Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Basic Science of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension for Clinicians: New Concepts and Experimental Therapies

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a syndrome in which pulmonary arterial obstruction increases pulmonary vascular resistance, which leads to right ventricular (RV) failure and a 15% annual mortality rate. The present review highlights recent advances in the basic science of PAH. New concepts clarify the nature of PAH and provide molecular blueprints that explain how PAH is initiated and maintained. Five basic science concepts provide a framework to understand and treat PAH: (1) Endothelial dysfunction creates an imbalance that favors vasoconstriction, thrombosis, and mitogenesis. Restoration of this balance by inhibition of endothelin and thromboxane or augmentation of nitric oxide (NO) and prostacyclin is the paradigm on which most current therapy is based. (2) PAH has a genetic component. Mutations (bone morphogenetic protein receptor-2 [BMPR2]) and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs; ion channels and transporter genes) predispose to PAH. (3) Excess proliferation, impaired apoptosis, and glycolytic metabolism in pulmonary artery smooth muscle, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells suggest analogies to cancer. Many experimental therapies reduce PAH by decreasing the proliferation/apoptosis ratio; these include inhibitors of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK), serotonin transporters (SERT), survivin, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase, transcription factors (hypoxia-inducible factor [HIF]-1α and nuclear factor of activated T lymphocytes [NFAT]), and tyrosine kinases. Augmentation of voltage-gated K+ channels (Kv1.5) and BMPR2 signaling also addresses this imbalance. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors used to treat cancer are currently in phase 1 PAH trials. (4) Refractory vasoconstriction may occur due to rho kinase activation. Fewer than 20% of PAH patients respond to conventional vasodilators; however, refractory vasoconstriction may respond to rho kinase inhibitors. (5) The RV can be targeted therapeutically. Although increased afterload initiates RV failure, which is the major cause of death/dysfunction in PAH, the RV may be amenable to cardiac-targeted therapies. The RV in PAH has features of ischemic, hibernating myocardium. Guided by these new …
Oral nutritional supplementation in patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis: a randomised, crossover pilot study

BACKGROUND Malnutrition is a significant problem in those undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD). Factors such as gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and the need for a fluid reduced diet can limit tolerance and thereby the efficacy of oral nutritional supplements to treat malnutrition. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the acceptability and impact of two different forms of oral nutrition supplementation for 16 weeks on nutritional markers and quality of life of malnourished patients undergoing PD. DESIGN A randomised, within-subject cross-over study. Patients assessed as malnourished or with serum albumin <35 g/l were recruited. Participants were randomised to receive either 200 ml of a 1.25 kcal/ml nutrition supplement or a high protein nutrition supplement bar, for eight weeks. Each group then crossed over to receive the alternative supplement for eight weeks. Total intervention time was 16 weeks. Serum albumin, serum transthyretin and food intake were evaluated at baseline, at 8 and 16 weeks. Subjective Global Assessment, the presence of GI symptoms and quality of life were evaluated at baseline and 16 weeks. RESULTS Sixteen weeks of nutritional support was associated with statistically significant improvements in weight and a reduction in the proportion of patients who were malnourished. There was no difference in the impact of bars compared with liquid oral nutrition supplementation. Patients preferred the fluid supplement to the bars. CONCLUSION Sixteen weeks of nutritional support improved nutritional status in malnourished patients on PD.
Marine geological and archaeological evidence of a possible pre-Neolithic site in Pantelleria Island, Central Mediterranean Sea

Abstract Recent underwater archaeological surveys recovered hundreds of flint artefacts between depths of 18 and 21 m at Cala Tramontana, a small bay located in the eastern part of Pantelleria Island. Most of the flint artefacts indicate debitage, and are characterized by cores and flakes without any specific morphology. Different lithic tools were also identified, such as fragments of blades, truncations, end-scrapers, points and crested blades. An initial hypothesis is that this lithic industry represents the oldest traces of human visitation to the island, possibly related to the exploitation of the nearby obsidian source, and favoured because of the sheltered coastal configuration of Cala Tramontana and Cala Levante with respect to the dominant winds and related storms. However, the present-day coastal setting in the bay is rather inhospitable, with high cliffs and difficult marine access. In contrast, palaeo-landscape reconstructions by means of high-resolution multibeam bathymetry reveal the possible presence of a small palaeo-beach in the inner part of the bay when the sea level was 15 m lower than at present. By comparing this palaeo-sea level with the eustatic curve (and by excluding possible vertical movements), we roughly estimate an age of the lithic industry of 9.6–7.7 cal ka BP.
Identification of the potential LQT2 carriers by using the caviar method

The congenital Long QT Syndrome (LQTS) is an inherited disorder of ventricular repolarization that predisposes affected individuals to sudden death. The analysis of conventional ECG may be misleading, and we need non invasive markers to identify more accurately patients with rhese conditions. In the LQn syndrome, the fast-deluyed rectifier current Ikr is altered and leads tu a prolonged Action Potential Duration (APD) in midmyocardial areas that in turn translates to a prolonged QT interval and a widened T-wave. The aim of this work was to find new ECG parameters which can be used to identify LQ72 curriers in a large population. The study population was composed of 67 normal healthy subjects and I1 known carriers of U HERG mutation flour dierenr mutations and four families). For each subject a 12-lead digital ECG was recorded and analyzed by using the spatiotemporal CAVIAR method. With only one single CAVIAR measurement we could correctly classify 93.6% of the cases. This measurement, called UDIR, represents the diference in orientation between the T wave and the beginning of QRS. Its values are significantly higher in the Le72 patients (mGD±58.5° /spl plusmn14.5°) than in the normal population (m&SD±21.6° ±14.6°)with a pvalue< 1OE-9. This study demonstrates that it could be possible to identlB potential LQn carriers by analyzing spatiotemporal ECG waveform patterns of a conventional 12 -lead ECG.
Frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17: A consensus conference

We held an international consensus conference on frontotemporal dementia, behavioral disturbances, and parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 to determine whether these are homogeneous or heterogeneous disorders, to agree on terminology, and to develop strategies for further research. The group identified 13 kindreds with sufficient evidence for linkage, finding in common to all a critical 2 cM between markers D17S791 and D17S800. There was agreement that (1) despite previous descriptions that have emphasized one or another clinical or neuropathological feature, the kindreds share clinical and neuropathological features; (2) until more specific information about the genetic defects becomes available, this disorder is best termed frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17; and (3) further research will be enhanced by identifying the gene responsible for this disorder, detecting additional cases within known families and, in new families, correlating mutations with phenotypes and more fully delineating the clinical, neuropsychological, and neuropathological characteristics of this disorder.
Quasi-elementary contractions of Fano manifolds

Abstract Let X be a smooth complex Fano variety. We study ‘quasi-elementary’ contractions of fiber type of X, which are a natural generalization of elementary contractions of fiber type. If f:X→Y is such a contraction, then the Picard numbers satisfy ρX≤ρY+ρF, where F is a general fiber of f. We show that, if dim Y ≤3 and ρY≥4, then Y is smooth and Fano; if moreover ρY≥6, then X is a product. This yields sharp bounds on ρX when dim X=4 and X has a quasi-elementary contraction of fiber type, and other applications in higher dimensions.
Optimizing Dynamic Programming on Graphics Processing Units Via Data Reuse and Data Prefetch with Inter-Block Barrier Synchronization

Our previous study focused on accelerating an important category of DP problems, called nonserial polyadic dynamic programming (NPDP), on a graphics processing unit (GPU). In NPDP applications, the degree of parallelism varies significantly in different stages of computation, making it difficult to fully utilize the compute power of hundreds of pro-cessing cores in a GPU. To address this challenge, we proposed a methodology that can adaptively adjust the thread-level parallelism in mapping a NPDP problem onto the GPU, thus providing sufficient and steady degrees of parallelism across different compute stages. This work aims at further improving the performance of NPDP problems. Sub problems and data are tiled to make it possible to fit small data regions into shared memory and reuse the buffered data for each tile of sub problems, thus reducing the amount of global memory access. However, we found invoking the same kernel many times, due to data consistency enforcement across different stages, makes it impossible to reuse the tiled data in shared memory after the kernel is invoked again. Fortunately, the inter-block synchronization technique allows us to invoke the kernel exactly one time with the restriction that the maximum number of blocks is equal to the total number of streaming multiprocessors. In addition to data reuse, invoking the kernel only one time also enables us to prefetch data to shared memory across inter-block synchronization point, which improves the performance more than data reuse. We realize our approach in a real-world NPDP application â" the optimal matrix parenthesization problem. Experimental results demonstrate invoking a kernel only one time cannot guarantee performance improvement unless we also reuse and prefetch data across barrier synchronization points.
A plea for symptom-based research in psychiatry

Background The significant proportion of patients suffering from subthreshold diagnoses such as partial posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) shows that today's diagnostic entities do not fully meet the reality and needs of clinical practice. Moreover, as stated also in the recently announced concept of research domain criteria (RDoC), the use of today's traditional diagnostic systems in psychiatric research does not sufficiently promote an integrative understanding of mental disorders across multiple units of analysis from behavior to neurobiology. Besides RDoC, core symptom-based research concepts have been proposed to bridge the translational gap in psychiatry, but, unfortunately, have not yet become the rule. Objective/method First, this article briefly reviews literature on subthreshold PTSD (as an example for subthreshold diagnoses) and, second, pleas for and proposes a modified symptom-based research concept in psychiatry. Results Subthreshold PTSD has, like other subthreshold psychiatric diagnoses, not yet been clearly defined. Diagnostic entities such as subthreshold PTSD are subject to a certain arbitrariness as they are mainly the result of empiricism. This fact stresses the urgent need for neurobiologically-informed psychiatric diagnoses and motivated the here-presented proposal of a symptom-based research concept. As proposed here, and before by other researchers, symptom-based research in psychiatry should refrain from studying patient cohorts compiled according to diagnoses but, instead, should focus on assessing cohorts grouped according to chief complaints or predominant psychopathological symptoms. Conclusion The linkage of the RDoC concept and symptom-based psychiatric research might probably speed up the definition of biologically or symptom-based psychiatric diagnoses, which might replace the auxiliary constructs of “traditional” diagnoses such as full and subthreshold PTSD, and promote the development of novel psychological and pharmacological treatments.
ASPECTOS NEUROPSICOLÓGICOS DO ALCOOLISMO CRÔNICO EM IDOSOS: UMA REVISÃO DE LITERATURA

This review of literature aimed at addressing the neuropsychological aspects of chronic alcoholism in the elderly. We surveyed the literature using strategies such as search databases through the CAPES journals platform. This study focused on neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies. The survey of publications points to a low number of researches using the elderly as the main sample (16.6%). In most studies there is no discrimination of age, with elderly subjects mixed with those of other age groups (46.6%). Still, there is a large group of studies in which elderly subjects were not part of the sample (36.8%). There was a higher percentage of articles published during years in which the World Health Organization dedicated attention to the alcoholism theme. Brain atrophy is the aspect with more evidence of neuroanatomical sequelae of chronic alcoholism in the elderly. Neuropsychological deficits in visuospatial function and executive functions are commonly found in this population.
Card sort methodology: an objective measure in rehabilitation research.

Haitham Jahrami, PhD Card sort clinical tests such as the Wisconsin Card Sort Test and Activity Card Sort are well known in several clinical practices, including psychiatry, neurology, neuropsychology, and learning disabilities. However, card sort methodology is less famous as a research methodology. This editorial attempts to shed light on the novelty of the card sort methodology and its relevance to rehabilitation research.  Card sort methodology, commonly referred to as the card sort method, was introduced in 1935 by William Stephenson, a physicist and psychologist who served as the last assistant to Charles Spearman, the inventor of factor analysis [1]. In the card sort method, the researcher initially selects a set of items that are placed on individual cards. Collectively, the cards are called the card sort set and may be composed of a series of statements, words, pictures, instructing tasks, etc. [2]. Participants are then asked to sort the cards according to certain instructions such as approval versus disapproval, most like me versus least like me, or lowest versus highest priority.  Denzine provides the example of a researcher who is seeking student perceptions on the most desirable place to study in a university campus [3]. A card sort set would have to include all of the possible study locations (e.g., library, computer laboratory, student union); students would be asked to rank the cards using a desirability continuum. Thus, the middle cards are likely to contain the neutral views and extreme cards will contain the strongest views. The strongest views most likely contain the most important information. In questionnaire format, each question is independent of the others.  The card sort method involves an “ipsative” approach, which means that each item in the card sort set is dependent and interrelated. The participants are less likely to respond to an item that is inconsistent with the previous item because their choice is likely to be guided by the previous response. Denzine points out that in a forced sort situation, a normal statistical distribution will occur because of the ranking procedure that results in fewer cards being selected to represent the strongest held views of the participants. The method could therefore be used to understand relationships between items, to group items into categories, and to understand the subject’s mental models of item organization.  Using the working example of patients’ perceptions on the factors affecting quality of life, the major advantage of using the card sort method would be the generation of a systematic and comprehensive view of the patients’ perceptions on these factors by examining how patients will subjectively rank the various factors, e.g., pain, activities of daily living, and leisure activities. Another advantage of this method is that it merges qualitative and
TALES OF DANGER : PARENTAL PROTECTION AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT IN STORIES FROM CHUUK

>'; t~~~~~~~~~~~~. traditional stories because the stories employ core emotional sequences or "emotion schemas" (Johnson 2000) that are normal experiences. The texts of eight traditional stories from the Micronesian islands of Chuuk, and ethnographic vignettes for the telling of two stories show that people in Chuuk deploy these stories for educational and didactic purposes, but also use them to gain moral clarity with community events that are emotionally trying. Further analysis of collected published and unpublished stories from Chuuk shows that these tales draw on the same emotional structure and the emotion schema of transformative processes characterized by studies of human attachment in ways that are similar to attachment theory, yet with significant local differences and emphases. (Chuuk, meaning construction, story telling, human attachment) Story telling is a cultural universal, and reporting and analyzing traditional stories, or folk-tales, has a long scholarly history. Bruno Bettelheim (1 977) has shown that traditional stories are particularly interesting for analysis because, of all stories, the old ones capture the interest of generation after generation long after the material or explicit details of the stories have any real connection to people's everyday realities. The old tales continue to hold interest and attention because they are entertaining, but mere entertainment value does little to explain returning to the same story repeatedly. To be enduring, stories must offer more than entertainment (Bettelheim 1977). Perhaps they provide some nostalgia or belief of simpler times and clearer moralities from that which contemporary living seems to offer. Or, perhaps these tales endure because they offer a way of dealing with unconscious psychological conflicts. In either case, the assumption is that these tales rarely reflect the realities of daily life, and so belong to the primitive, the irrational, or the childish. Their enduring popularity, then, is a symptom of failed social development, of inadequate modern education, or a need for personal analysis and enlightened self-understanding.
Multiple Criteria Decision Making using Parametric Graded Mean Integration representation with preference index on ranking interval type 2 fuzzy sets

Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) is an important and effective methodology for dealing with the decision making. The interval type 2 fuzzy sets (IT2FS) are the best quantities to characterize the linguistic terms in connection with the uncertain and incomplete judgments. The final and critical stage for the MCDM task is the ranking of the alternatives. In this article, ranking methodology with parametric graded mean integration representation (PGMIR) with preference index of the IT2FS is extended. Application of the average PGMIR with preference index ranking approach to the MCDM is introduced. The preference index is the optimism attitude of the decision makers. The overall IT2FS rates for the alternatives are defuzzified and then ranked by sorting the average PGMIR. The average PGMIR ranking method is superior to the IT2FS centroid ranking in that the rigorous mathematical ordering properties are satisfied. First, the embedded type 1 fuzzy sets(T1FS) of an IT2FS are constructed. Secondly, extending from the GMIR of T1FS, the parametric PGMIR with preference index for each embedded T1FS is calculated as a function of the parameter. Finally, the average PGMIR is then obtained by taking the function average of the PGMIR. The ranking metric is defined based on the average PGMIR of the IT2FS. The average PGMIR is a multi-linear function of the endpoints of IT2FS. The rigorous mathematical ordering properties are satisfied. Therefore, it can be served as a well-defined ordering metric. The presented approach is illustrated by a supplier selection decision making problem.
Circadian gating of neuronal functionality: a basis for iterative metaplasticity1

Brain plasticity, the ability of the nervous system to encode experience, is a modulatory process leading to long-lasting structural and functional changes. Salient experiences induce plastic changes in neurons of the hippocampus, the basis of memory formation and recall. In the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the central circadian (~24-h) clock, experience with light at night induces changes in neuronal state, leading to circadian plasticity. The SCN's endogenous ~24-h time-generator comprises a dynamic series of functional states, which gate plastic responses. This restricts light-induced alteration in SCN state-dynamics and outputs to the nighttime. Endogenously generated circadian oscillators coordinate the cyclic states of excitability and intracellular signaling molecules that prime SCN receptivity to plasticity signals, generating nightly windows of susceptibility. We propose that this constitutes a paradigm of ~24-h iterative metaplasticity, the repeated, patterned occurrence of susceptibility to induction of neuronal plasticity. We detail effectors permissive for the cyclic susceptibility to plasticity. We consider similarities of intracellular and membrane mechanisms underlying plasticity in SCN circadian plasticity and in hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP). The emerging prominence of the hippocampal circadian clock points to iterative metaplasticity in that tissue as well. Exploring these links holds great promise for understanding circadian shaping of synaptic plasticity, learning, and memory.
VoIP defender: highly scalable SIP-based security architecture

VoIP services are becoming increasingly a big competition to existing telephony services (POTS / ISDN). The increasing number of customers using VoIP makes VoIP services a valuable target for attackers that want to bring down the service, take it over or simply abuse it to distribute their own content, like SPAM. Hence, the need arises to protect VoIP services from all kinds of attacks that target network bandwidth, server capacity or server architectural constrains. In this article we present VoIP Defender, a generic security architecture, called VoIP-Defender, to monitor, detect, analyze and counter attacks relevant for a SIP-based VoIP infrastructure. The VoIP-Defender is highly scalable and can be easily extended with new detection algorithms. Analysis and traffic control can be performed from the SIP layer down to the transport-, network- and MAC layer. VoIP Defender is designed to work fully transparent to clients and SIP servers, and can analyze and filter traffic in real time, which we demonstrate with measurements with our implementation.