Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Autologous bone marrow mononuclear stem cells for acute myocardial infarction: is it only about time?

This editorial refers to ‘A randomized double-blind controlled study of early intracoronary autologous bone marrow cell infusion in acute myocardial infarction: the REGENERATE-AMI clinical trial’[†][1], by F. Choudry et al . , on page 256. In 2002, Strauer et al . 1 reported the results of the first phase I study testing the safety of intracoronary (IC) administration of autologous bone marrow mononuclear stem cells (BMMSCs) for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Since then, we have seen a series of trials using mixed cell types with heterogeneous designs in terms of both the number and the timing of BMMSCs administration that have yielded conflicting results2 ( Figure 1 ). For example, Nowbar et al . 3 found no beneficial effect on left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) when analysing BMMSCs trials without any discrepancies, while a meta-analysis by Afzal et al . 4 (48 studies; 2602 patients) showed an improvement in both LVEF (+2.92%) and infarct size (−2.25%), as well as remodelling. Taken as a whole, these contradictory findings have left the general cardiology community somewhat indifferent and have arguably shrouded the field of BMMSC AMI research in a dark fog from which it has yet to emerge. Figure 1 Factors affecting the bone marrow cells effect on cardiac recovery after acute myocardial infarction. LV, left ventricle; MACE, major adverse cardiac events. In this issue of the journal, Choudry et al . 5 present the results of the REGENERATE-AMI trial, evaluating the effect of IC autologous BMMSCs on left ventricular (LV) function when delivered within 24 h of successful reperfusion therapy. While REGENERATE-AMI did not meet its primary endpoint, there is much potential value in trying to place this … [1]: #fn-2
H0 measurement from VLT deep I–band surface brightness fluctuations in NGC 564 and NGC 7619

We have measured the Hubble constant H 0 in NGC 564 at $cz \approx 5800$ km s -1 and in NGC 7619 at $cz \approx 3700$ km s -1 with deep I –band Surface Brightness Fluctuation distance measurements at the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT). We obtain $H_0 = 70 \pm 7 \pm 6$ km s -1 /Mpc for NGC 564 and $H_0 = 68 \pm 6 \pm 6$ for NGC 7619. The actual SBF sample used for the measurement of H 0 in the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale (Freedman et al. 2001) amounts to six galaxies. When we combine the measurements from this work with our previous VLT I –band SBF distance measurement in IC 4296 (Mei et al. 2000), we obtain: H 0 = 68 ± 5 ± 6 km s -1 /Mpc. When we add the Freedman et al. (2001) SBF sample, we obtain $H_0 = 71 \pm 4 \pm 6$ km s -1 /Mpc.
Analysis of Functional Domains on Glutamate Synthase

Glutamate synthases (GOGAT) were analyzed to identify the functional binding domains of the substrate (glutamine) and cofactors (FMN, NAD(P)H, FAD, [3Fe-4S]1+,0 and [4Fe-4S]2+,1+ clusters and ferredoxin) on this enzyme. The published amino acid sequences of six different NAD(P)H-dependent GOGATs (NAD(P)H-GOGAT) and ten different ferredoxin-dependent GOGATs (Fd-GOGAT) were used for this analysis. The amino acid sequences of these sixteen GOGATs were compared with the amino acid sequences of aminotransferases for glutamine, flavoproteins for FMN, flavoproteins and pyridine-nucleotide-dependent enzymes for FAD and NAD(P)H, iron-sulfur proteins for [3Fe-4S] 1+,0 and [4Fe-4S]2+,1+ clusters and ferredoxin-dependent enzymes for ferredoxin. It was determined that Fd-GOGAT has one domain each for glutamine, FMN and [3Fe-4S]1+,0 cluster and two domains each for FAD and ferredoxin; the NADPH-GOGAT a subunit has the same domains as Fd-GOGAT except for the ferredoxin domains, and b subunit has one domain each for NADPH and FAD and two domains for two [4Fe-4S]2+,1+ clusters; NADH-GOGAT has the same domains as NADPH-GOGAT.
Effect of Treadmill Exercise on Interleukin-15 Expression and Glucose Tolerance in Zucker Diabetic Fatty Rats

Background Interleukin-15 (IL-15), a well-known myokine, is highly expressed in skeletal muscle and is involved in muscle-fat crosstalk. Recently, a role of skeletal muscle-derived IL-15 in the improvement of glucose homeostasis and insulin sensitivity has been proposed. However, little is known regarding the influence of endurance training on IL-15 expression in type 2 diabetic skeletal muscles. We investigated the effect of endurance exercise training on glucose tolerance and IL-15 expression in skeletal muscles using type 2 diabetic animal models. Methods Male Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) and ZDF lean control (ZLC) rats were randomly divided into three groups: sedentary ZLC, sedentary ZDF (ZDF-Con), and exercised ZDF (ZDF-Ex). The ZDF-Ex rats were forced to run a motor-driven treadmill for 60 minutes once a day 5 times per week for 12 weeks. Intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test (IPGTT) was performed after 12 weeks. Expression of IL-15 was measured using ELISA in extracted soleus (SOL) and gastrocnemius medial muscles. Results After 12 weeks of treadmill training, reduction of body weight was observed in ZDF-Ex compared to ZDF-Con rats. Glucose tolerance using IPGTT in diabetic rats was significantly improved in ZDF-Ex rats. Furthermore, the expression of IL-15 was significantly increased (P<0.01) only in the SOL of ZDF-Ex rats compared to ZDF-Con. Additionally, IL-15 expression in SOL muscles was negatively correlated with change of body weight (R=-0.424, P=0.04). Conclusion The present study results suggest that 12 weeks of progressive endurance training significantly improved glucose tolerance with concomitant increase of IL-15 expression in SOL muscles of type 2 diabetic rats.
Comparison of benthic bacterial community composition in nine streams

In this study, the abundance of major bacterial taxa (based on fluorescent in situ hybridization, FISH) and the structure of the bacterial community (based on denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, DGGE) were determined in the benthos of 9 streams in the southeastern and mid- western United States and related to differences in environmental conditions. Taxa examined via FISH were Domain Bacteria, Domain Archaea, α-, β-, and γ-Proteobacteria, a portion of the Bac- teroidetes (formerly Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides), and Gram-positive bacteria with high (actinobacteria) and low percent guanine+cytosine (GC) content. Of these taxa, generally the most abundant were the β- and α-Proteobacteria, which constituted on average 19.5 and 17.0% of the Domain Bacteria, respectively. Abundance of most taxa was significantly different among streams and sites within a stream. Based on canonical correspondence and correlation analyses, β- and γ-Pro- teobacteria tended to be most abundant at sites with high dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrate/nitrite concentrations and high benthic organic matter content. In contrast, α-Proteobacteria were more abundant in environments with low DOC and nitrate/nitrite concentrations and low sedi- ment organic carbon content. The other taxa did not exhibit clear correlations with the environmen- tal variables measured. DGGE results revealed that the structure of the bacterial community differed among the streams examined, with limited differences in a given stream and much larger differences among streams. Overall, there were clear differences in community composition that in some cases correlated with differences in environmental conditions.
Handwritten text recognition for historical documents in the transcriptorium project

Transcription of historical handwritten documents is a crucial problem for making easier the access to these documents to the general public. Currently, huge amount of historical handwritten documents are being made available by on-line portals worldwide. It is not realistic to obtain the transcription of these documents manually, and therefore automatic techniques has to be used. tranScriptorium is a project that aims at researching on modern Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) technology for transcribing historical handwritten documents. The HTR technology used in tranScriptorium is based on models that are learnt automatically from examples. This HTR technology has been used on a Dutch collection from 15th century selected for the tranScriptorium project. This paper provides preliminary HTR results on this Dutch collection that are very encouraging, taken into account that minimal resources have been deployed to develop the transcription system.
OPTIMALITY OF ORTHONORMAL TRANSFORMS FOR SUBBAND CODING

Theory of optimal orthonormal filter banks has recently been d veloped under the assumption that quantizers operate at hig h bit rates. We show that the theory can be simplified if a more gener al model for quantizers is used. With such a model, we show that principal component filter banks (PCFB) are optimal for orth normal subband coding under all bit rates and bit allocation str ategies. This establishes the link between two fundamental problems : principal component representation of signals and optimal orth onormal subband coding. In block transform case, the Karhunen-L oeve transform is a PCFB. At the other extreme, PCFB’s with ideal fi lters have recently been constructed. In the intermediate ca s of FIR orthonormal filter banks, it has recently been shown that t ere does not always exist a PCFB for a given input. This case is addressed in this paper with some new insights.
Hierarchical-HMM Based Recognition of Human Activity

In this paper, we present a method for recognition of human activity as a series of actions from an image sequence. The di fficulty with the problem is that there is a chicken-egg dilemma that each action needs to be extracted in advance for its recognition but the precise extraction is only possible after the action is correctly identified. In order to solve this dilemma, we use as many models as actions of our interest, and test each model against a given sequence to find a matched model for each action occurring in the sequence. For each action, a model is designed so as to represent any activity containing the action. The hierarchical hidden Markov model (HHMM) is employed to represent the models, in which each model is composed of a submodel of the target action and submodels which can represent any action, and they are connected appropriately. Several experimental results are shown. key words: motion trajectory, human activity, hierarchical hidden Markov model, image sequences
A Distributed Secure Mechanism for Resource Protection in a Digital Ecosystem Environment

The dynamic interaction and collaboration of the loosely coupled entities play a pivotal role for the successful implementation of a Digital Ecosystem environment. However, such interaction and collaboration can only be promoted when information and resources are effortlessly shared, accessed, and utilized by the interacting entities. A major requirement to promote an intensive sharing of resources is the ability to secure and uphold the confidentiality, integrity and non-repudiation of resources. This requirement is extremely important in particular when interactions with the unfamiliar entities occur frequently. In this paper, we present a distributed mechanism for improving resource protection in a Digital Ecosystem environment. This mechanism can be used not only for any secure and reliable transaction, but also for encouraging the collaborative efforts by the Digital Ecosystem community members to play a major role in securing the environment. Public Key Infrastructure is also employed to provide a strong protection for its access workflows.
YADAC: Yet another Dialectal Arabic Corpus

This paper presents the first phase of building YADAC ― a multi-genre Dialectal Arabic (DA) corpus ― that is compiled using Web data from microblogs (i.e. Twitter), blogs/forums and online knowledge market services in which both questions and answers are user-generated. In addition to introducing two new genres to the current efforts of building DA corpora (i.e. microblogs and question-answer pairs extracted from online knowledge market services), the paper highlights and tackles several new issues related to building DA corpora that have not been handled in previous studies: function-based Web harvesting and dialect identification, vowel-based spelling variation, linguistic hypercorrection and its effect on spelling variation, unsupervised Part-of-Speech (POS) tagging and base phrase chunking for DA. Although the algorithms for both POS tagging and base-phrase chunking are still under development, the results are promising.
Advances and Challenges of Liposome Assisted Drug Delivery

The application of liposomes to assist drug delivery has already had a major impact on many biomedical areas. They have been shown to be beneficial for stabilizing therapeutic compounds, overcoming obstacles to cellular and tissue uptake, and improving biodistribution of compounds to target sites in vivo. This enables effective delivery of encapsulated compounds to target sites while minimizing systemic toxicity. Liposomes present as an attractive delivery system due to their flexible physicochemical and biophysical properties, which allow easy manipulation to address different delivery considerations. Despite considerable research in the last 50 years and the plethora of positive results in preclinical studies, the clinical translation of liposome assisted drug delivery platforms has progressed incrementally. In this review, we will discuss the advances in liposome assisted drug delivery, biological challenges that still remain, and current clinical and experimental use of liposomes for biomedical applications. The translational obstacles of liposomal technology will also be presented.
An Overview of Near-Field Antenna Measurements

A patient warming method and apparatus including a catheter which mixes relatively hot intravenous fluids with the patient's blood without excessive tissue damage, by monitoring the temperature of the mixed blood and the core temperature of the patient. The fluids are heated to about 50 degrees-100 degrees C. The catheter is surrounded by a relatively large diameter introducer sheath, and is spaced from the sheath by a cooling jacket. Unheated fluid is passed through the cooling jacket to thermally isolate the heated infusate from the patient, to prevent entry site and endothelial burning. An external computer control system monitors and controls both the body core temperature of the patient and the temperature and flow rate of the infusate.
Demokratibistånd, politiska regimer och demokratisk utveckling

Demokratibistand er i løbet af de senere år blevet en stadigt mere populær bi¬ standsform. Imidlertid må man spørge, om demokratibistanden faktisk har be¬ tydning for den demokratiske udvikling, og om der i forskellige sammenhænge er forskel på, hvordan denne bistandsform virker. Analyser med paneldata for perioden 1990-2004 viser, at demokratibistandens virkninger på demokratiud¬ viklingen varierer mellem forskellige regimeformer. Demokratibistanden har
Activity of select dehydrogenases with Sepharose-immobilized N6-carboxymethyl-NAD

N6-carboxymethyl-NAD (N6-CM-NAD) can be used to immobilize NAD onto a substrate containing terminal primary amines. We previously immobilized N6-CM-NAD onto sepharose beads and showed that Thermotoga maritima glycerol dehydrogenase could use the immobilized cofactor with cofactor recycling. We now show that Saccharomyces cerevisiae alcohol dehydrogenase, rabbit muscle L-lactate dehydrogenase (type XI), bovine liver L-glutamic dehydrogenase (type III), Leuconostoc mesenteroides glucose-6-phosphate dehydro-genase, and Thermotoga maritima mannitol dehydrogenase are active with soluble N6-CM-NAD. The products of all enzymes but 6-phospho-D-glucono-1,5-lactone were formed when sepharose-immobilized N6-CM-NAD was recycled by T. maritima glycerol dehydrogenase, indicating that N6-immobilized NAD is suitable for use by a variety of different dehydrogenases. Observations of the enzyme active sites suggest that steric hindrance plays a greater role in limiting or allowing activity with the modified cofactor than do polarity and charge of the residues surrounding the N6-amine group on NAD.
Comparative Effectiveness Research Review Disposition of Comments Report Research Review Title : Combination Therapy Versus Intensification of Statin Monotherapy : An Update

Research Review Citation: Monroe AK, Gudzune KA, Sharma R, Chelladurai Y, Ranasinghe PD, Ansari MT, Robinson KA. Combination Therapy Versus Intensification of Statin Monotherapy: An Update. Comparative Effectiveness Review No. 132. (Prepared by the Johns Hopkins University Evidence-based Practice Center under Contract No. 290-2012-00007-I.) AHRQ Publication No. 14-EHC013-EF. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; February 2014. www.effectivehealthcare. ahrq.gov/reports/final.cfm.
Is There a Glass Ceiling in Sweden?

Using 1998 data, we show that the gender log wage gap in Sweden increases throughout the wage distribution and accelerates in the upper tail. We interpret this as a strong glass ceiling effect. We use quantile regression decompositions to examine whether this pattern can be ascribed primarily to gender differences in labor market characteristics or in the rewards to those characteristics. Even after extensive controls for gender differences in age, education (both level and field), sector, industry, and occupation, we find that the glass ceiling effect we see in the raw data persists to a considerable extent.
The Psychology of Good Judgment

Mind and environment evolve in tandem—almost a platitude. Much of judgment and decision making research, however, has compared cognition to standard statistical models, rather than to how well it is adapted to its environment. The author argues two points. First, cognitive algorithms are tuned to certain information formats, most likely to those that humans have encountered during their evolutionary history. In par ticular, Bayesian computations are simpler when the information is in a frequency format than when it is in a probability format. The author investigates whether fre quency formats can make physicians reason more often the Bayesian way. Second, cognitive algorithms need to operate under constraints of limited time, knowledge, and computational power, and they need to exploit the structures of their environments. The author describes a fast and frugal algorithm, Take The Best, that violates standard principles of rational inference but can be as accurate as sophisticated "optimal" mod els for diagnostic inference. Key words: Bayes' theorem; bounded rationality; infor mation format; probabilistic reasoning; satisficing; training; medical education. (Med Decis Making 1996;16:273-280)
$\U_q(sl(n))$-invariant quantization of symmetric coadjoint orbits via reflection equation algebra

We study relations between the two-parameter $\U_q(sl(n))$-invariant deformation quantization on $sl^*(n)$ and the reflection equation algebra. The latter is described by a quantum permutation on $\End(\C^n)$ given explicitly. The reflection equation algebra is used for constructing the one-parameter quantization on coadjoint orbits, including symmetric and certain bisymmetric and nilpotent ones. Our approach is based on embedding the quantized function algebras on the orbits into the algebra of functions on the quantum group $SL_q(n)$ via reflection equation algebra characters.
Near-polytropic stellar simulations with a radiative surface

Context. Studies of solar and stellar convection often employ simple polytropic setups using the diffusion approximation instead of solving the proper radiative transfer equation. This allows one to control separately the polytropic index of the hydrostatic reference solution, the temperature contrast between top and bottom, and the Rayleigh and Peclet numbers. Aims. Here we extend such studies by including radiative transfer in the gray approximation using a Kramers-like opacity with freely adjustable coefficients. We study the properties of such models and compare them with results from the diffusion approximation. Methods. We use the Pencil code, which is a high-order finite difference code where radiation is treated using the method of long characteristics. The source function is given by the Planck function. The opacity is written as kappa = kappa(0)rho T-a(b), where a = 1 in most cases, b is varied from -3.5 to +5, and kappa(0) is varied by four orders of magnitude. We adopt a perfect monatomic gas. We consider sets of one-dimensional models and perform a comparison with the diffusion approximation in one-and two-dimensional models. Results. Except for the case where b = 5, we find one-dimensional hydrostatic equilibria with a nearly polytropic stratification and a polytropic index close to n = (3 -b)/(1 + a), covering both convectively stable (n > 3/2) and unstable (n < 3/2) cases. For b = 3 and a = -1, the value of n is undefined a priori and the actual value of n depends then on the depth of the domain. For large values of kappa(0), the thermal adjustment time becomes long, the Peclet and Rayleigh numbers become large, and the temperature contrast increases and is thus no longer an independent input parameter, unless the Stefan-Boltzmann constant is considered adjustable. Conclusions. Proper radiative transfer with Kramers-like opacities provides a useful tool for studying stratified layers with a radiative surface in ways that are more physical than what is possible with polytropic models using the diffusion approximation.
Unifying explicit and implicit feedback for collaborative filtering

Most collaborative filtering algorithms are based on certain statistical models of user interests built from either explicit feedback (eg: ratings, votes) or implicit feedback (eg: clicks, purchases). Explicit feedbacks are more precise but more difficult to collect from users while implicit feedbacks are much easier to collect though less accurate in reflecting user preferences. In the existing literature, separate models have been developed for either of these two forms of user feedbacks due to their heterogeneous representation. However in most real world recommended systems both explicit and implicit user feedback are abundant and could potentially complement each other. It is desirable to be able to unify these two heterogeneous forms of user feedback in order to generate more accurate recommendations. In this work, we developed matrix factorization models that can be trained from explicit and implicit feedback simultaneously. Experimental results of multiple datasets showed that our algorithm could effectively combine these two forms of heterogeneous user feedback to improve recommendation quality.
Quantitative Analysis of Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced and Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Oncology in R

The package dcemriS4 provides a complete set of data analysis tools for quantitative assessment of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI). Image processing is provided for the ANALYZE and NIfTI data formats as input with all parameter estimates being output in NIfTI format. Estimation of T1 relaxation from multiple flip-angle acquisitions, using either constant or spatially-varying flip angles, is performed via nonlinear regression. Both literature-based and data-driven arterial input functions are available and may be combined with a variety of compartmental models. Kinetic parameters are obtained from nonlinear regression, Bayesian estimation via Markov chain Monte Carlo or Bayesian maximum a posteriori estimation. A non-parametric model, using penalized splines, is also available to characterize the contrast agent concentration time curves. Estimation of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) is provided for diffusion-weighted imaging. Given the size of multi-dimensional data sets commonly acquired in imaging studies, care has been taken to maximize computational efficiency and minimize memory usage. All methods are illustrated using both simulated and real-world medical imaging data available in the public domain.