Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Alpha-integration of multiple evidence

In pattern recognition, data integration is a processing method to combine multiple sources so that the combined result can be more accurate than a single source. Evidence theory is one of the methods that have been successfully applied to the data integration task. Since Dempster-Shafer theory as the first evidence theory can be against our intuitive reasoning with some data sets, many researchers have proposed different rules for evidence theory. Among all these rules, the averaging rule is known to be better than others. On the other hand, a-integration was proposed by Amari as a principled way of blending multiple positive measures. It is a generalized averaging algorithm including arithmetic, geometric and harmonic means as its special case. In this paper, we generalize evidence theory with α-integration. Our experimental results show how our proposed methods work.
Extraction of Aerosol-Deposited Yersinia pestis from Indoor Surfaces To Determine Bacterial Environmental Decay

ABSTRACT Public health and decontamination decisions following an event that causes indoor contamination with a biological agent require knowledge of the environmental persistence of the agent. The goals of this study were to develop methods for experimentally depositing bacteria onto indoor surfaces via aerosol, evaluate methods for sampling and enumerating the agent on surfaces, and use these methods to determine bacterial surface decay. A specialized aerosol deposition chamber was constructed, and methods were established for reproducible and uniform aerosol deposition of bacteria onto four coupon types. The deposition chamber facilitated the control of relative humidity (RH; 10 to 70%) following particle deposition to mimic the conditions of indoor environments, as RH is not controlled by standard heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Extraction and culture-based enumeration methods to quantify the viable bacteria on coupons were shown to be highly sensitive and reproducible. To demonstrate the usefulness of the system for decay studies, Yersinia pestis persistence as a function of surface type at 21°C and 40% RH was determined to be >40%/min for all surfaces. Based upon these results, at typical indoor temperature and RH, a 6-log reduction in titer would expected to be achieved within 1 h as the result of environmental decay on surfaces without active decontamination. The developed approach will facilitate future persistence and decontamination studies with a broad range of biological agents and surfaces, providing agent decay data to inform both assessments of risk to personnel entering a contaminated site and decontamination decisions following biological contamination of an indoor environment. IMPORTANCE Public health and decontamination decisions following contamination of an indoor environment with a biological agent require knowledge of the environmental persistence of the agent. Previous studies on Y. pestis persistence have utilized large liquid droplet deposition to provide persistence data. As a result, methods were developed to deposit aerosols containing bacteria onto indoor surfaces, reproducibly enumerate bacteria harvested from coupons, and determine surface decay utilizing Y. pestis. The results of this study provide foundational methods required to evaluate surface decay of bacteria and potentially other biological agents, such as viruses, in aerosol particles as a function of surface type and environment. Integrating the data from both aerosol and liquid deposition surface decay studies will provide medical and public health personnel with a more complete understanding of agent persistence on surfaces in contaminated areas for assessment of health risks and to inform decontamination decisions.
Racial/ethnic disparities in breast and gynecologic cancer treatment and outcomes

Purpose of review To review recent research in racial/ethnic disparities in breast and gynecologic cancers, focusing on disparities occurring postdiagnosis. Recent findings Mortality statistics show that of the cancers under study, breast cancer has the greatest impact, and of racial/ethnic groups, African Americans suffer the greatest disparities, with highest mortality rates for breast, uterine and cervical cancers, and second highest for ovarian cancer. Recent studies demonstrated that black breast cancer patients suffer more underuse of appropriate adjuvant therapy, and greater delays in diagnosis and institution of treatments, and blacks and Hispanics suffered greater postsurgical pain and symptomatology. Data indicate that the biology of some breast cancers in blacks is unique and more aggressive. One study demonstrated that more black breast cancer patients died of nonbreast cancer causes and that excessive comorbidity in blacks explained substantial amounts of survival disparity. Research is beginning to identify important disparities in nonblack minority racial/ethnic groups, including Hispanics and South Asian Americans. Summary Research is continuing to identify and explain an important group of disparities – African American disparities in breast cancer outcomes. Disparities in other minority racial/ethnic groups, and in ovarian, uterine and cervical cancers, are at an emerging stage. Continuing efforts at all fronts are needed.
UniPROBE: an online database of protein binding microarray data on protein–DNA interactions

The UniPROBE (Universal PBM Resource for Oligonucleotide Binding Evaluation) database hosts data generated by universal protein binding microarray (PBM) technology on the in vitro DNA-binding specificities of proteins. This initial release of the UniPROBE database provides a centralized resource for accessing comprehensive PBM data on the preferences of proteins for all possible sequence variants (‘words’) of length k (‘k-mers’), as well as position weight matrix (PWM) and graphical sequence logo representations of the k-mer data. In total, the database hosts DNA-binding data for over 175 nonredundant proteins from a diverse collection of organisms, including the prokaryote Vibrio harveyi, the eukaryotic malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum, the parasitic Apicomplexan Cryptosporidium parvum, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the worm Caenorhabditis elegans, mouse and human. Current web tools include a text-based search, a function for assessing motif similarity between user-entered data and database PWMs, and a function for locating putative binding sites along user-entered nucleotide sequences. The UniPROBE database is available at http://thebrain.bwh. harvard.edu/uniprobe/.
Facility for chemical polishing of superconducting niobium RF cavities

Chemical polishing of surfaces of Nb RF cavities is an important part of cavity fabrication process. Because of the dangerous nature of the chemicals involved in the process, safety considerations require careful design of the facility and of the process. This report describes the major features of the facility prototype at FNAL and a description of the process and the control systems.
Feasibility and Safety of Pulmonary Vein Isolation Using a New Mapping and Navigation System in Patients With Refractory Atrial Fibrillation

Background—Ostial pulmonary vein (PV) isolation by radiofrequency (RF) catheter ablation can cure patients with atrial fibrillation (AF); however, this procedure carries the risk of PV stenosis. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of a new mapping and navigation technique using a multipolar basket catheter (BC) for PV isolation in patients with refractory AF and to analyze its safety with regard to PV stenosis at long-term follow-up. Methods and Results—We studied 55 patients (mean age, 53±11 years; 40 male) with drug-refractory AF (paroxysmal, n=37; persistent, n=18). A 64-pole BC was placed transseptally into each of the accessible PVs. By use of a nonfluoroscopic navigation system, the ablation catheter was guided to the BC electrodes at the PV ostium, with earliest activation during sinus rhythm. RF was delivered by use of maximum settings of temperature at 50°C and power at 30 W. The end point of the procedure was the complete elimination of all distal and fragmented ostial PV potentials. Of 165 targeted veins, 163 were successfully isolated with a mean RF duration of 720±301 seconds per vein. At 1-year follow-up, 62% of the patients were in sinus rhythm without antiarrhythmic drugs. Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography revealed 2 PV stenoses of >25% out of 165 treated vessels. Conclusions—The use of a multipolar BC allowed effective and safe PV isolation by combining 3D mapping and navigation. At 1-year follow-up, 62% of the patients were in sinus rhythm without antiarrhythmic drugs, and the incidence of relevant diameter reduction of the treated PVs was 1.2%.
Intraepithelial Elastic Fibers and Intracytoplasmic Glycogen: Diagnostic Aids in Differentiating Keratoacanthoma from Squamous Cell Carcinoma

A significant statistical difference was found between the incidence of intraepithelial elastic fibers in keratoacanthoma and squamous cell carcinoma arising in actinic keratosis (P< 0.001). There was no significant difference when keratoacanthoma was compared to adenoid squamous cell carcinoma (P=0.13) and de novo squamous cell carcinoma (P=0.73). However, in keratoacanthoma intraepithelial elastic fibers were found in areas of pseudoepitheliomatous hyper‐plasia and in the central keratin plug, as well as in areas of infiltrating, peripheral keratinocytes. In adenoid squamous cell carcinoma and de novo squamous cell carcinoma, the intraepithelial elastic fibers were found only in areas of atypical epithelial cells at the margin of the neoplasm. Intracytoplasmic glycogen was found to be statistically more abundant in keratoacanthoma than in squamous cell carcinoma arising in actinic keratosis (P < 0.001), adenoid squamous cell carcinoma (P < 0.001), and in de novo squamous cell carcinoma (P < 0.001).
Nonstationary environment compensation based on sequential estimation

Sequential approaches are proposed to compensate for the effects of the nonstationary environment for robust speech recognition. Unlike the batch approaches, the proposed methods derive a different parameter estimate for each time using the sequential expectation maximization (EM) algorithm. Moreover, we also propose the forward-backward estimation scheme as an improvement of the sequential parameter estimation.
Analyses of Indole Compounds in Sugar Cane (Saccharum officinarum L.) Juice by High Performance Liquid Chromatography and Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry after Solid-Phase Extraction

Simultaneous quantitative analysis of 10 indole compounds, including indole-3-acetic acid (IAA, one of the most important naturally occurring auxins) and some of its metabolites, by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) after solid-phase extraction (SPE) was reported for the first time. The analysis was carried out using a reverse phase HPLC gradient elution, with an aqueous mobile phase (containing 0.1% formic acid) modified by methanol. Furthermore, a novel SPE procedure was developed for the pre-concentration and purification of indole compounds using C18 SPE cartridges. The combination of SPE, HPLC, and LC-MS was applied to screen for the indole compounds present in sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum L.) juice, a refreshing beverage with various health benefits. Finally, four indole compounds were successfully detected and quantified in sugar cane juice by HPLC, which were further unequivocally confirmed by LC-MS/MS experiments operating in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode.
The liberation of CD44

CD44 was once thought to simply be a transmembrane adhesion molecule that also played a role in the metabolism of its principal ligand hyaluronan. Investigations of CD44 over the past ∼20 yr have established additional functions for CD44, including its capacity to mediate inflammatory cell function and tumor growth and metastasis. It has also become evident that intricate posttranslational modifications of CD44 regulate the affinity of the receptor for its ligands. In this review, we focus on emerging evidence that functional fragments of the cytoplasmic and ectodomain of CD44 can be liberated by enzymatic modification of cell surfaces as well as of cell-associated matrix. Based on the evidence discussed, we propose that CD44 exists in three phases, as a transmembrane receptor, as an integral component of the matrix, and as a soluble protein found in body fluids, each with biologically significant functions of which some are shared and some distinct. Thus, CD44 represents a model for understanding posttranslational processing and its emerging role as a general mechanism for regulating cell behavior.
The Psychological Effect of Mastectomy with or without Breast Reconstruction: A Prospective, Multicenter Study

&NA; A multicenter, prospective study (n = 103) examined the psychological implications of women's decisions for or against breast reconstruction. Recognized measures of anxiety, depression, body image, and quality of life were completed before the operation, and 6 and 12 months later. A reduction in psychological distress over the year following the operation was evident in each surgical group (mastectomy alone or immediate or delayed reconstruction). indicating that reconstructive surgery can offer psychological benefits to some women: however, others report improved psychological functioning without this surgical procedure. In contrast to existing retrospective research, the prospective design enabled the process of adjustment during the first year after the operation to be examined. The results indicate that breast reconstruction is not a universal panacea for the emotional and psychological consequences of mastectomy. Women still reported feeling conscious of altered body image 1 year postoperatively, regardless of whether or not they had elected breast reconstruction. Health professionals should be careful of assuming that breast reconstruction necessarily confers psychological benefits compared with mastectomy alone.
Prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis among young German adolescents, 2005-06.

BACKGROUND Chlamydia trachomatis prevalence among 12-17-year-old adolescents in Germany was determined in the present study. METHODS A random age-stratified sample of 1815 urine specimens of boys and girls was selected from a population-based nationwide health survey conducted in 2003-06. Urine samples were pooled and tested for chlamydia using strand displacement amplification. Positive pools were individually retested. Prevalence, prevalence ratios (PR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Associations between infection and socio-demographic factors (age, sex, place of residence), sexual activity (defined by oral contraceptive use or gynaecologist visits) and abdominal pain among females were examined in univariate analysis. RESULTS Sixteen samples (0.9% 95% CI: 0.5-1.3%), all from 15-17-year olds, were positive for chlamydia. Prevalence increased with age to 2% (95% CI: 0.8-3.2%) among 17 year olds and was higher among girls than boys (1.8% v. 0.1%; P < 0.001). A total of 4.6% (95% CI: 1.4-7.7%) of sexually active girls aged 17 were infected and 5/7 of them had no regular abdominal pain. Of all girls with abdominal pains, 52% had visited gynaecologists. Prevalence of infection was higher among those with pains than those without (PR = 3.8, 95% CI: 1.3-11.0). CONCLUSIONS This is the first nationwide study based on a representative sample of boys and girls to measure chlamydia prevalence among adolescents in Germany. Prevalence in Germany is consistent with other countries. Among sexually active females, prevalence was comparable to screening thresholds. As gynaecological visits were common among females, we recommend that gynaecologists should actively offer screening to sexually active females, which would strengthen the newly implemented screening for females under 25 years.
Performance improvement of chaos MIMO transmission scheme by LDPC code concatenation using symbol MAP detection and STBC

A chaos multiple-input multiple-output (C-MIMO) transmission scheme is developed, which has both physical layer security and channel coding gain with a coding rate of one, by adopting a principle of chaos communications to a MIMO block transmission system. In our previous study, further improvement of transmission quality is achieved by introducing a log-likelihood ratio (LLR) with turbo-coded transmission. Moreover, the increased coding gain is obtained by convolutional code concatenation with symbol maximum a posteriori (MAP) detection that calculates the true-valued LLR, or with a sequential LLR that is an approximate LLR. However, symbol MAP detection has not been considered in LDPC code concatenation. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a C-MIMO transmission system with LDPC code concatenation using symbol MAP detection, and the effectiveness of this scheme is evaluated through numerical simulation. Furthermore, we propose an application of space-time block coding (STBC) to the C-MIMO scheme, and show the improvement of bit error rate in lower SNR regions when the LDPC coding rate is high.
Energy-optimized cooperative relay network over Nakagami-m fading channels

Recently, due to the exponentially increasing overall energy consumption of the wireless networks, much attention has been directed to the energy efficiency metrics and minimization of energy consumption, both in battery powered terminal devices as well as in infrastructure devices. In this article, we present an analysis of energy-optimized cooperative network where nodes in the environment share and coordinate their resources to relay the source signal, and compare the achievable performance with the reference performance of direct transmission alone. To improve the energy-efficiency further, the optimal power allocation (OPA) scheme to minimize the energy consumption under certain quality-of-service (QoS) constraint, namely destination symbol error rate (SER), over the Nakagami-m fading channels is derived. Stemming from these derivations, we show that depending on the fading parameter m, significant performance gain can be achieved over the equal power allocation (EPA) scenario and direct transmission schemes. Moreover, the effect of relay location on the energy efficiency over the Nakagami-m fading environment is investigated.
Major Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease in Elderly Migrants in Sweden

Objective. The knowledge of elderly migrants' health, particularly those who are retired or in transition to retirement is limited. The purpose of this study was to analyse the association between migration, socio-economic status (SES), and risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Design. A simple random sample of 253 foreign-born persons and 2847 Swedish-born persons aged 55-74 were drawn from the Swedish Population Registry. They were interviewed by Statistics Sweden in 1988-89. Outcome variables were leisure-time physical inactivity, smoker/non-smoker status, body mass index (BMI), hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. Explanatory variables were sex, age, marital status, migration status (country of birth), and SES (income). Logistic and linear regression were used. Results. Elderly foreign-born people ran an increased risk of engaging in no physical activity (men only), being a current smoker, and having an increased BMI after adjustment for background factors. In addition, a low income (first tertile) was an independent risk factor for physical inactivity (men only), as was being a current smoker (men only), BMI, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. Thus, the burden of being an elderly migrant increases the risk of a disadvantaged lifestyle between 50 and 80% compared with Swedes. Conclusions. This study shows that migrants who are retired or in transition to retirement have a disadvantaged risk profile for cardiovascular disease. It might be possible to improve this situation by intervention, as for example by increasing a person's interest in walking.
Capturing Information Needs of Care Providers to Support Knowledge Sharing and Distributed Decision Making

Summary Background: This paper reports on work carried out to elicit information needs at a trans-disciplinary, nurse-managed health care clinic that serves a medically disadvantaged urban population. The trans-disciplinary model provides a “one-stop shop” for patients who can receive a wide range of services beyond traditional primary care. However, this model of health care presents knowledge sharing challenges because little is known about how data collected from the non-traditional services can be integrated into the traditional electronic medical record (EMR) and shared with other care providers. There is also little known about how health information technology (HIT) can be used to support the workflow in such a practice. Objectives: The objective of this case study was to identify the information needs of care providers in order to inform the design of HIT to support knowledge sharing and distributed decision making. Methods: A participatory design approach is presented as a successful technique to specify requirements for HIT applications that can support a trans-disciplinary model of care. Results: Using this design approach, the researchers identified the information needs of care providers working at the clinic and suggested HIT improvements to integrate non-traditional information into the EMR. These modifications allow knowledge sharing among care providers and support better health decisions. Conclusions: We have identified information needs of care providers as they are relevant to the design of health information systems. As new technology is designed and integrated into various workflows it is clear that understanding information needs is crucial to acceptance of that technology.
Motion factorization for echocardiogram classification

This paper presents an algorithm for video factorization of echocardiograms for qualitative cardiac function classification. Our method uses global video features and is robust to heart shape variation across patients and transducer motion. Unlike related approaches, our method neither requires locating specific structures nor manual intervention. On real-world data, our algorithm achieves 99% recall and 91% precision on the task of qualitatively classifying unseen A4C echocardio-gram videos as normal or impaired.
Renal transplantation in HIV patients: A series of four cases

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in a patient with end-stage renal disease was considered a contraindication for renal transplantation till now despite the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy with the apprehension that immunosuppression would further jeopardize the already compromised immune status of the patients. Renal transplantation in HIV patients is rare in developing countries including ours. Here we report a series of four cases of renal transplantation in HIV patients.
A novel future Internet smart grid application for energy management in offices

In modern offices, energy is consumed by information and communication technology, light, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. Parts of this energy are wasted because devices are not switched off when users leave the office. In this paper, we present our approach to a future Internet smart grid application for context-aware energy management in offices. It automatically adapts light, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, and power save modes of PCs and laptops to the presence or absence of users. We describe a proof-of-concept implementation and experimental results that show the feasibility of our approach. Overall, this shows one innovative approach, how the future Internet can support the future energy supply, which is moving towards regenerative energy, by providing improved energy efficiency.