Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fitness to travel - assessment in the elderly and medically impaired.

BACKGROUND As more people travel, and with an expanding aged population, the number of older travellers, including those with significant medical or physical impairment will increase significantly. OBJECTIVE This article addresses the assessment of fitness to travel in these groups, particularly with regard to their varying standard of fitness and/or disability. These factors should influence all travel plans. DISCUSSION Factors for consideration are: destination and itinerary; the traveller's current medical condition, state of health, mobility (if impaired), medication, preparation necessary, level of fitness; and assessment of precautions or protection needed for temperature and/or weather extremes, altitude and other influencing factors. The trip conditions, both possible and probable, should be assessed and matched with these factors before booking the trip - long before the planned departure. If the vacation is to be enjoyed, the destination and itinerary must be comfortably achievable within these confines for the individual(s) concerned.
A Decrease in Ambient Temperature Induces Post-Mitotic Enlargement of Palisade Cells in North American Lake Cress

In order to maintain organs and structures at their appropriate sizes, multicellular organisms orchestrate cell proliferation and post-mitotic cell expansion during morphogenesis. Recent studies using Arabidopsis leaves have shown that compensation, which is defined as post-mitotic cell expansion induced by a decrease in the number of cells during lateral organ development, is one example of such orchestration. Some of the basic molecular mechanisms underlying compensation have been revealed by genetic and chimeric analyses. However, to date, compensation had been observed only in mutants, transgenics, and γ-ray–treated plants, and it was unclear whether it occurs in plants under natural conditions. Here, we illustrate that a shift in ambient temperature could induce compensation in Rorippa aquatica (Brassicaceae), a semi-aquatic plant found in North America. The results suggest that compensation is a universal phenomenon among angiosperms and that the mechanism underlying compensation is shared, in part, between Arabidopsis and R. aquatica.
The proteasome inhibitor NPI-0052 is a more effective inducer of apoptosis than bortezomib in lymphocytes from patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Proteasome inhibitors are potent inducers of apoptosis in isolated lymphocytes from patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). However, the reversible proteasome inhibitor bortezomib (PS-341; Velcade) did not display substantial antitumor activity in CLL patients. Here, we compared the effects of bortezomib and a new irreversible proteasome inhibitor (NPI-0052) on 20S chymotryptic proteasome activity and apoptosis in isolated CLL cells in vitro. Although their steady-state (3 hours) IC50s as proteasome inhibitors were similar, NPI-0052 exerted its effects more rapidly than bortezomib, and drug washout experiments showed that short exposures to NPI-0052 resulted in sustained (≥24 hours) 20S proteasome inhibition, whereas 20S activity recovered in cells exposed to even 10-fold higher concentrations of bortezomib. Thus, brief (15 minutes) pulses of NPI-0052 were sufficient to induce substantial apoptosis in CLL cells, whereas longer exposure times (≥8 hours) were required for commitment to apoptosis in cells exposed to equivalent concentrations of bortezomib. Commitment to apoptosis seemed to be related to caspase-4 activation, in that cells exposed to bortezomib or NPI-0052 could be saved from death by addition of a selective caspase-4 inhibitor up to 8 hours after drug exposure. Our results show that NPI-0052 is a more effective proapoptotic agent than bortezomib in isolated CLL cells and suggest that the chemical properties of NPI-0052 might also make it an effective therapeutic agent in CLL patients. [Mol Cancer Ther 2006;5(7):1836–43]
Research on Chaos in Switching Dc-Dc Converters

Switched-mode DC-DC converters are nonlinear and time-varying systems. Chaos may occur in some case and it will influence the working performance even the entire system greatly. So chaos should be investigated in detail. A nonlinear discrete modeling technique is employed here. The system is described in terms of a sequence of sample , one per switching cycle, involving a mapping from one sampling instant to the next. The variation of the state vector within in a cycle is described by a function and it can be applied iteratively to determine how the state of the converter evolves from cycle to cycle. The proposed approach is verified by simulation and experiments, respectively.
A systematic review of associations between environmental exposures and development of asthma in children aged up to 9 years

Objectives Childhood asthma is a complex condition where many environmental factors are implicated in causation. The aim of this study was to complete a systematic review of the literature describing associations between environmental exposures and the development of asthma in young children. Setting A systematic review of the literature up to November 2013 was conducted using key words agreed by the research team. Abstracts were screened and potentially eligible papers reviewed. Papers describing associations between exposures and exacerbation of pre-existing asthma were not included. Papers were placed into the following predefined categories: secondhand smoke (SHS), inhaled chemicals, damp housing/mould, inhaled allergens, air pollution, domestic combustion, dietary exposures, respiratory virus infection and medications. Participants Children aged up to 9 years. Primary outcomes Diagnosed asthma and wheeze. Results 14 691 abstracts were identified, 207 papers reviewed and 135 included in the present review of which 15 were systematic reviews, 6 were meta-analyses and 14 were intervention studies. There was consistent evidence linking exposures to SHS, inhaled chemicals, mould, ambient air pollutants, some deficiencies in maternal diet and respiratory viruses to an increased risk for asthma (OR typically increased by 1.5–2.0). There was less consistent evidence linking exposures to pets, breast feeding and infant dietary exposures to asthma risk, and although there were consistent associations between exposures to antibiotics and paracetamol in early life, these associations might reflect reverse causation. There was good evidence that exposures to house dust mites (in isolation) was not associated with asthma risk. Evidence from observational and intervention studies suggest that interactions between exposures were important to asthma causation, where the effect size was typically 1.5–3.0. Conclusions There are many publications reporting associations between environmental exposures and modest changes in risk for asthma in young children, and this review highlights the complex interactions between exposures that further increase risk.
Tolerance of a virtual reality intervention for attention remediation in persons with severe TBI

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of applying virtual reality and robotics technology to improve attention in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the early stages of recovery. Methods: A sample of TBI patients (n = 18, aged 19–73) who were receiving acute inpatient rehabilitation completed three-dimensional cancellation exercises over two consecutive days in an interactive virtual environment that minimized distractions and that integrated both visual and haptic (tactile) stimuli. Observations of behaviour during the intervention and of the instructions needed to encourage compliance were recorded. Performance data were compiled to assess improvement across three different treatment conditions. Outcomes: Fifteen of the 18 patients demonstrated tolerance of the virtual environment by completing the entire treatment protocol. Within-subjects comparisons of target acquisition time during treatment showed that a treatment condition that included haptic cues produced improved performance compared to a condition in which such cues were not provided. Separating out participants who were in post-traumatic amnesia showed that this group also demonstrated improvement in performance across trials despite their memory impairment. Conclusions: It is proposed that attention exercises using virtual environments are well-tolerated and engaging and that they could be beneficial for inpatients with severe TBI.
Serotonin Inhibits Voltage-Gated K+ Currents in Pulmonary Artery Smooth Muscle Cells: Role of 5-HT2A Receptors, Caveolin-1, and KV1.5 Channel Internalization

Multiple lines of evidence indicate that serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine [5-HT]) and voltage-gated K+ (KV) channels play a central role in the pathogenesis of pulmonary hypertension (PH). We hypothesized that 5-HT might modulate the activity of KV channels, therefore establishing a link between these pathogenetic factors in PH. Here, we studied the effects of 5-HT on KV channels present in rat pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMC) and on hKV1.5 channels stably expressed in Ltk− cells. 5-HT reduced native KV and hKV1.5 currents, depolarized cell membrane, and caused a contraction of isolated pulmonary arteries. The effects of 5-HT on KV currents and contraction were markedly prevented by the 5-HT2A receptor antagonist ketanserin. Incubation with inhibitors of phospholipase C (U73122), classic protein kinase Cs (Gö6976), or tyrosine kinases (genistein and tyrphostin 23), the cholesterol depletion agent β-cyclodextrin or concanavalin A, an inhibitor of endocytotic processes, also prevented the effects of 5-HT. In homogenates from pulmonary arteries, 5-HT2A receptors and caveolin-1 coimmunoprecipitated with KV1.5 channels, and this was increased on stimulation with 5-HT. Moreover, KV1.5 channels were internalized when cells were stimulated with 5-HT, and this was prevented by concanavalin A. These findings indicate that activation of 5-HT2A receptors inhibits native KV and hKV1.5 currents via phospholipase C, protein kinase C, tyrosine kinase, and a caveolae pathway. KV channel inhibition accounts, at least partly, for 5-HT-induced pulmonary vasoconstriction and might play a role in PH.
Metal particles on thin MgO films: Morphological and optical properties

Metal Particles on thin oxide films are a well established model system in heterogeneous catalysis and promising candidates for photo-catalytic applications. Since usual industrial catalysts are complex and the working conditions prohibit the application of most surface science techniques, investigations focus on well defined model systems in controlled environmental conditions in order to gain a detailed understanding of the fundamental catalytic processes. In particular Scanning Tunneling Microscopy allows investigation with high spatial resolution. According to photo-catalytic applications it is necessary to extract the optical properties of these systems, that can be done by usual optical methods. Since these techniques average over a large surface area it is however not possible to directly draw correlations between the specific particle properties and the respective optical response. This drawback is counteracted in this work by the use of a Photon Emission Scanning Tunneling Microscope, which allows to probe the optical properties on a local scale. By this means, the growth behavior and the optical properties of Mg, Ca, Ni, Au and Ag on thin MgO films on Mo(001) was studied systematically. Hereby it turned out, that the observed particle shapes and orientations can be explained by expanding the Young-Duprè approach to account for the tendency of the metal atoms to occupy the MgO oxygen sites and the lattice distortions, that are connected with the lattice mismatch between metal and substrate. Considering both contributions allowed to rationalize the observed growth behavior for all metal particles with the exception of Au. The optical properties of single metal particles were studies spectroscopically, as well as spatially resolved. Whereas the optical response is determined by exciton decay at higher bias, it is rationalized by the decay of metal particles plasmons, which are excited via inelastically tunneling electrons at lower bias values. The spatially resolved investigation revealed geometrical restrictions on the excitation of different plasmon modes and the development of so called "hot-spots" on the surface. In addition also the MgO substrate was characterized by means of PSTM, LEED and GIXD, leading to a comprehensive description of the relaxation mechanisms at the different thicknesses initiated by the lattice mismatch of 5.4% between MgO and Mo(001). Furthermore the particle-substrate interactions can influence the physical and chemical properties of the metal particles. As a starting point for its investigation two approaches were established within this work. The preparation of other oxide films(CaO, Li2O) and the lithium doping of MgO. Li-doped MgO hereby is of particular interest, since it is a potential catalyst for the oxidative coupling of methane and therefore represents a model system to unravel the underlaying reaction mechanisms.
Adaptive Background Modelling for Image Sequences with Cluttered Background

Background subtraction is a key technique for video analysis applications. However, the existing algorithms do not work well in cluttered environments. In this work, we manage to model the oscillating background by using multi-channel background model, which is constructed by Gaussian filters with different variances. By employing a boosting-like updating rule for channel selection, a evidence-driving Adaptive Background Modelling (ABM) framework is proposed to eliminate false foreground responses. The effectiveness of ABM in tree and water regions is proven by experiments.
Prolonged blood pressure reduction by orally active renin inhibitor RO 42-5892 in essential hypertension.

OBJECTIVE--To investigate the effects of a novel specific renin inhibitor, RO 42-5892, with high affinity for human renin (Ki = 0.5 x 10(-9) mol/l), on plasma renin activity and angiotensin II concentration and on 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure in essential hypertension. DESIGN--Exploratory study in which active treatment was preceded by placebo. SETTING--Inpatient unit of teaching hospital. PATIENTS--Nine men with uncomplicated essential hypertension who had a normal sodium intake. INTERVENTIONS--Two single intravenous doses of RO 42-5892 (100 and 1,000 micrograms/kg in 10 minutes) given to six patients and one single oral dose (600 mg) given to the three others as well as to three of the patients who also received the two intravenous doses. RESULTS--With both intravenous and oral doses renin activity fell in 10 minutes to undetectably low values, while angiotensin II concentration fell overall by 80-90% with intravenous dosing and by 30-40% after the oral dose. Angiotensin II concentration was back to baseline four hours after the low and six hours after the high intravenous dose and remained low for at least eight hours after the oral dose. Blood pressure fell rapidly both after low and high intravenous doses and after the oral dose and remained low for hours. With the high intravenous dose the daytime (0900-2230), night time (2300-0600), and next morning (0630-0830) systolic blood pressures were significantly (p less than 0.05) lowered by 12.5 (95% confidence interval 5.6 to 19.7), 12.2 (5.4 to 19.3), and 10.7 (3.2 to 18.5) mm Hg respectively, and daytime diastolic pressure was lowered by 9.3 (2.2 to 16.8) mmHg. With the oral dose daytime, night time, and next morning systolic blood pressures were lowered by 10.3 (5.5 to 15.4), 10.5 (4.2 to 17.2), and 9.7 (4.0 to 15.6) mm Hg, and daytime and night time diastolic pressures were lowered by 5.8 (0.9 to 11.0) and 6.0 (0.3-12) mm Hg respectively. CONCLUSIONS--The effect of the inhibitor on blood pressure was maintained over a longer period than its effect on angiotensin II. RO 42-5892 is orally active and has a prolonged antihypertensive effect in patients who did not have sodium depletion. This prolonged effect seems to be independent, at least in part, of the suppression of circulating angiotensin II.
A Bead Aggregation Assay for Detection of Low-Affinity Protein-Protein Interactions Reveals Interactions between N-Terminal Domains of Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate Receptors

Interactions between proteins are a hallmark of all cellular activities. Such interactions often occur with low affinity, a feature that allows them to be rapidly reversible, but it makes them difficult to detect using conventional methods such as yeast 2-hybrid analyses, co-immunoprecipitation or analytical ultracentrifugation. We developed a simple and economical bead aggregation assay to study low-affinity interactions between proteins. By coating beads with interacting proteins, the weak interactions between many proteins are sufficient to allow stable aggregation of beads, an avidity effect. The aggregation is easily measured to allow quantification of protein-protein interactions under a variety of controlled conditions. We use this assay to demonstrate low-affinity interactions between the N-terminal domains of an intracellular Ca2+ channel, the type 1 inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor. This simple bead aggregation assay may have widespread application in the study of low-affinity interactions between macromolecules.
Multiple Range Query Optimization with Distributed Cache Indexing

MQO is a distributed multiple query processing middleware that can use resources available on the grid to optimize query processing for data analysis and visualization applications. It does so by introducing one or more proxies that act as front-ends to a collection of backend servers. The basic idea behind this architecture is active semantic caching, whereby queries can leverage available cached results in the proxy either directly or through transformations. While this approach has been shown to speed up query evaluation under multi-client workloads, the caching infrastructure in the backend servers is not used well for query processing. Because this collective caching infrastructure scales with the number of servers, it is an important asset. In this paper, we describe a distributed multidimensional indexing scheme that enables the proxy to directly consider the cache contents available at the backend servers for query planning and scheduling. This approach is shown to produce better query plans and faster query response times as we experimentally demonstrate
Efficient resource allocation algorithm for cognitive OFDM systems

In this letter the transmission power and interference threshold constraints for a cognitive OFDM system are converted to a normalized capacity of each OFDM subchannel. A simple but very efficient algorithm is proposed to allocate bits of all subchannels, which always picks the bit with the least cost. Simulation results show the proposed algorithm can obtain optimum solution in most cases. The remarkable characteristic of the algorithm is the computational complexity is very low and asymptotically constant for given radio scenarios, which meets the requirement of practical communication systems perfectly.
Robotic thyroid surgery: Clinical and anatomic considerations

Robotic thyroid surgery is a relatively new technique that provides the patient with the aesthetic advantage of a surgery without a scar in the anterior cervical region. The use of this technique, however, forces the surgeon to view the anatomy from a different vantage point, concomitantly providing the surgeon with a challenge with respect to dissection and sound oncologic ablation. It is important to note that robotic surgery used in this fashion is not limited access but rather requires a greater surface area of dissection to reach the surgical target. This article will discuss the relevant anatomy, operative goals, robotic technique, and clinical considerations of robotic thyroid surgery. Clin. Anat. 25:40–53, 2012. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Scaling Performance via Self-Tuning Approximation for Graphics Engines

Approximate computing, where computation accuracy is traded off for better performance or higher data throughput, is one solution that can help data processing keep pace with the current and growing abundance of information. For particular domains, such as multimedia and learning algorithms, approximation is commonly used today. We consider automation to be essential to provide transparent approximation, and we show that larger benefits can be achieved by constructing the approximation techniques to fit the underlying hardware. Our target platform is the GPU because of its high performance capabilities and difficult programming challenges that can be alleviated with proper automation. Our approach—SAGE—combines a static compiler that automatically generates a set of CUDA kernels with varying levels of approximation with a runtime system that iteratively selects among the available kernels to achieve speedup while adhering to a target output quality set by the user. The SAGE compiler employs three optimization techniques to generate approximate kernels that exploit the GPU microarchitecture: selective discarding of atomic operations, data packing, and thread fusion. Across a set of machine learning and image processing kernels, SAGE's approximation yields an average of 2.5× speedup with less than 10% quality loss compared to the accurate execution on a NVIDIA GTX 560 GPU.
Deformable triangular surfaces using fast 1-D radial Lagrangian dynamics-segmentation of 3-D MR and CT images of the wrist

We developed a new triangulated deformable surface model, which is used to detect the boundary of the bones in three-dimensional magnetic resonance (MR) and computed tomography (CT) images of the wrist. This surface model is robust to initialization and provides wide geometrical coverage and quantitative power. The surface is deformed by applying one-dimensional (1-D) radial Lagrangian dynamics. For initialization a tetrahedron is placed within the bone to be segmented. This initial surface is inflated to a binary approximation of the boundary. During inflation, the surface is refined by the addition of vertices. After the surface is fully inflated, a detailed, accurate boundary detection is obtained by the application of radial scale-space relaxation. In this optimization stage, the image intensity is filtered with a series of 1-D second-order Gaussian filters. The resolution of the triangulated mesh is adapted to the width of the Gaussian filter. To maintain the coherence between the vertices, a resampling technique is applied which is based on collapsing and splitting of edges. We regularized the triangulated mesh by a combination of volume-preserving vertex averaging and equi-angulation of edges. In this paper, we present both qualitative and quantitative results of the surface segmentations in eight MR and ten CT images.