Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of the laryngeal view during intubation using Airtraq and Macintosh laryngoscopes in patients with cervical spine immobilization and mouth opening limitation

Background For patients suspicious of cervical spine injury, a Philadelphia cervical collar is usually applied. Application of Philadelphia cervical collar may cause difficult airway. The aim of this study was to evaluate the laryngeal view and the success rate at first intubation attempt of the Airtraq and conventional laryngoscopy in patients with simulated cervical spine injury after application of a Philadelphia cervical collar. Methods Anesthesia was induced with propofol, remifentanil, and rocuronium. After a Philadelphia cervical collar applied, patients were randomly assigned to tracheal intubation with an Airtraq (Group A, n = 25) or with conventional laryngoscopy (Group L, n = 25). Measurements included intubation time, success rate of first intubation attempt, number of intubation attempts, and percentage of glottic opening (POGO) score. Mean blood pressure and heart rate were also recorded at baseline, just before and after intubation. Results The success rate of the first attempt in Group A (96%) was significantly greater than with the Group L (40%). POGO score was significantly greater in Group A (84 ± 20%) than in Group L (6 ± 11%). The duration of successful intubation at first tracheal intubation attempt and hemodynamic changes were not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusions The Airtraq offers a better laryngeal view and higher success rate at first intubation attempt in patients who are applied with a Philadelphia cervical collar due to suspicion of cervical spine injury.
Ultrasonic Testing Signal Processing of Weld Flaw Based on the Second Generation Wavelet

The de-noise result of traditional wavelet is related to the wavelet basis function. In the process of ultrasonic testing, flaw echo signal exited the characteristics of electrical noise, scattering noise in ultrasonic testing, which was sometimes very difficult to eliminate. Considering the distinctness of distribution between defects signals and noises, the second generation wavelet transform (SGWT) de-noising ultrasonic testing signal processing was proposed. Wavelet basis function with some special characteristic can be obtained by means of designing prediction and updating coefficient. Study mathematics properties of flaw echo signals and analyze the composition of noises and their characters in ultrasonic echo signals. The processed detail coefficient and the approximate coefficient are used to construct the signal. Wavelet transform coefficients of noise were filtered by changing threshold on the different scale and reconstructed the detection echo in order to enhance signal-to-noise ratio. The Experiments result shows that the method can improve the signal noise ratio and the distinguish ability of signals of different defects classes, and suppress energy attenuation as well as signal distortion efficiently. And flaw location accuracy and longitudinal resolution are advanced too.
A Dual-Linear Kalman Filter for Real-Time Orientation Determination System Using Low-Cost MEMS Sensors

To provide a long-time reliable orientation, sensor fusion technologies are widely used to integrate available inertial sensors for the low-cost orientation estimation. In this paper, a novel dual-linear Kalman filter was designed for a multi-sensor system integrating MEMS gyros, an accelerometer, and a magnetometer. The proposed filter precludes the impacts of magnetic disturbances on the pitch and roll which the heading is subjected to. The filter can achieve robust orientation estimation for different statistical models of the sensors. The root mean square errors (RMSE) of the estimated attitude angles are reduced by 30.6% under magnetic disturbances. Owing to the reduction of system complexity achieved by smaller matrix operations, the mean total time consumption is reduced by 23.8%. Meanwhile, the separated filter offers greater flexibility for the system configuration, as it is possible to switch on or off the second stage filter to include or exclude the magnetometer compensation for the heading. Online experiments were performed on the homemade miniature orientation determination system (MODS) with the turntable. The average RMSE of estimated orientation are less than 0.4° and 1° during the static and low-dynamic tests, respectively. More realistic tests on two-wheel self-balancing vehicle driving and indoor pedestrian walking were carried out to evaluate the performance of the designed MODS when high accelerations and angular rates were introduced. Test results demonstrate that the MODS is applicable for the orientation estimation under various dynamic conditions. This paper provides a feasible alternative for low-cost orientation determination.
Sharing Steps in the Workplace: Changing Privacy Concerns Over Time

Personal health technologies are increasingly introduced in workplace settings. Yet little is known about workplace implementations of activity tracker use and the kind of experiences and concerns employees might have when engaging with these technologies in practice. We report on an observational study of a Danish workplace participating in a step counting campaign. We find that concerns of employees who choose to participate and those who choose not to differ. Moreover, privacy concerns of participants develop and change over time. Our findings challenge the assumption that consumers are becoming more comfortable with perceived risks associated with wearable technologies, instead showing how users can be initially influenced by the strong positive rhetoric surrounding these devices, only to be surprised by the necessity to renegotiate boundaries of disclosure in practice.
Routing for network capacity maximization in energy-constrained ad-hoc networks

A new algorithm for routing of messages in ad-hoc networks where the nodes are energy-constrained is presented. The routing objective is to maximize the total number of messages that can be successfully sent over the network without knowing any information regarding future message arrivals or message generation rates. From a theoretical perspective, we show that if admission control of messages is permitted, then the worst-case performance of our algorithm is within a factor of O(log(network size)) of the best achievable solution. In other words, our algorithm achieves a logarithmic competitive ratio. Our approach provides sound theoretical backing for several observations that have been made by previous researchers. From a practical perspective, we show by extensive simulations that the performance of the algorithm is very good even in the absence of admission control (the admission control being necessary only to prove the competitive ratio result), and that it also performs better than previously proposed algorithms for other suggested metrics such as network lifetime maximization. Our algorithm uses a single shortest path computation, and is amenable to efficient implementation. We also evaluate by simulations the performance impact of inexact knowledge of residual battery energy, and the impact of energy drain due to dissemination of residual energy information.
Depletion of endogenous interleukin-10 augments interleukin-1 beta secretion by Mycobacterium bovis BCG-reactive human cells

In this study, we found evidence that the interleukin-10 (IL-10) protein is functionally relevant in Mycobacterium bovis BCG-induced cytokine synthesis, as neutralization of endogenously synthesized IL-10 in human cells activated with BCG resulted in a two- to threefold increase in the level of IL-1 beta. When exogenous recombinant human IL-10 was added to human mononuclear cells, a significant reduction of BCG-induced IL-1 beta secretion was observed. This inhibitory effect was not attributed to a cytotoxic effect, since trypan blue exclusion studies indicated no loss of cell viability in the presence of IL-10, and it was specific, as it was completely abolished in the presence of anti-IL-10 neutralizing monoclonal antibody while an irrelevant antibody used as a control had no effect. Taken together, these are the first studies that demonstrate that the depletion of endogenous IL-10 via anti-IL-10 antibody results in a very significantly enhanced BCG-induced IL-1 beta secretion and that the addition of exogenous IL-10 to human mononuclear cells stimulated with BCG inhibits IL-1 beta production. Further experimental work is needed to determine if the neutralization of IL-10 activity via anti-IL-10 antibody indeed enhances cytokine synthesis in vivo. However, the present results may be of importance, since the use of anti-IL-10 antibody could presumably contribute to the protective immunity induced by BCG against tuberculosis via an increase in cytokine synthesis that would amplify antimicrobial systems.
A Role for Fetal Hemoglobin and Maternal Immune IgG in Infant Resistance to Plasmodium falciparum Malaria

Background In Africa, infant susceptibility to Plasmodium falciparum malaria increases substantially as fetal hemoglobin (HbF) and maternal immune IgG disappear from circulation. During the first few months of life, however, resistance to malaria is evidenced by extremely low parasitemias, the absence of fever, and the almost complete lack of severe disease. This resistance has previously been attributed in part to poor parasite growth in HbF-containing red blood cells (RBCs). A specific role for maternal immune IgG in infant resistance to malaria has been hypothesized but not yet identified. Methods and Findings We found that P. falciparum parasites invade and develop normally in fetal (cord blood, CB) RBCs, which contain up to 95% HbF. However, these parasitized CB RBCs are impaired in their binding to human microvascular endothelial cells (MVECs), monocytes, and nonparasitized RBCs – cytoadherence interactions that have been implicated in the development of high parasite densities and the symptoms of malaria. Abnormal display of the parasite's cytoadherence antigen P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein-1 (PfEMP-1) on CB RBCs accounts for these findings and is reminiscent of that on HbC and HbS RBCs. IgG purified from the plasma of immune Malian adults almost completely abolishes the adherence of parasitized CB RBCs to MVECs. Conclusions Our data suggest a model of malaria protection in which HbF and maternal IgG act cooperatively to impair the cytoadherence of parasitized RBCs in the first few months of life. In highly malarious areas of Africa, an infant's contemporaneous expression of HbC or HbS and development of an immune IgG repertoire may effectively reconstitute the waning protective effects of HbF and maternal immune IgG, thereby extending the malaria resistance of infancy into early childhood.
Lipid Screening in Children and Adolescents in Community Practice: 2007 to 2010

Background—Integrated guidelines on cardiovascular health and risk reduction in children issued in 2011 newly recommended universal screening for dyslipidemia in children at 9 to 11 years and 17 to 21 years. Methods and Results—We determined the frequency and results of lipid testing in 301 080 children and adolescents aged 3 to 19 enrolled in 3 large US health systems in 2007 to 2010 before the 2011 guidelines were issued. Overall, 9.8% of the study population was tested for lipids. The proportion tested varied by body mass index percentile (5.9% of normal weight, 10.8% of overweight, and 26.9% of obese children) and age (8.9% of 9- to 11-year olds and 24.3% of 17- to 19-year olds). In normal weight individuals, 2.8% of 9- to 11-year olds and 22.0% of 17- to 19-year olds were tested. In multivariable models, age and body mass index category remained strongly associated with lipid testing. Sex, race, ethnicity, and blood pressure were weakly associated with testing. Abnormal lipid levels were found in 8.6% for total cholesterol, 22.5% for high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, 12.0% for non–high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, 8.0% for low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, and 21% for triglycerides (age, 10–19 years). There was a strong and graded association of abnormal lipid levels with body mass index, particularly for high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol and triglycerides (2- to 6-fold higher odds ratio in obese when compared with that in normal weight children). Conclusions—Lipid screening was uncommon in 9- to 11-year olds and was performed in a minority of 17- to 19-year olds during 2007 to 2010. These data serve as a benchmark for assessing change in practice patterns after the new recommendations for pediatric lipid screening and management.
GPES: a preemptive execution system for GPGPU computing

Graphics processing units (GPUs) are being widely used as co-processors in many application domains to accelerate general-purpose workloads that are computationally intensive, known as GPGPU computing. Real-time multi-tasking support is a critical requirement for many emerging GPGPU computing domains. However, due to the asynchronous and non-preemptive nature of GPU processing, in multi-tasking environments, tasks with higher priority may be blocked by lower priority tasks for a lengthy duration. This severely harms the system's timing predictability and is a serious impediment limiting the applicability of GPGPU in many real-time and embedded systems. In this paper, we present an efficient GPGPU preemptive execution system (GPES), which combines user-level and driverlevel runtime engines to reduce the pending time of high-priority GPGPU tasks that may be blocked by long-freezing low-priority competing workloads. GPES automatically slices a long-running kernel execution into multiple subkernel launches and splits data transaction into multiple chunks at user-level, then inserts preemption points between subkernel launches and memorycopy operations at driver-level. We implement a prototype of GPES, and use real-world benchmarks and case studies for evaluation. Experimental results demonstrate that GPES is able to reduce the pending time of high-priority tasks in a multitasking environment by up to 90% over the existing GPU driver solutions, while introducing small overheads.
The conceptual framework of the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Policy Evaluation Project

This paper describes the conceptual model that underlies the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC Project), whose mission is to measure the psychosocial and behavioural impact of key policies of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) among adult smokers, and in some countries, among adult non-smokers and among youth. The evaluation framework utilises multiple country controls, a longitudinal design, and a pre-specified, theory-driven conceptual model to test hypotheses about the anticipated effects of specific policies. The ITC Project consists of parallel prospective cohort surveys of representative samples of adult smokers currently in nine countries (inhabited by over 45% of the world’s smokers), with other countries being added in the future. Collectively, the ITC Surveys constitute the first-ever international cohort study of tobacco use. The conceptual model of the ITC Project draws on the psychosocial and health communication literature and assumes that tobacco control policies influence tobacco related behaviours through a causal chain of psychological events, with some variables more closely related to the policy itself (policy-specific variables) and other variables that are more downstream from the policy, which have been identified by health behaviour and social psychological theories as being important causal precursors of behaviour (psychosocial mediators). We discuss the objectives of the ITC Project and its potential for building the evidence base for the FCTC.
Defect tolerance in diode, FET, and four-terminal switch based nano-crossbar arrays

In this paper, defect tolerance performance of switching nano-crossbar arrays is extensively studied. Three types of nanoarrays where each crosspoint behaves as a diode, FET, and four-terminal switch, are considered. For each crosspoint, both stuck-open and stuck-closed defect probabilities are independently taken into consideration. A fast heuristic algorithm using indexing and mapping techniques is proposed. The algorithm measures defect tolerance performances of the crossbar arrays that are expected to implement a certain given function. The algorithm's effectiveness is demonstrated on standard benchmark circuits that shows 99% accuracy compared with an exhaustive search. The benchmark results also show that not only the used technology, the nanoarray type, but more significantly the specifics of given functions affect defect tolerance performances.
Time-slotted scheduling for agile all-photonics networks: Performance and complexity

Schedulers in optical switches are still electronic, the performance of these units has a significant impact on the performance of the network and could form a bottleneck in high speed networks, such as AAPN. Four time-slotted scheduling algorithms are investigated in this study, PIM, iSlip, PHM and Adapted-SRA. The study addresses the performance and hardware complexity of each of the algorithms in AAPN. Performance measures were collected using an OPNET model, designed to emulate AAPN. Moreover, the hardware complexity and rate of convergence were evaluated through a hardware implementation of iSlip, and analysis for the rest of the algorithms. The study revealed the superiority of iSlip and PHM over PIM and Adapted-SRA.
Angiotensin II-induced mitochondrial reactive oxygen species and peroxiredoxin-3 expression in cardiac fibroblasts

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether angiotensin II (ANG II) affects the protein and mRNA expression of the mitochondrial antioxidant peroxiredoxin-3 (Prx-3) in cardiac fibroblasts, thereby contributing to the oxidative stress in the myocardium. Method: Cardiac fibroblasts (passage 2) from normal male adult rats were cultured to confluency and incubated in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium for 24 h. The cells were then preincubated with(out) the tested inhibitors for 1 h and further incubated with/without ANG II (1 &mgr;mol/l) for 24 h. Results: ANG II increased (P < 0.001) the mitochondrial production of reactive oxygen species in cardiac fibroblasts from 187.8 ± 38.6 to 313.8 ± 30.6 a.u. /mg mitochondrial protein (n = 15). ANG II decreased (P < 0.01) the mRNA and protein expression of Prx-3 by 36.9 ± 3.0% and 29.7 ± 2.7% (n = 4), respectively. The ANG II-induced decrease in mRNA expression of Prx-3 was prevented by the angiotensin type 1 receptor blocker, losartan but not by the angiotensin type 2 receptor blocker, PD 123 319. Conclusion: Our data indicate that ANG II-stimulated mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production in rat cardiac fibroblasts is accompanied by a reduction in the expression of the mitochondrial antioxidant Prx-3, and thereby potentially contributing to oxidative stress in the myocard.
Orbulina universa d'Orbigny in cental Sumatra

Discusses the vertical range of the foraminifer Orbulina universa in the Tertiary of central Sumatra and summarizes data obtained from numerous micropaleontologists on the distribution of the species in Tertiary sections of various other regions in the low latitudes with a view to pointing out its significance as a time indicator.
Impressive Words: Linguistic Predictors of Public Approval of the U.S. Congress

What type of language makes the most positive impression within a professional setting? Is competent/agentic language or warm/communal language more effective at eliciting social approval? We examined this basic social cognitive question in a real world context using a “big data” approach—the recent record-low levels of public approval of the U.S. Congress. Using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), we text analyzed all 123+ million words spoken by members of the U.S. House of Representatives during floor debates between 1996 and 2014 and compared their usage of various classes of words to their public approval ratings over the same time period. We found that neither agentic nor communal language positively predicted public approval. However, this may be because communion combines two disparate social motives (belonging and helping). A follow-up analysis found that the helping form of communion positively predicted public approval, and did so more strongly than did agentic language. Next, we conducted an exploratory analysis, examining which of the 63 standard LIWC categories predict public approval. We found that the public approval of Congress was highest when politicians used tentative language, expressed both positive emotion and anxiety, and used human words, numbers, prepositions, numbers, and avoided conjunctions and the use of second-person pronouns. These results highlight the widespread primacy of warmth over competence as the primary dimensions of social cognition.
Experimental Infection of Mongolian Gerbils with Wild-Type and Mutant Helicobacter pylori Strains

ABSTRACT Experimental Helicobacter pylori infection was studied in Mongolian gerbils with fresh human isolates that carry or do not carry cagA (cagA-positive orcagA-negative, respectively), multiply passaged laboratory strains, wild-type strain G1.1, or isogenic ureA,cagA, or vacA mutants of G1.1. Animals were sacrificed 1 to 32 weeks after challenge, the stomach was removed from each animal for quantitative culture, urease test, and histologic testing, and blood was collected for antibody determinations. No colonization occurred after ≥20 in vitro passages of wild-type strain G1.1 or with the ureA mutant of G1.1. In contrast, infection occurred in animals challenged with wild-type G1.1 (99 of 101 animals) or the cagA (25 of 25) or vacA (25 of 29) mutant of G1.1. Infection with G1.1 persisted for at least 8 months. All 15 animals challenged with any of three fresh humancagA-positive isolates became infected, in contrast to only 6 (23%) of 26 animals challenged with one of four fresh humancagA-negative isolates (P < 0.001). Similar to infection in humans, H. pylori colonization of gerbils induced gastric inflammation and a systemic antibody response to H. pylori antigens. These data confirm the utility of gerbils as an animal model of H. pylori infection and indicate the importance of bacterial strain characteristics for successful infection.
Mycophenolate mofetil as an alternative treatment for autoimmune hepatitis

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is an immune-mediated chronic liver disease characterized by hepatocellular inflammation, necrosis, and fibrosis, which can progress to cirrhosis and fulminant hepatic failure. The standard treatment for AIH includes corticosteroids alone or in combination with azathioprine. Although most patients achieve remission using the standard regimen, some patients do not respond due to either drug intolerance or refractory disease; in such cases alternative immunosuppressive agents should be explored. The second-line therapies are cyclophilin inhibitors such as cyclosporine A or tacrolimus, and nowadays mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) is widely used if azathioprine-based therapies are not tolerated. Although these are recommended as an alternative to the first-line regimen, there is insufficient evidence for the efficacy of second-line therapies, with the evidence based mainly on expert opinion. Therefore, we report an AIH patient receiving the standard regimen in whom remission did not occur due to side effects to azathioprine, but was successfully treated with MMF in combination with corticosteroids as an alternative to the standard regimen.