Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Catheter-associated urinary tract infection is rarely symptomatic: a prospective study of 1,497 catheterized patients.

BACKGROUND Catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is the most common nosocomial infection, accounting for more than 1 million cases each year in US hospitals and nursing homes. OBJECTIVE To define the clinical features of CAUTI. SETTING AND PATIENTS A university hospital; 1,497 newly catheterized patients. DESIGN Every day that the catheter was in place, a quantitative urine culture and urine leukocyte count were obtained, and the patient was queried by a research worker regarding symptoms. To more precisely define the role of CAUTI in patients' symptoms, a subset of 1,034 patients, 89 of whom developed CAUTI with more than 10(3) colony-forming units per milliliter, who did not have another potentially confounding site of infection besides the urinary tract, was analyzed. OUTCOME MEASURES Presence of fever, symptoms commonly associated with community-acquired urinary tract infection, and peripheral leukocytosis. RESULTS There were 235 new cases of nosocomial CAUTI during the study period. More than 90% of the infected patients were asymptomatic; only 123 infections (52%) were detected by patients' physicians using the hospital laboratory. In the subset analysis, there were no significant differences between patients with and without CAUTI in signs or symptoms commonly associated with urinary tract infection-fever, dysuria, urgency, or flank pain-or in leukocytosis. Only 1 of the 235 episodes of CAUTI that were prospectively studied was unequivocally associated with secondary bloodstream infection. CONCLUSIONS Whereas CAUTIs are a major reservoir of antibiotic-resistant organisms in the hospital, they are rarely symptomatic and infrequently cause bloodstream infection. Symptoms referable to the urinary tract, fever, or peripheral leukocytosis have little predictive value for the diagnosis of CAUTI.
Competence of pheasants as reservoirs for Lyme disease spirochetes.

Pheasants, Phasianus colchicus L. , constitute a major part of the ground-feeding avifauna of England and Wales and are important hosts to immature stages of Ixodes ricinus L. , the principal tick vector of Lyme borreliosis spirochetes in Europe. Therefore, their competence as hosts for Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson, Schmid, Steigerwalt & Brenner sensu lato was investigated. One group of pheasants was inoculated by needle with 1 x 10(6) cultured B. burgdorferi s.s. organisms, and a 2nd group of birds was infested with I. ricinus nymphs collected from a focus of Lyme borreliosis in southern England. Both bird groups were subjected to xenodiagnoses using uninfected I. ricinus nymphs. All recovered engorged ticks, as well as pheasant skin biopsies, were analyzed by a nested polymerase chain reaction targeting the 5S-23S rRNA genes of B. burgdorferi s.l. Both groups proved to be infective for ticks. The birds that were infected by tick bites proved to be significantly more infective for ticks (23% of the xenodiagnostic ticks positive) than those infected by needle (5%). The results show that pheasants can be infected experimentally with B. burgdorferi s.l. , that they can pass the spirochetes to ticks and that their infectivity for ticks may persist as long as 3 mo. We conclude that pheasants are reservoir competent for Lyme borreliosis spirochetes and potentially play an important role in the maintenance of B. burgdorferi s.l. in England and Wales.
Induction of anesthesia in coronary artery bypass graft surgery: the hemodynamic and analgesic effects of ketamine

OBJECTIVE The aim of this prospective, randomized study was to evaluate the hemodynamic and analgesic effects of ketamine by comparing it with propofol starting at the induction of anesthesia until the end of sternotomy in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting surgery. INTRODUCTION Anesthetic induction and maintenance may induce myocardial ischemia in patients with coronary artery disease. A primary goal in the anesthesia of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting surgery is both the attenuation of sympathetic responses to noxious stimuli and the prevention of hypotension. METHODS Thirty patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting surgery were randomized to receive either ketamine 2 mg.kg−1 (Group K) or propofol 0.5 mg.kg−1 (Group P) during induction of anesthesia. Patients also received standardized doses of midazolam, fentanyl, and rocuronium in the induction sequence. The duration of anesthesia from induction to skin incision and sternotomy, as well as the supplemental doses of fentanyl and sevoflurane, were recorded. Heart rate, mean arterial pressure, central venous pressure, pulmonary arterial pressure, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, cardiac index, systemic and pulmonary vascular resistance indices, stroke work index, and left and right ventricular stroke work indices were obtained before induction of anesthesia; one minute after induction; one, three, five, and ten minutes after intubation; one minute after skin incision; and at one minute after sternotomy. RESULTS There were significant changes in the measured and calculated hemodynamic variables when compared to their values before induction. One minute after induction, mean arterial pressure and the systemic vascular resistance index decreased significantly in group P (p<0.01). CONCLUSION There were no differences between groups in the consumption of sevoflurane or in the use of additional fentanyl. The combination of ketamine, midazolam, and fentanyl for the induction of anesthesia provided better hemodynamic stability during induction and until the end of sternotomy in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting surgery.
Effects of Lidocaine, Propranolol, and Sotalol on Ouabain‐lnduced Changes in Transmembrane Potential of Canine Purkinje Fibers

Isolated canine papillary muscle-false tendon preparations stimulated at 95/min were perfused with Tyrode's solution containing ouabain, 2.1 × 10−7M. Action potentials of Purkinje fibers were recorded. Initially ouabain increased the slope of phase-4 depolarization. Subsequently it decreased the maximum diastolic potential and the rising velocity of phase 0, the amplitude, and the duration of the action potential. The slope of phase-4 depolarization increased progressively, and eventually the configuration of the action potential changed to resemble that of sinoatrial node fibers. Onset of enhanced phase-4 depolarization was delayed significantly by treatment before exposure to ouabain with lidocaine, 3.7 × 10−5M, or propranolol, 2.1 × 10−5M, but not with sotalol, 3.2 × 10−4M. Enhanced phase-4 depolarization produced by exposure to ouabain was reduced in slope by subsequent treatment with lidocaine or propranolol but not sotalol. Application of lidocaine or propranolol to fibers with action potentials in the configuration characteristic of sinoatrial node fibers returned the contour of the action potentials toward normal; sotalol was not effective in this regard. These results, coupled with the relative effectiveness of these drugs in intact animals with digitalis arrhythmias, support the hypothesis that enhanced phase-4 depolarization of Purkinje fibers is a factor in the production of digitalis-induced ventricular arrhythmias.
A novel voltage equalizer for supercapacitors in multiple-connection

Supercapacitors, often called EDLCs (Electric Double Layer Capacitors), offer high energy density and long life span, so various applications may be anticipated in the realm of energy storage devices, such as those used in electric vehicles or electric power stabilization in power systems, etc. However, since the voltage limit is low of the devices, it is necessary to connect them in series or parallel. In addition, it is required that they be used in the region of their critical voltage limit or capacity limit. In order to apply them efficiently, the devices should be used with balanced voltage. Firstly, the authors discuss a conventional method, using a forward converter. Under such background on various superior technologies, a novel voltage balancer is presented, employing an improved CW (Cockcroft-Walton) circuit. Characteristics of proposed circuit are analyzed and discussed.
Cue Competition Affects Temporal Dynamics of Edge-assignment in Human Visual Cortex

Edge-assignment determines the perception of relative depth across an edge and the shape of the closer side. Many cues determine edge-assignment, but relatively little is known about the neural mechanisms involved in combining these cues. Here, we manipulated extremal edge and attention cues to bias edge-assignment such that these two cues either cooperated or competed. To index their neural representations, we flickered figure and ground regions at different frequencies and measured the corresponding steady-state visual-evoked potentials (SSVEPs). Figural regions had stronger SSVEP responses than ground regions, independent of whether they were attended or unattended. In addition, competition and cooperation between the two edge-assignment cues significantly affected the temporal dynamics of edge-assignment processes. The figural SSVEP response peaked earlier when the cues causing it cooperated than when they competed, but sustained edge-assignment effects were equivalent for cooperating and competing cues, consistent with a winner-take-all outcome. These results provide physiological evidence that figure–ground organization involves competitive processes that can affect the latency of figural assignment.
3D-reconstruction of synapses based on EM images

3D reconstruction from the microscopy images of serial sections plays an important role in analyzing structure of biological specimens, such as neuronal circuits in brain tissue. This paper is focusing on the 3D reconstruction of synapses which is a branch of micro reconstruction of brain. Having analysed the structure of synapses, we first detect and locate them in serial sections with cascade AdaBoost algorithm, then optimize the shape of synapses by constructing suitable fitting functions and segment them with morphology processing method. Taking the connection of adjacent sections and synaptic extensibility in space into consideration, we complete the reconstruction of synapses which is based on the segmentation in serial sections. Actually all our works are based on the registration of serial sections.
An Encrypted Index Mechanism in Ciphertext Retrieval System

The cipher text-based full-text retrieval technology is proposed to satisfy the pressing demands for high security in massive information sharing applications. Based on the analysis of general technology of full-text indexing, we propose an improved index structure that supports cipher text indexing and retrieval. Then we present approaches to construct, maintain and retrieve cipher text indexes. Meanwhile, we implement a cipher text-based full-text retrieval system, which allows full-text search on the encrypted documents in multiple formats without decryption. Finally, we carry out the experiments and evaluate the performance of cipher text index construction and retrieval.
Performance—Complexity Comparison of Receivers for a LTE MIMO–OFDM System

Implementation of receivers for spatial multiplexing multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal-frequency- division-multiplexing (OFDM) systems is considered. The linear minimum mean-square error (LMMSE) and the -best list sphere detector (LSD) are compared to the iterative successive interference cancellation (SIC) detector and the iterative -best LSD. The performance of the algorithms is evaluated in 3G long-term evolution (LTE) system. The SIC algorithm is found to perform worse than the -best LSD when the MIMO channels are highly correlated, while the performance difference diminishes when the correlation decreases. The receivers are designed for 22 and 4 4 antenna systems and three different modulation schemes. Complexity results for FPGA and ASIC implementations are found. A modification to the -best LSD which increases its detection rate is introduced. The ASIC receivers are designed to meet the decoding throughput requirements in LTE and the -best LSD is found to be the most complex receiver although it gives the best reliable data transmission throughput. The SIC receiver has the best performance-complexity tradeoff in the system but in the 4 4 case, the -best LSD is the most efficient. A receiver architecture which could be reconfigured to using a simple or a more complex detector as the channel conditions change would achieve the best performance while consuming the least amount of power in the receiver.
Dynamically optimizing queries over large scale data platforms

Enterprises are adapting large-scale data processing platforms, such as Hadoop, to gain actionable insights from their "big data". Query optimization is still an open challenge in this environment due to the volume and heterogeneity of data, comprising both structured and un/semi-structured datasets. Moreover, it has become common practice to push business logic close to the data via user-defined functions (UDFs), which are usually opaque to the optimizer, further complicating cost-based optimization. As a result, classical relational query optimization techniques do not fit well in this setting, while at the same time, suboptimal query plans can be disastrous with large datasets. In this paper, we propose new techniques that take into account UDFs and correlations between relations for optimizing queries running on large scale clusters. We introduce "pilot runs", which execute part of the query over a sample of the data to estimate selectivities, and employ a cost-based optimizer that uses these selectivities to choose an initial query plan. Then, we follow a dynamic optimization approach, in which plans evolve as parts of the queries get executed. Our experimental results show that our techniques produce plans that are at least as good as, and up to 2x (4x) better for Jaql (Hive) than, the best hand-written left-deep query plans.
A 40 GHz power amplifier using a low cost high volume 0.15 um optical lithography pHEMT process

A 40 GHz power amplifier is realized with a new 0.15 um optical lithography pHEMT process developed for low-cost microwave and millimeter wave circuits. Several Ka and V Band market requirements have driven demand for higher bandwidth, low-cost, integrated circuits. A 40 GHz power amplifier is used to demonstrate the process capabilities, starting from the initial design phase and culminating with the fabrication and measurement of the solid state power amplifier.
Preceding Vehicle Detection and Tracking Adaptive to Illumination Variation in Night Traffic Scenes Based on Relevance Analysis

Preceding vehicle detection and tracking at nighttime are challenging problems due to the disturbance of other extraneous illuminant sources coexisting with the vehicle lights. To improve the detection accuracy and robustness of vehicle detection, a novel method for vehicle detection and tracking at nighttime is proposed in this paper. The characteristics of taillights in the gray level are applied to determine the lower boundary of the threshold for taillights segmentation, and the optimal threshold for taillight segmentation is calculated using the OTSU algorithm between the lower boundary and the highest grayscale of the region of interest. The candidate taillight pairs are extracted based on the similarity between left and right taillights, and the non-vehicle taillight pairs are removed based on the relevance analysis of vehicle location between frames. To reduce the false negative rate of vehicle detection, a vehicle tracking method based on taillights estimation is applied. The taillight spot candidate is sought in the region predicted by Kalman filtering, and the disturbed taillight is estimated based on the symmetry and location of the other taillight of the same vehicle. Vehicle tracking is completed after estimating its location according to the two taillight spots. The results of experiments on a vehicle platform indicate that the proposed method could detect vehicles quickly, correctly and robustly in the actual traffic environments with illumination variation.
Differential regulation of rat insulin I and II messenger RNA synthesis: effects of fasting and cyproheptadine.

Rats and mice retain a duplicated insulin (I) gene. Because the duplicated gene shares only incomplete homology with the ancestral insulin (II) gene it may be regulated differently. In the studies presented here we measured changes in abundance of these distinct insulin mRNAs and their precursors in response to fasting and fasting plus a single dose of cyproheptadine, two experimental manipulations that cause changes in the level of total insulin mRNA in rats. Both diminished rat insulin II mRNA to a greater extent than rat insulin I mRNA. Rat insulin II mRNA comprised 41% of the total insulin mRNA in 0 h controls and decreased to 33% of the total insulin mRNA after a 10-h fast. Insulin II mRNA decreased to 26% of the total insulin mRNA 10 h after treatment with cyproheptadine. To determine whether these manipulations had effects on insulin mRNA synthesis, precursors for each of the two mRNAs were quantified. Fasting for 24 h had only small effects on insulin I mRNA precursor, but diminished rat insulin II pre-mRNA to 32% of the 0 h control values. One and a half hours after fasting plus cyproheptadine administration, pre-mRNA for rat insulin II levels had decreased to 38%, while rat insulin I pre-mRNA remained at levels present in 0 h controls. Levels of rat insulin I and II pre-mRNAs were both maximally depressed at 10 h, but rat insulin II pre-mRNA decreased to 3%, while rat insulin I pre-mRNA diminished to only 49% of controls. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Cross-Surface: Challenges and Opportunities of Spatial and Proxemic Interaction

In this workshop, we will review and discuss open issues, technical challenges and conceptual models for multi-device spatial or proxemic interaction. We aim to bring together researchers, students and practitioners working on technical infrastructures, studies and designs of spatial in-terfaces, or domain specific multi-device applications that use space as a unit of analysis. We focus specifically on analysing how such interfaces, tools and tracking technolo-gy can be deployed "in the wild". The workshop will facili-tate knowledge exchange about the current state of spatial and proxemic interactive systems, identify application do-mains and enabling technologies for cross-surface interac-tions in the wild, and establish a research community to develop effective strategies for successful design of cross-device interactions.
Annuity Markets and Retirement Security

The growing importance of defined contribution pension arrangements has drawn increased attention to the means by which retired people draw down their assets. Current UK law requires annuitisation of at least a fraction of defined contribution plan accumulations. Annuity markets have recently attracted some criticism with respect to pricing and the available range of product options. This paper describes a key feature of voluntary annuity markets: the presence of ‘adverse selection’. This is the tendency of annuitants to live longer than non-annuitants, since individuals who know that they are likely to die soon do not purchase annuities. The paper presents information that quantifies the importance of adverse selection in the setting of private annuity prices and discusses the role of compulsory annuitisation requirements in reducing it. Requiring individuals to participate in the annuity market can reduce selection effects, at the cost of reducing individuals’ range of retirement income options.
Critical role of actin bundling in plant cell morphogenesis

Actin microfilaments form highly-organized structures, such as arrays, meshwork and bundles, and are involved in cell division, organelle motility and intracellular transport in plants. Such organization is indicative of their vital role in directing plant cell morphogenesis. However, the physiological impact of changes in actin bundling level has been unclear until recently, despite progress in our understanding of their roles following actin microfilament disruption. Recent advances have shown that actin bundling levels can be modified through expression of actin binding proteins, or by using auxin transport inhibitors or auxin itself. The technical aspects of these findings have underscored the importance of actin bundling levels in plant cell morphogenesis, including cell division, cell elongation/expansion and stomatal movements. Based on such progress, we discuss the possible mechanisms that connect the actin microfilaments status with cellular dynamics.
Perceptual Salience and Reward Both Influence Feedback-Related Neural Activity Arising from Choice

For day-to-day decisions, multiple factors influence our choice between alternatives. Two dimensions of decision making that substantially affect choice are the objective perceptual properties of the stimulus (e.g., salience) and its subjective value. Here we measure EEGs in human subjects to relate their feedback-evoked EEG responses to estimates of prediction error given a neurally derived expected value for each trial. Unlike in traditional reinforcement learning paradigms, in our experiment the reward itself is not probabilistic; rather, it is a fixed value, which, when combined with the variable stimulus salience, yields uncertainty in the choice. We find that feedback-evoked event-related potentials (ERPs), specifically those classically termed feedback-related negativity, are modulated by both the reward level and stimulus salience. Using single-trial analysis of the EEG, we show stimulus-locked EEG components reflecting perceived stimulus salience can be combined with the level of reward to create an estimate of expected reward. This expected reward is used to form a prediction error that correlates with the trial-by-trial variability of the feedback ERPs for negative, but not positive, feedback. This suggests that the valence of prediction error is more important than the valence of the actual feedback, since only positive rewards were delivered in the experiment (no penalty or loss). Finally, we show that these subjectively defined prediction errors are informative of the riskiness of the subject's choice on the subsequent trial. In summary, our work shows that neural correlates of stimulus salience interact with value information to yield neural representations of subjective expected reward. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT How we make perceptual decisions depends on sensory evidence and the value of our options. These two factors often interact to yield subjective decisions; i.e., individuals integrate sensory evidence and value to form their own estimates of expected reward. Here, we use electroencephelography to identify trial-by-trial neural activity of perceived stimulus salience, showing that this activity can be combined with the value of choice options to form a representation of expected reward. Our results provide insight into the neural processing governing the interaction between salience and value and the formation of subjective expected reward and prediction error. This work is potentially important for identifying neural markers of abnormal sensory/value processing, as is seen in some cases of psychiatric illnesses.
Representation of 3D-LSI floorplan based on stacked-rectangular-dissection

Recently, 3D-LSIs which consist of several silicon layers have been developed and have attracted attention. 3D-LSI has an advantage of the length of wires and the number of components per chip. However, a layout design of the 3D-LSIs will be much complex. In this paper, we propose a stacked-rectangular-dissection, which consists of several rectangular dissections, as a floorplan of 3D-LSI. And to search for a good floorplan of 3D-LSI with simulated annealing, a representation of a stacked-rectangular-dissection is presented.