited processing capability and limited memory resources. Other than efficient routing, efficient utilization of battery capacity and Security are also the major concern for routing protocols. This paper presents simulation based comparison and performance analysis on different parameters like PDF, Average e-e delay, Routing Overheads and Packet Loss. The study is about three main protocols DSR, AODV (Reactive) and DSDV (Proactive).
Parallel Computation in Biological Sequence Analysis

A massive volume of biological sequence data is available in over 36 different databases worldwide, including the sequence data generated by the Human Genome project. These databases, which also contain biological and bibliographical information, are growing at an exponential rate. Consequently, the computational demands needed to explore and analyze the data contained in these databases is quickly becoming a great concern. To meet these demands, we must use high performance computing systems, such as parallel computers and distributed networks of workstations. We present two parallel computational methods for analyzing these biological sequences. The first method is used to retrieve sequences that are homologous to a query sequence. The biological information associated with the homologous sequences found in the database may provide important clues to the structure and function of the query sequence. The second method, which helps in the prediction of the function, structure, and evolutionary history of biological sequences, is used to align a number of homologous sequences with each other. These two parallel computational methods were implemented and evaluated on an Intel IPSC/860 parallel computer. The resulting performance demonstrates that parallel computational methods can significantly reduce the computational time needed to analyze the sequences contained in large databases.
Hearing preservation surgery in acoustic neuroma: long-term results

SUMMARY Long-term hearing was examined in 200 patients operated on during 1976-2000 with removal of acoustic neuroma with a retrosigmoid approach and hearing preservation technique. Ninety-four cases preserved hearing, and 91 cases were followed-up for at least 6 years (range 6 to 21 years). Hearing was measured with the PTA 0.5 KHz to 4 KHz and the SDS, and followed the guidelines of the American Academy of Otolaryngology and Head Neck Surgery (AAOHNS classification). Change (or stability) of the short to long-term class was the main outcome measure. Postoperative hearing of class A and B was preserved at long-term and within class B in 87% of cases. A total of 13% presented a decrease of class to C or D. Small size and good preoperative good correlated with good short- and long-term hearing.
Expertise Recommender System for Scientific Community

Finding experts in academics as well as in enterprises is an important practical problem. Both manual and automated approaches are employed and have their own pros and cons. On one hand, the manual approaches need extensive human efforts but the quality of data is good, on the other hand, the automated approaches normally do not need human efforts but the quality of service is not as good as in the manual approaches. Furthermore, the automated approaches normally use only one metric to measure the expertise of an individual. For example, for finding experts in academia, the number of publications of an individual is used to discover and rank experts. This paper illustrates both manual and automated approaches for finding experts and subsequently proposes and implements an automated approach for measuring expertise profile in academia. The proposed approach incorporates multiple metrics for measuring an overall expertise level. To visualize a rank list of experts, an extended hyperbolic visualization technique is proposed and implemented. Furthermore, the discovered experts are pushed to users based on their local context. The research has been implemented for Journal of Universal Computer Science (J. UCS) and is available online for the users of J. UCS.