Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficacy of salmeterol xinafoate in the treatment of COPD.

STUDY OBJECTIVES To examine and compare the efficacy and safety of salmeterol xinafoate, a long-acting inhaled beta2-adrenergic agonist, with inhaled ipratropium bromide and inhaled placebo in patients with COPD. DESIGN A stratified, randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, placebo-controlled, parallel group clinical trial. SETTING Multiple sites at clinics and university medical centers throughout the United States. PATIENTS Four hundred eleven symptomatic patients with COPD with FEV1 < or = 65% predicted and no clinically significant concurrent disease. INTERVENTIONS Comparison of inhaled salmeterol (42 microg twice daily), inhaled ipratropium bromide (36 microg four times a day), and inhaled placebo (2 puffs four times a day) over 12 weeks. RESULTS Salmeterol xinafoate was significantly (p < 0.0001) better than placebo and ipratropium in improving lung function at the recommended doses over the 12-week trial. Both salmeterol and ipratropium reduced dyspnea related to activities of daily living compared with placebo; this improvement was associated with reduced use of supplemental albuterol. Analyses of time to first COPD exacerbation revealed salmeterol to be superior to placebo and ipratropium (p < 0.05). Adverse effects were similar among the three treatments. CONCLUSIONS These collective data support the use of salmeterol as first-line bronchodilator therapy for the long-term treatment of airflow obstruction in patients with COPD.
Affine LPV systems: Realization theory, input-output equations and relationship with linear switched systems

We formulate a Kalman-style realization theory for discrete-time affine LPV systems. We characterize those input-output behaviors which exactly correspond to affine LPV systems. In addition, we present necessary and sufficient conditions for minimality of affine LPV systems and show that equivalent minimal realizations are unique up to isomorphism. The results are derived by reducing the problem to the realization problem for linear switched systems. In addition, we show that an input-output map has a realization by an affine LPV system if and only if it satisfies certain types of input-output equations.
Impact of diabetes on long-term survival after acute myocardial infarction: comparability of risk with prior myocardial infarction.

OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of diabetes on long-term survival after acute myocardial infarction and to compare its effect with that of a previous myocardial infarction. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS In a prospective cohort study, we followed 1,935 patients hospitalized with a confirmed acute myocardial infarction at 45 U.S. medical centers between 1989 and 1993, as part of the Determinants of Myocardial Infarction Onset Study. Trained interviewers performed chart reviews and face-to-face interviews with all patients. We analyzed survival using Cox proportional hazards regression to control for potentially confounding factors. RESULTS Of the 1,935 patients, 320 (17%) died during a mean follow-up of 3.7 years. A total of 399 patients (21%) had previously diagnosed diabetes. Diabetes was associated with markedly higher total mortality in unadjusted (hazard ratio [HR] 2.4; 95% CI 1.9-3.0) and adjusted (1.7; 1.3-2.1) analyses. The magnitude of the effect of diabetes was identical to that of a previous myocardial infarction. The effect of diabetes was not significantly modified by age, smoking, household income, use of thrombolytic therapy, type of hypoglycemic treatment, or duration of diabetes, but the risk associated with diabetes was higher among women than men (adjusted HRs 2.7 vs. 1.3, P = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Diabetes is associated with markedly increased mortality after acute myocardial infarction, particularly in women. The increase in risk is of the same magnitude as a previous myocardial infarction and provides further support for aggressive treatment of coronary risk factors among diabetic patients.
EFFICIENT PRECONDITIONING FOR SEQUENCES OF PARAMETRIC COMPLEX SYMMETRIC LINEAR SYSTEMS

Solution of sequences of complex symmetric linear systems of the form Ajxj = bj, j = 0; :::; s, Aj = A + jEj, A Hermitian, E0; :::; Es complex diagonal matrices and 0; :::; s scalar complex parameters arise in a variety of challenging problems. This is the case of time dependent PDEs; lattice gauge computations in quantum chromodynamics; the Helmholtz equation; shift-and- invert and Jacobi{Davidson algorithms for large-scale eigenvalue calculations; problems in control theory and many others. If A is symmetric and has real entries then Aj is complex symmetric. The case A Hermitian positive semidenite, Re( j) 0 and such that the diagonal entries of Ej, j = 0; :::; s have nonnegative real part is considered here. Some strategies based on the update of incomplete factorizations of the matrix A and A 1 are introduced and analyzed. The numerical solution of sequences of algebraic linear systems from the discretization of the real and complex Helmholtz equation and of the diusion equation in a rectangle illustrate the performance of the proposed approaches.
Logistics Management System Design under Pervasive Computing Environment

pervasive computing as the third mode of computing is being applied in all aspects of life. The paper has given out a new design of logistic by using products and theory of pervasive. Design of modern logistics management system, under using of pervasive computing environment, will make Logistics industry achieve greater efficiency and more relaxed management environment.
A hierarchical dynamic model for tracking in sports ∗

Dynamic models play a crucial role in tracking algorithms. In particle filters, for example, proper modelling of the target dynamics can help achieving the desired tracking accuracy using only a small number of particles and thus reducing the computational complexity of the tracker. We propose a novel hierarchical model for tracking players in sports by combining a conservative and a liberal dynamic model to better describe the player’s dynamics. We show how parameters of the model can be estimated from prior knowledge about the players dynamics. The proposed dynamic model was compared to a widely used model and resulted in better performance in terms of estimating position and prediction.
Drosophila TRPA1 Functions in Temperature Control of Circadian Rhythm in Pacemaker Neurons

Most animals from flies to humans count on circadian clocks to synchronize their physiology and behaviors. Daily light cycles are well known environmental cues for setting circadian rhythms. Warmer and cooler temperatures that mimic day and night are also effective in entraining circadian activity in most animals. Even vertebrate organisms can be induced to show circadian responses through exposure to temperature cycles. In poikilothermic animals such as Drosophila, temperature differences of only 2–3°C are sufficient to synchronize locomotor rhythms. However, the molecular sensors that participate in temperature regulation of circadian activity in fruit flies or other animals are enigmatic. It is also unclear whether such detectors are limited to the periphery or may be in the central brain. Here, we showed that Drosophila TRPA1 (transient receptor potential cation channel A1) was necessary for normal activity patterns during temperature cycles. The trpA1 gene was expressed in a subset of pacemaker neurons in the central brain. In response to temperature entrainment, loss of trpA1 impaired activity, and altered expression of the circadian clock protein period (Per) in a subset of pacemaker neurons. These findings underscore a role for a thermoTRP in temperature regulation that extends beyond avoidance of noxious or suboptimal temperatures.
Algorithms for interconnection and decomposition problems with multidimensional systems

The notion of interconnection is the basis of control in the behavioral approach. In this setting, feedback interconnection of systems is based on the still more fundamental concept of regular interconnection, which has been introduced by J. C. Willems. In this paper, the following problem is addressed: given a plant, under what conditions does there exist a controller such that their interconnection is regular and has finite codimension with respect to a certain desired system. If so, provide a constructive solution to the problem. The second part of the paper treats the related problem of decomposition of systems. First, the autonomous/controllable decomposition is studied, and finally we look at the decomposition of the controllable part.
Dependency management for the eclipse ecosystem: eclipse p2, metadata and resolution

One of the strength of Eclipse, the well-known open platform for software development, is its extensibility made possible by the built-in pluggability mechanisms. However those pluggability mechanisms only reveal their full potential when extensions created by others are made easy to distribute and obtain. The purpose of Eclipse p2 project is to build a platform addressing the challenges of distribution and obtention of Eclipse and its extensions, which poses the same dependency management issues than for component based systems. This paper focuses on the dependency management aspect of p2. It describes the metadata used to express dependencies, the overall functioning of our resolver and a description of our propositional constraints based encoding. To conclude we describe the challenges to address in future releases.
SWAP-Assembler 2: Scalable Genome Assembler towards Millions of Cores -- Practice and Experience

There is widening gap between the throughput of massive parallel sequencing machines and the ability to analyze these huge sequencing data, which can be Tara bytes or even Peta bytes. Previously our assembly tool, SWAP-Assembler, can scale to 2048 cores on TianHe 1A for human Yanhuang genome. This work is to further scale SWAP-Assembler to millions of cores on Mira. SWAP-Assembler can be divided into 5 steps, and the most time consuming steps are input parallelization, kmer graph construction, graph simplification (edge merging). We optimize these three steps to keep the percentage of time usage in each step constant when the number of cores increases. For the input parallelization step, the input data is divided into virtual fragments with almost equal size, the begin position and end position for each fragment is automatically separated at the beginning symbol of reads. This data blocking strategy plays a central role in adjusting the data size to keep the communication and memory efficiency for the subsequent steps. In kmer graph construction, to prevent the communication efficiency degradation, the message size is kept constant (about 8k bytes) between any two processes by proportionally increasing the number of nucleotides to the number of processes in the input parallelization step in each round. The memory usage can be also benefited, as only a small part of the input data is processed in each round. Within graph simplification, the major improvement is to combine messages sending & receiving between its two neighbors into one loop in the communication protocol. After integrated with the above optimizations, the new assembly tool is denoted as SWAP-Assembler 2 or SWAP2 for short. In our experiment for 1k human genome dataset, the modified SWAP-Assembler 2 can scale to 16k cores with parallel efficiency of 70%.
Effect of Prophylactic Transluminal Balloon Angioplasty on Cerebral Vasospasm and Outcome in Patients With Fisher Grade III Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: Results of a Phase II Multicenter, Randomized, Clinical Trial

Background and Purpose— Cerebral vasospasm continues to be a major cause of poor outcome in patients with ruptured aneurysms. Prophylactic Transluminal Balloon Angioplasty (pTBA) appeared to prevent delayed ischemic neurological deficit in a pilot study. A phase II multicenter randomized clinical trial was subsequently designed. Methods— One hundred and seventy patients with Fisher Grade III subarachnoid hemorrhage were enrolled in the study. Of these, 85 patients were randomized to the treatment group and underwent pTBA within 96 hours after subarachnoid hemorrhage. Main end points of the study included the 3-month dichotomized Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS), development of delayed ischemic neurological deficit (DIND), occurrence of Transcranial Doppler (TCD) vasospasm, and length of stay in the ICU and hospital. Results— The incidence of DIND was lower in the pTBA group (P=0.30) and fewer patients required therapeutic angioplasty to treat DIND (P=0.03). Overall pTBA resulted in an absolute risk reduction of 5.9% and a relative risk reduction of 10.4% unfavorable outcome (P=0.54). Good grade patients had absolute and relative risk reductions of respectively 9.5 and 29.4% (P=0.73). Length of stay in ICU and hospital was similar in both groups. Four patients had a procedure-related vessel perforation, of which three patients died. Conclusions— While the trial is unsuccessful as defined by the primary end point (GOS), proof of concept is confirmed by these results. Fewer patients tend to develop vasospasm after treatment with pTBA and there is a statistically significantly decreased need for therapeutic angioplasty. pTBA does not improve the poor outcome of patients with Fisher grade III subarachnoid hemorrhage.
An Improved Apparatus For Measuring the Growth of Ice Crystals from Water Vapor

We describe an apparatus designed for obtaining precise measurements of the growth rates of ice crystals from water vapor over a range of experimental conditions. Our aim is to produce clean, high-quality test crystals in a well controlled environment for investigating the detailed molecular dynamics that controls the basic physics of ice crystal growth. In this paper we describe the nucleation and initial growth of test crystals, their transport and selection into a experimental chamber, the creation of a stable and controllable supersaturation, hardware and calibration issues, and the crystal measurement via direct imaging and broad-band interferometry.
Pharmacological Studies of the Molecular Basis of Memory Extinction

Retrieval procedures, if carried out without reinforcement, initiate memory extinction. The extinction of one- trial avoidance learning requires glutamate NMDA receptors, calcium-calmodulin dependent protein kinase II, cAMP- dependent protein kinase and mitogen-activated protein kinases, and, importantly, protein synthesis and gene expression in the hippocampus. The extinction of fear-potentia ted startle requires NMDA receptors and mitogen-activated protein kinases in the basolateral amygdala. The extinction of conditioned taste aversion requires protein synthesis in the insular cortex. Thus, extinction is an active process that involves a variety of molecular events and -at least for the one task in which it was studied— both gene expression and protein synthesis. Insofar as in each of the tasks mentioned, the treat- ments were studied in a different brain region, therefore, it is still not known whether extinction in general uses those brain areas in parallel, or whether the extinction of each task is metabolically different. A role of endogenous cannabi- noids in extinction has been postulated; some evidence indicate that they act on the amygdala, but indirect findings sug- gest that they may also exert their action in the hippocampus. When carried out using methods that enhance perception that the reinforcement is absent, extinction can be quite profound, and the animals require "de novo" gene expression and protein synthesis in the hippocampus in order to reinstall the original learning. This might be of value in the design of "exposure" therapies for the treatment of phobias and of post-traumatic stress disorders.
Clustering and switching in semantic fluency: predictors of the development of Alzheimer's disease

The aims of the study are twofold: (1) to compare semantic fluency, clustering and switching performance among subjects with memory complaints, patients with Alzheimer Disease (AD), and healthy controls; and (2) to examine the clinical utility of the clustering/switching scoring system in the prediction of incident AD in subjects with memory complaints.
Results of a probabilistic model applied to the research carried out on the Turin Shroud

A probabilistic model, capable to consider mutually excluding events, is been applied to 100 statements derived from the research done on the Turin Shroud. The 3 different alternatives are here defined as: A “the Shroud is authentic”; F “it is a medieval fake”; N “it is neither A nor F”. Each statement is characterized by 7 subjective coefficients, 3 regarding the probability of each alternative A, F or N, 3 the uncertainty of the probabilities and 1 to express the scientific importance of the statement. The 700 parameters have been elaborated by a “Mathcad 7” software to obtain the following result: the Turin Shroud is authentic with a probability of 100% and a corresponding uncertainty of 10. Making an analogy with the roulette game, it means that it is more probable to obtain in sequence the same number for 52 times than affirm that the Turin Shroud is not authentic. LIST OF SYMBOLS: Acronyms: TS: Turin Shroud; MTS: Man of the Turin Shroud Notes: 1 Bibliographic references: [1] Italics: statement object of valuation. 1) INTRODUCTION It was made up a probabilistic model [1] able to value the results of the research carried out on the Turin Shroud (TS) because of the difficulty the authors found to judge in a global and objective way the remarkable quantity of evidences or statements brought in favour or against a thesis of authenticity or of falsity. Still nowadays in fact the scholars keep on upholding diametrically opposed theses bringing in favour only a limited number of statements. On the other hand from the numerous researches carried out on an international level, it didn’t result a sole statement so complete and significant as to show the TS authenticity or falsity. In fact no evidence is such as to completely show the considered hypothesis, but perhaps the global analysis of all the clues can reach (*) For merely academical purposes the individual contribution of the single authors is specified as follows: G. Fanti (40%) has developed the probabilistic model, moreover he has defined the 100 statements with E. Marinelli (60%) who granted their reliability providing the corresponding bibliographic references.
Coordinated consensus in dynamic networks

We study several variants of coordinated consensus in dynamic networks. We assume a synchronous model, where the communication graph for each round is chosen by a worst-case adversary. The network topology is always connected, but can change completely from one round to the next. The model captures mobile and wireless networks, where communication can be unpredictable. In this setting we study the fundamental problems of eventual, simultaneous, and Δ-coordinated consensus, as well as their relationship to other distributed problems, such as determining the size of the network. We show that in the absence of a good initial upper bound on the size of the network, eventual consensus is as hard as computing deterministic functions of the input, e.g., the minimum or maximum of inputs to the nodes. We also give an algorithm for computing such functions that is optimal in every execution. Next, we show that simultaneous consensus can never be achieved in less than n - 1 rounds in any execution, where n is the size of the network; consequently, simultaneous consensus is as hard as computing an upper bound on the number of nodes in the network. For Δ-coordinated consensus, we show that if the ratio between nodes with input 0 and input 1 is bounded away from 1, it is possible to decide in time n-Θ(√ nΔ), where Δ bounds the time from the first decision until all nodes decide. If the dynamic graph has diameter D, the time to decide is min{O(nD/Δ),n-Ω(nΔ/D)}, even if D is not known in advance. Finally, we show that (a) there is a dynamic graph such that for every input, no node can decide before time n-O(Δ0.28n0.72); and (b) for any diameter D = O(Δ), there is an execution with diameter D where no node can decide before time Ω(nD / Δ). To our knowledge, our work constitutes the first study of Δ-coordinated consensus in general graphs.
Metabolic Profiling of Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids in Foliage of Two Echium spp. Invaders in Australia—A Case of Novel Weapons?

Metabolic profiling allows for simultaneous and rapid annotation of biochemically similar organismal metabolites. An effective platform for profiling of toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) and their N-oxides (PANOs) was developed using ultra high pressure liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight (UHPLC-QTOF) mass spectrometry. Field-collected populations of invasive Australian weeds, Echium plantagineum and E. vulgare were raised under controlled glasshouse conditions and surveyed for the presence of related PAs and PANOs in leaf tissues at various growth stages. Echium plantagineum possessed numerous related and abundant PANOs (>17) by seven days following seed germination, and these were also observed in rosette and flowering growth stages. In contrast, the less invasive E. vulgare accumulated significantly lower levels of most PANOs under identical glasshouse conditions. Several previously unreported PAs were also found at trace levels. Field-grown populations of both species were also evaluated for PA production and highly toxic echimidine N-oxide was amongst the most abundant PANOs in foliage of both species. PAs in field and glasshouse plants were more abundant in the more widely invasive species, E. plantagineum, and may provide competitive advantage by increasing the plant’s capacity to deter natural enemies in its invaded range through production of novel weapons.
Modification of Fear Memory by Pharmacological and Behavioural Interventions during Reconsolidation

Background Dysfunctional fear responses play a central role in many mental disorders. New insights in learning and memory suggest that pharmacological and behavioural interventions during the reconsolidation of reactivated fear memories may increase the efficacy of therapeutic interventions. It has been proposed that interventions applied during reconsolidation may modify the original fear memory, and thus prevent the spontaneous recovery and reinstatement of the fear response. Methods We investigated whether pharmacological (propranolol) and behavioural (reappraisal, multisensory stimulation) interventions reduce fear memory, and prevent reinstatement of fear in comparison to a placebo control group. Eighty healthy female subjects underwent a differential fear conditioning procedure with three stimuli (CS). Two of these (CS+) were paired with an electric shock on day 1. On day 2, 20 subjects were pseudo-randomly assigned to either the propranolol or placebo condition, or underwent one of the two behavioural interventions after one of the two CS+ was reactivated. On day 3, all subjects underwent an extinction phase, followed by a reinstatement test. Dependent variables were US expectancy ratings, fear-potentiated startle, and skin conductance response. Results Differential fear responses to the reactivated and non-reactivated CS+ were observed only in the propranolol condition. Here, the non-reactivated CS+ evoked stronger fear-potentiated startle-responses compared to the placebo group. None of the interventions prevented the return of the extinguished fear response after re-exposure to the unconditioned stimulus. Conclusions Our data are in line with an increasing body of research stating that the occurrence of reconsolidation may be constrained by boundary conditions such as subtle differences in experimental manipulations and instructions. In conclusion, our findings do not support a beneficial effect in using reconsolidation processes to enhance effects of psychotherapeutic interventions. This implies that more research is required before therapeutic interventions may benefit from a combination with reconsolidation processes.