Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intravenous Nitroglycerin in the Treatment of Spontaneous Angina Pectoris: A Prospective, Randomized Trial

A prospective, randomized study of i.v. nitroglycerin (TNG) in the management of repetitive spontaneous angina pectoris was undertaken in 40 consecutive patients. The clinical effectiveness of i.v. TNG (group A) was compared with that of oral isosorbide dinitrate (ISDN) and topical 2% nitroglycerin ointment (NO) in combination (group B) during a 72-hour treatment period. The doses of both nitrate regimens were adjusted so that the mean arterial pressure in the two groups was reduced by 15 ± 3% of control values to the same level (77 mm Hg). The i.v. TNG dose of 10–200, gg/min yielded arterial plasma TNG levels of 1.2–65.3 ng/m] and estimated plasma (arterial) clearance of 106 ± 55 ml/min/kg of body weight (mean ± SD). In group B, the doses were 20–60 mg (oral ISDN) and 1/2-2 inches (NO) every 6 hours. Intravenous TNG reduced the number of spontaneous ischemic episodes from 3.3 ± 0.8 per 24 hours during the control period to 1.0 ± 0.3 per 24 hours during the treatment period (p < 0.01), while the ISDN/NO combination reduced the number of episodes from 3.1 ± 0.4 to 1.4 ± 0.3 (p < 0.01). Overall, the magnitude of the therapeutic effect of i.v. TNG was statistically indistinguishable from that of ISDN/NO, although i.v. TNG did have somewhat greater clinical benefit on day 2 of the 3-day treatment period. Furthermore, the data suggested more consistent control of ischemic episodes with i.v. TNG during the first 24 hours of the trial. Although both regimens markedly reduced the frequency of spontaneous ischemic episodes, only 36% of patients in group A and 17% in group B experienced no ischemic episodes during the study period (NS). Forty-three percent of patients in group A and 61% in group B (NS) required early coronary artery bypass surgery to control recurrent ischemic episodes refractory to medical therapy. We conclude that i.v. TNG and ISDN/NO, when administered in doses adjusted to produce similar effects on systemic arterial pressure, have nearly equivalent clinical effects in the management of patients with frequent episodes of spontaneous angina pectoris. Intravenous TNG offers the advantage of more consistent control of ischemic episodes during the first 24 hours of treatment. Nevertheless, the recurrence rate of spontaneous ischemic episodes during medical therapy is high with both regimens, and early coronary artery bypass surgery may be required for long-term management.
Ride Sharing with a Vehicle of Unlimited Capacity

A ride sharing problem is considered where we are given a graph, whose edges are equipped with a travel cost, plus a set of objects, each associated with a transportation request given by a pair of origin and destination nodes. A vehicle travels through the graph, carrying each object from its origin to its destination without any bound on the number of objects that can be simultaneously transported. The vehicle starts and terminates its ride at given nodes, and the goal is to compute a minimum-cost ride satisfying all requests. This ride sharing problem is shown to be tractable on paths by designing a $O(h \log h+n)$ algorithm, with $h$ being the number of distinct requests and with $n$ being the number of nodes in the path. The algorithm is then used as a subroutine to efficiently solve instances defined over cycles, hence covering all graphs with maximum degree $2$. This traces the frontier of tractability, since $\bf NP$-hard instances are exhibited over trees whose maximum degree is $3$.
The Impact of Body Mass Index on Short-Term Disability in the Workplace

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the association between body mass index and short-term disability in a working “white collar” population. Methods: The authors collected cross-sectional data from 19,061 health risk appraisals completed by employees of a large financial services corporation from 2000–2002. The self-reported information for demographics and job satisfaction was combined with personnel and detailed information from short-term disability events (STD) taken during the same time period. Results: After adjusting for multiple covariates, body mass index is an independent predictor for STD events. Body mass index categories of overweight and obese have odds ratios of 1.26 and 1.76 compared with normal weight (P < 0.0001). Conclusions: The improvement of employee health and wellness should be pursued by the employer in an effort to promote healthier weight among their workers. This in turn should reduce STD events that result in the loss of worker productivity and a major cost to companies.
Voice conversion through transformation of spectral and intonation features

This paper presents a voice conversion method based on transformation of the characteristic features of a source speaker towards a target. Voice characteristic features are grouped into two main categories: (a) the spectral features at formants and (b) the pitch and intonation patterns. Signal modelling and transformation methods for each group of voice features are outlined. The spectral features at formants are modelled using a set of two-dimensional phoneme-dependent HMM. Subband frequency warping is used for spectrum transformation with the subbands centred on the estimates of the formant trajectories. The F0 contour is used for modelling the pitch and intonation patterns of speech. A PSOLA based method is employed for transformation of pitch, intonation patterns and speaking rate. The experiments present illustrations and perceptual evaluations of the results of transformations of the various voice features.
Agents in Breast Cancer Cells Overexpression of IRF 9 Confers Resistance to Antimicrotubule Updated Version

IRF9/p48/ISGF3 (IRF9) is an IFN regulatory factor that mediates signaling by type I IFNs (IFN and IFN ). After single-step selection of breast adenocarcinoma cells in paclitaxel, differential display and single gene analysis demonstrated that transcriptional activation of IRF9 and other IFN-responsive genes, independent of IFN, corresponded with resistance to antimicrotubule agents. Transient overexpression of IRF9 reproduced the drug-resistance phenotype and induced expression of IFN-responsive genes. However, drug resistance was not induced by overexpression of Stat1 or Stat2, or treatment with IFN per se. Using a donor-matched array of cDNA prepared from human tumor and normal tissue from a variety of organs, we observed overexpression of IRF9 in approximately one-half of breast and uterine tumors, which indicated that IRF9 may be important in signaling in these tumor types. These data identify a novel IFN-independent role for IRF9 in the development of resistance to antimicrotubule agents in breast tumor cells and may link downstream mediators of IFN signaling to drug resistance in human cancers.
Texturing 3D Models with Low Geometric Features

This paper presents a texture projection and alignment method specifically tailored for objects with low geometric features. A common way to build virtual replicas is to acquire the geometry with a 3D scanner and model its reflectance properties (i.e. colors) by projecting photos onto the 3D surface. To correctly align each photo it is necessary to retrieve the camera's extrinsic matrix, which is usually achieved by optimization algorithms that match geometric features of the model with their corresponding ones on the photos. However, when dealing with cultural heritage artifacts or mechanical pieces, for example, some models inherently lack significant geometric detail. We propose a method to automatically extract these features from high resolution photos and register them in a sequential manner using a variation of the contour-based approaches. The algorithm requires minimum user intervention as only an initial guess of the camera's direction is required for each photo. In addition, we describe an improved formulation of the optimization method based on a smooth function that avoids typical local minima found in this scenario. The results are illustrated with high-resolution textured models produced by our system.
Is there replication-associated mutational pressure in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome?

Compositional bias of yeast chromosomes was analysed using detrended DNA walks. Unlike eubacterial chromosomes, the yeast chromosomes did not show the specific asymmetry correlated with origin and terminus of replication. It is probably a result of a relative excess of autonomously replicating sequences (ARS) and of random choice of these sequences in each replication cycle. Nevertheless, the last ARS from both ends of chromosomes are responsible for unidirectional replication of subtelomeric sequences with pre-established leading/lagging roles of DNA strands. In these sequences a specific asymmetry is observed, resembling the asymmetry introduced by replication-associated mutational pressure into eubacterial chromosomes.
Toward a Neutral Evolutionary Model of Gene Expression

We introduce a stochastic model that describes neutral changes of gene expression over evolutionary time as a compound Poisson process where evolutionary events cause changes of expression level according to a given probability distribution. The model produces simple estimators for model parameters and allows discrimination between symmetric and asymmetric distributions of evolutionary expression changes along an evolutionary lineage. Furthermore, we introduce two measures, the skewness of expression difference distributions and relative difference of evolutionary branch lengths, which are used to quantify deviation from clock-like behavior of gene expression distances. Model-based analyses of gene expression profiles in primate liver and brain samples yield the following results: (1) The majority of gene expression changes are consistent with a neutral model of evolution; (2) along evolutionary lineages, upward changes in expression are less frequent but of greater average magnitude than downward changes; and (3) the skewness measure and the relative branch length difference confirm that an acceleration of gene expression evolution occurred on the human lineage in brain but not in liver. We discuss the latter result with respect to a neutral model of transcriptome evolution and show that a small number of genes expressed in brain can account for the observed data.
Role of HY5 in abscisic acid response in seeds and seedlings

Seed dormancy offers plants an adaptive advantage that is crucial to their successful colonization of land. The decision to make the transition from a dormant seed to a photoautotrophic seedling is a result of a complex interaction of internal hormonal signals and external stimuli such as water, temperature, and light. We recently showed that HY5, a well-characterized component in the light signaling pathway, also mediates abscisic acid (ABA) response during seed germination, early seedling growth, and root development in Arabidopsis. We proposed that HY5 regulates these ABA responses partly by directly activating the transcription factor gene ABI5. By analyzing the premature germination of hy5 and abi5 single and double mutants, here we demonstrated that HY5 also positively controls seed maturation and dormancy, likely through direct activation of the ABI5 gene. The contrasting role of light regulation of seed development and germination may be important for the adaptation of plants to the environment. Addendum to: Chen H, Zhang J, Neff MM, Hong S-W, Zhang H, Deng X-W, Xiong L. Integration of light and abscisic acid signaling during seed germination and early seedling development. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2008; 105:4495-500.
Role of LysM receptors in chitin-triggered plant innate immunity

Recent research findings clearly indicate that lysin motif (LysM)-containing cell surface receptors are involved in the recognition of specific oligosaccharide elicitors (chitin and peptidoglycan), which trigger an innate immunity response in plants. These receptors are either LysM-containing receptor-like kinases (LYKs) or LysM-containing receptor proteins (LYPs). In Arabidopsis, five LYKs (AtCERK1/AtLYK1 and AtLYK2–5) and three LYPs (AtLYP1–3) are likely expressed on the plasma membrane. In this review, we summarize recent research results on the role of these receptors in plant innate immunity, including the recent structural characterization of AtCERK1 and composition of the various receptor complexes in Arabidopsis.
Translating insights of AR signaling from mouse models

Androgen receptor (AR) signaling plays a critical role in the physiology of the prostate and thus the biology of prostate cancer. Agents targeting the AR pathway have been the mainstay of treatment for patients with locally advanced and metastatic prostate cancer. In this review we will cover the role of androgen signaling in prostate cancer mouse models with an emphasis on how tumorigenic molecular alterations impact response to AR pathway inhibition and downstream AR target gene expression. Both of these concepts have meaningful implications for the management of patients with prostate cancer.
Developments on the horizon in the treatment of neurovascular problems

The field of Interventional Neuroradiology and Endovascular Neurosurgery has seen much technical advancement in the past two decades, which has brought the specialty from its infancy as an alternative therapy to the current standing as near standard of care for many complex neurovascular pathologies. This past year is no exception with flow diverting stents and stent retriever devices aiming to make their mark on advanced treatments for intracranial aneurysms and ischemic stroke, respectively. This review article will focus on the development of these technologies, current data supporting their advantages and limitations, and a brief expert opinion on where these technologies may take the field in the next few years.
Estimation of Residence Time and Transport Trajectory in Tieshangang Bay, China

The pollutant residence time and transport trajectory in Tieshangang Bay are considered to have significant effects on deteriorating water quality. To understand the pollutant transport behaviors in Tieshangang Bay, we developed a combination model (MIKE 21 FM) of the hydrodynamic module and particle tracking module. Simulation results suggest that the water velocities in the west and east troughs (near the entrance of the bay) are distinctly higher than any other areas. Meanwhile, small semi-enclosed bays adjacent to the shoreline could affect local water flow patterns, thereby causing gyres within them. The residence time of pollutants in Tieshangang Bay is significantly affected by seasonal variations (i.e., the residence time of pollutants in Tieshangang Bay in winter is less than that in summer). The results of transport trajectory simulations reveal that the bay head is a slow flushing zone, while the entrance of the bay (west trough) can be identified as a fast flushing zone.
Protein body formation in the endoplasmic reticulum as an evolution of storage protein sorting to vacuoles: insights from maize γ-zein

The albumin and globulin seed storage proteins present in all plants accumulate in storage vacuoles. Prolamins, which are the major proteins in cereal seeds and are present only there, instead accumulate within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) lumen as very large insoluble polymers termed protein bodies. Inter-chain disulfide bonds play a major role in polymerization and insolubility of many prolamins. The N-terminal domain of the maize prolamin 27 kD γ-zein is able to promote protein body formation when fused to other proteins and contains seven cysteine residues involved in inter-chain bonds. We show that progressive substitution of these amino acids with serine residues in full length γ-zein leads to similarly progressive increase in solubility and availability to traffic from the ER along the secretory pathway. Total substitution results in very efficient secretion, whereas the presence of a single cysteine is sufficient to promote partial sorting to the vacuole via a wortmannin-sensitive pathway, similar to the traffic pathway of vacuolar storage proteins. We propose that the mechanism leading to accumulation of prolamins in the ER is a further evolutionary step of the one responsible for accumulation in storage vacuoles.
Energy efficient design techniques for a digital signal processor

Power is often cited as a key design metric for IC designs. However, for many integrated solutions a better measure of design quality is the overall energy efficiency of the design as low power does not always imply high energy efficiency. Many design tradeoffs must be made to balance the often-conflicting goals of high performance, low power, small area and high efficiency. This paper will use the context of a DSP core design to examine a small subset of the full range of design techniques that can be leveraged to directly impact the overall energy efficiency of a design: clock gating and structured clock trees, pulse latches and other multi-bit design structures, 8T vs 6T SRAM arrays, low-voltage retention vs power collapse, aggressive process-variation-aware frequency/voltage scaling with support for both run-fast-and-sleep and just-in-time execution modes, integrated power management solutions.
Coding schemes for line networks

We consider a simple network, where a source and destination node are connected with a line of erasure channels. It is well known that in order to achieve the min-cut capacity, the intermediate nodes are required to process the information. We propose coding schemes for this setting, and discuss each scheme in terms of complexity, delay, achievable rate, memory requirement, and adaptability to unknown channel parameters. We also briefly discuss how these schemes can be extended to more general networks
Preservice Geography Students’ Exposure to Systems Thinking and Cooperative Learning in Environmental Education

Abstract Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a cross-curricular approach that needs to be accommodated in all subjects in the training of students as recommended by UNESCO. This South African case study of preservice geography students is presented for the purpose of understanding how they experienced systems thinking and a cooperative teaching strategy. A qualitative research approach was applied as the research design. Interpretation of the data was done through thematic analysis, which indicated that exposure to the pedagogic approach bore positive results. Teaching and learning strategies promoting the integration of ESD should form part of the training of geography students.
Facial biometrics for 2D barcodes

This paper proposes a novel use of 2D barcodes to store biometric data, in particular for facial recognition, which represents one of the least invasive biometric techniques. To accomplish this, we deploy 2D color barcodes, which allow larger storage capabilities than traditional 2D barcodes. To improve the quality of facial recognition, we combine local feature descriptors, such as SURF descriptors, together with shape landmarks identified through statistical models for discriminating faces. The biometric information can be secured through digital signature algorithms, in order to protect biometric data from malicious tampering. The use of color barcodes is crucial in this setting, as traditional barcodes cannot store a suitable number of SURF descriptors for discriminating faces and cannot even afford to store an additional cryptographic payload. We report the results of an experimental evaluation of our system on real-world data sets (i.e., a face database).
Collision Detection by Networked Sensors

The advances in sensor technologies enable real-time collection of high-fidelity spatiotemporal data on transportation networks of major cities. We consider a set of speed sensors that are spatially distributed along a street and can communicate via an exogenously determined network. In this paper, we address the problem of detecting in real-time collisions that occur within a certain distance from each sensor. The speed sensors observe the average speed value of the cars at regular time intervals and adopt a threshold-based approach to generate local predictions. Each sensor exchanges its local predictions with its neighbors and aggregates the local predictions it receives using a weighted majority aggregation rule to generate a final prediction. Since collisions are eventually reported (e.g., by a police officer or by crowd-sourced information), we assume that the information about the real occurrence of a collision is eventually given to the sensors. We propose an online learning rule that exploits this feedback to adapt the weights that each sensor gives to different local predictions. In the realizable case, i.e., when there exist unknown weights that would allow the sensors to distinguish between collisions and normal traffic behaviors, we determine an upper bound for the worst-case misdetection and false alarm probabilities of our scheme. We evaluate our scheme with traffic datasets collected from the segment of the 405 freeway that passes through Los Angeles County and the results show the efficacy of the proposed approach.
Survey of Grid Generation Methodologies and Scientific Visualization Efforts

Author(s): Hamann, Bernd; Moorhead, Robert J. | Editor(s): Nielson, G. M. ; Hagen, Hans; Muller, H. | Abstract: This survey chapter discusses recent and ongoing projects in grid generation and scientific visualization at the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center for Computational Field Simulation. The chapter provides a brief overview of standard grid generation techniques and summarizes the design requirements and current functionality of the National Grid Project, a universal, interactive grid generation system. Several projects that have led to powerful visualization systems are discussed
Positioner–a method for preventing sleep apnea

Conclusions. A ‘Positioner’ preventing sleeping on the back can effectively reduce obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), but not always snoring for patients with long-term OSA. By preference, the device should be used for younger snorers without OSA as a training tool to avoid sleeping on the back. Instructions and support by a nurse are necessary for compliance. Objectives. Snoring is a progressive condition with a prevalence of 25–30% among the adult male population. Long-term snoring seems to be the basis for apneas caused by vibration damage to the pharyngeal tissue. Patients with OSA often have more apneas in the supine position than in the lateral position. Preventing sleeping on the back is a way to treat OSA. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and comfort of a recently developed Positioner. Subjects and methods. A total of 23 patients diagnosed with positional sleep apnea (AHI>15 in supine position and AHI<5 in lateral position), were included. The Positioner – a soft vest, attached to a board placed under the pillow, makes it impossible for the patient to sleep on his back. It was fitted and tried out individually. Patients answered sleep questionnaires and kept sleep diaries before beginning use. After 3 months, a new sleep study was done while using the Positioner and new questionnaires were filled out. Results. Eighteen patients (5 women and 13 men) completed the study. The rest could not tolerate being strapped into the Positioner. Of those participating, 61% demonstrated a decrease of AHI to<10 using the Positioner. The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) decreased from a mean of 12.3 to 10.2. Half of the patients snored more frequently with the Positioner. The evaluation of comfort showed that minor adjustments are desirable.