Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Relationship of Myocardial Collagen Metabolism and Reverse Remodeling after Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy

Summary Background: In the majority of patients with a wide QRS complex and heart failure resistant to optimal medical therapy, cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) leads to rever se ventricular remodeling and possibly to changes in cardiac collagen synthesis and degradation. We investigated the relationship of biomarkers of myocardial collagen meta bolism and volumetric response to CRT. Methods: We prospectively studied 46 heart failure patients (mean age 61±9 years, 87% male) who underwent CRT im plantation. Plasma concentrations of amino-terminal pro peptide type I (PINP), a marker of collagen synthesis, and carboxy-terminal collagen telopeptide (CITP), a marker of collagen degradation, were measured before and 6 months after CRT. Response to CRT was defined as 15% or greater reduction in left ventricular end-systolic volume at 6-month follow-up. Results: Baseline PINP levels showed a negative correlation with both left ventricular end-diastolic volume (r=−0.51; p=0.032), and end-systolic diameter (r=−0.47; p=0.049). After 6 months of device implantation, 28 patients (61%) responded to CRT. No significant differences in the base-line levels of PINP and CITP between responders and nonresponders were observed (p>0.05 for both). During follow-up, responders demonstrated a significant increase in serum PINP level from 31.37±18.40 to 39.2±19.19 μg/L (p=0.049), whereas in non-responders serum PINP levels did not significantly change (from 28.12±21.55 to 34.47±18.64 μg/L; p=0.125). There were no significant changes in CITP levels in both responders and non-responders (p>0.05). Conclusions: Left ventricular reverse remodeling induced by CRT is associated with an increased collagen synthesis in the first 6 months of CRT implantation.
A retrieval algorithm for aerosol optical depth from MODIS multi-spatial scale data based on mutual information

A retrieval algorithm for AOD from MODIS multi-spatial scale data with 1km × 1km, 500m × 500m and 250m × 250m resolution based on mutual information (MI) is proposed. The concept of mutual information represents a measure of relative entropy between two sets. In this algorithm, an interpolation formula based on the maximal MI which is used to transform low resolution image into high resolution image is constructed. Then, the AOD with 500m × 500m and 250m × 250m resolution which are over Heihe Watershed, in Gansu province, China, on 5th July, 2008 are retrieved from TERRA and AQUA MODIS data. Compared with the 500m × 500m AOD retrieved by multi-satellite algorithm directly, the AOD with 500m × 500m resolution got by the MI algorithm is coincident with absolute error between 0.02–0.03. Preliminary validation result comparing with AERONET measured data shows good accuracy and promising potential. The Further research work is ongoing.
CETP Inhibitors - A New Inning?

Former baseball manager Tony La Russa once said, “Even when you have three strikes, you’re still not out. There is always something else you can do. ” This aphorism could apply to cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) inhibitors, a drug class that was designed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by raising plasma levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. However, when the first three CETP inhibitors were added to background statin therapy, their use either paradoxically increased the risk of cardiovascular disease and death (in the case of torcetrapib1) or had neutral outcomes (dalcetrapib2 and evacetrapib3). These three strikes, combined .
The Effect of Antihypertensive Drugs on Endothelial Function as Assessed by Flow-Mediated Vasodilation in Hypertensive Patients

Endothelial dysfunction is found in hypertensive patients and may serve as a prognostic marker of future cardiovascular events. Endothelial function can be assessed noninvasively by flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD). The goal of this paper is to summarize comprehensively the clinical trials that investigated the effects of antihypertensive drugs on endothelial function assessed by FMD in hypertensive patients. A PubMed-based search found 38 clinical trial papers published from January 1999 to June 2011. Significant improvement of FMD after antihypertensive treatment was shown in 43 of 71 interventions (among 38 clinical trial papers). Angiotensin II receptor blockers and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors appeared to improve FMD more than other drug types. Antihypertensive treatment can improve endothelial dysfunction when assessed by FMD, although there are conflicting data that require further research.
Improved tumor staging in colorectal cancer.

Successful treatment is available for many neoplasms, but patients with cancer often die despite therapy because of a disseminated tumor that was not detected at the time of diagnosis. Surgery alone is sometimes enough to cure a patient with a solid tumor, but many patients who relapse might have been cured if they had been given additional treatment, such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy. The selection of patients who would benefit most from adjuvant therapy is crucial because of the side effects of the additional treatment. Colorectal cancer is perhaps the best example of a neoplasm in which stage and prognosis .
Physiological response of the cold-water coral Desmophyllum dianthus to thermal stress and ocean acidification

Rising temperatures and ocean acidification driven by anthropogenic carbon emissions threaten both tropical and temperate corals. However, the synergistic effect of these stressors on coral physiology is still poorly understood, in particular for cold-water corals. This study assessed changes in key physiological parameters (calcification, respiration and ammonium excretion) of the widespread cold-water coral Desmophyllum dianthus maintained for ∼8 months at two temperatures (ambient 12 °C and elevated 15 °C) and two pCO2 conditions (ambient 390 ppm and elevated 750 ppm). At ambient temperatures no change in instantaneous calcification, respiration or ammonium excretion rates was observed at either pCO2 levels. Conversely, elevated temperature (15 °C) significantly reduced calcification rates, and combined elevated temperature and pCO2 significantly reduced respiration rates. Changes in the ratio of respired oxygen to excreted nitrogen (O:N), which provides information on the main sources of energy being metabolized, indicated a shift from mixed use of protein and carbohydrate/lipid as metabolic substrates under control conditions, to less efficient protein-dominated catabolism under both stressors. Overall, this study shows that the physiology of D. dianthus is more sensitive to thermal than pCO2 stress, and that the predicted combination of rising temperatures and ocean acidification in the coming decades may severely impact this cold-water coral species.
Mucus secretion by single tracheal submucosal glands from normal and cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator knockout mice

Submucosal glands line the cartilaginous airways and produce most of the antimicrobial mucus that keeps the airways sterile. The glands are defective in cystic fibrosis (CF), but how this impacts airway health remains uncertain. Although most CF mouse strains exhibit mild airway defects, those with the C57Bl/6 genetic background have increased airway pathology and susceptibility to Pseudomonas. Thus, they offer the possibility of studying whether, and if so how, abnormal submucosal gland function contributes to CF airway disease. We used optical methods to study fluid secretion by individual glands in tracheas from normal, wild‐type (WT) mice and from cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) knockout mice (Cftrm1UNC/Cftrm1UNC; CF mice). Glands from WT mice qualitatively resembled those in humans by responding to carbachol and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), although the relative rates of VIP‐ and forskolin‐stimulated secretion were much lower in mice than in large mammals. The pharmacology of mouse gland secretion was also similar to that in humans; adding bumetanide or replacement of HCO3− by Hepes reduced the carbachol response by ∼50%, and this inhibition increased to 80% when both manoeuvres were performed simultaneously. It is important to note that glands from CFTR knockout mice responded to carbachol but did not secrete when exposed to VIP or forskolin, as has been shown previously for glands from CF patients. Tracheal glands from WT and CF mice both had robust secretory responses to electrical field stimulation that were blocked by tetrodotoxin. It is interesting that local irritation of the mucosa using chili pepper oil elicited secretion from WT glands but did not stimulate glands from CF mice. These results clarify the mechanisms of murine submucosal gland secretion and reveal a novel defect in local regulation of glands lacking CFTR which may also compromise airway defence in CF patients.
Hybrid GA-SVM for Efficient Feature Selection in E-mail Classification

Feature selection is a problem of global combinator ial optimization in machine learning in which subse ts of relevant features are selected to realize robust le arning models. The inclusion of irrelevant and redu ndant features in the dataset can result in poor predicti ons and high computational overhead. Thus, selectin g relevant feature subsets can help reduce the comput ational cost of feature measurement, speed up learn ing process and improve model interpretability. SVM classifier has proven inefficient in its inability to produce accurate classification results in the face of larg e e-mail dataset while it also consumes a lot of computational resources. In this study, a Genetic A lgorithm-Support Vector Machine (GA-SVM) feature selection technique is developed to optimize the SV M classification parameters, the prediction accurac y and computation time. Spam assassin dataset was used to validate the performance of the proposed syste m. The hybrid GA-SVM showed remarkable improvements over SVM in terms of classification accuracy and computation time.
When three worlds collide: a model of the tangible interaction process

The design of Tangible Interfaces has already evolved since the first projects were developed. Frameworks and taxonomies have helped to understand the field of Tangible Interaction. But nevertheless the mental models of the interaction process with Tangible Interfaces seems to be surprisingly diverse. In this paper we present a comprehensive and generic model for interaction with the digital world through physical objects. Our goal is to model the complete process of interaction, to analyse existing design approaches using the model, and to gain a generic design aid for Tangible Interaction.
Visual Configuration in Automotive Software Product Lines

Software product line engineering has emerged as a viable and important software development paradigm in the automotive industry. It allows companies to realise significant improvements in time-to-market, cost, productivity, and system quality. One major difficulty with software product line engineering is related to the fact that a product line of industrial size can easily incorporate thousands of variation points. This scale of variability can become extremely complex to manage resulting in a product configuration process that bears significant costs. This paper introduces a meta-model and research tool that employs visualisation and interaction techniques to improve product configuration in high-variability product lines. The meta-model and techniques utilised are illustrated using an automotive restraint system example.
The accuracy of distance measurements in solid-state NMR.

The accuracy with which distances can be measured using dipolar recoupling experiments in solid-state NMR is investigated. The relative precision of experiments in a three spin system versus an isolated spin pair is found to depend very strongly on the nature of the coupling Hamiltonian. The accuracy of distances measured in even the simplified three spin system is seen to be very poor for existing homonuclear recoupling Hamiltonians. This suggests that it would be difficult to exploit broadband homonuclear recoupling to measure geometrical information reliably in complex spin systems. These conclusions apply equally to both single-crystal studies and powder samples. In contrast, the presence of additional spins has marginal impact on the accuracy when the coupling Hamiltonians commute with each other, as in the case of heteronuclear recoupling. The possibility of creating such a Hamiltonian for homonuclear recoupling using a suitable rotor-synchronized pulse sequence is discussed.
Modeling Colloid Transport in Unsaturated Porous Media and Validation with Laboratory Column Data

Colloidal particles can act as carriers to enhance the transport of contaminants in porous media by reducing retardation effects. When colloids are present, especially in the vadose zone, the system can be treated as consisting of four phases: an aqueous phase, the stationary soild matrix phase, a carrier (colloidal particles) phase, and a stagnant air phase. In the work reported a mathematical model based on mass balance equations was developed to describe the transport and fate of colloids in an unsaturated porous medium. Colloidal particles can sorb onto the air-water interface as well as to the solid matrix surfaces. Colloid/matrix mass transfer rate is represented by first-order kinetics, while the colloid/air-water interface mass transfer mechanism is formulated by second-order kinetics. The model was applied to simulate the migration of colloids through an unsaturated finite column. Numerical solutions were obtained to provide estimates of colloidal concentrations. A sensitivity analysis of the transport model was utilized to assess the effect of several parameters on model behavior. The aqueous phase colloid concentration is quite sensitive to changes in the rate coefficient of colloidal deposition on the solid matrix. However, the colloidal capture on the air-water interface is affected by the fraction of air-water interface available for particle deposition as well as by the rate coefficient of colloidal capture on the air-water interface, k3. As k3 increases, the available sorption site reduces quickly. Furthermore, increasing colloidal sorption capacity significantly retards the colloidal migration. The model results match successfully with experimental data of Wan and Wilson [1994a] and Wan et al. [1994]. A comparison between the breakthrough curves of hydrophobic and hydrophilic colloids suggests that the hydrophobic colloids have less affinity for both solid matrix and the air-water interface. Experimental data and model results show that the presence of the air-water interface retards the colloid transport very significantly. Finally, the proposed model is extended to simulate the colloid transport under transient water flow conditions. Simulations show that aqueous phase colloid concentration varies along the column following a trend similar to the saturation profile for both hydrophobic and hydrophilic colloids. However, the migration profile of hydrophilic colloid suspension is faster than the hydrophobic one.
Staying Close to a Curve

Given a point set S and a polygonal curve P in R, we study the problem of finding a polygonal curve through S, which has minimum Frechet distance to P . We present an efficient algorithm to solve the decision version of this problem in O(nk) time, where n and k represent the sizes of P and S, respectively. A curve minimizing the Frechet distance can be computed in O(nk log(nk)) time. As a by-product, we improve the map matching algorithm of Alt et al. by an O(log k) factor for the case when the map is a complete graph.
Salt-induced increase in arterial pressure during nitric oxide synthesis inhibition.

The objective of this study was to determine in conscious dogs the role of endothelium-derived nitric oxide in mediating the arterial pressure and renal response to a prolonged increment of sodium intake. After a control period of 3 days, an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthesis, NG-nitro-L-arginine-methyl ester, was infused intravenously during 5 consecutive days (0.1 micrograms/kg per minute). Sodium intake (80 mmol/d) did not change throughout the experiment in one group (n = 4). In another group (n = 6), 1 day after infusion of this inhibitor was started, sodium intake increased from 80 to 300 mmol/d during 4 consecutive days. Inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis in dogs with normal sodium intake induced a significant decrease in natriuresis and diuresis (P < .05) without changes in arterial pressure. However, in dogs treated with the nitric oxide synthesis inhibitor, mean arterial pressure increased from 95.2 +/- 3.3 to 106.2 +/- 4.0 mm Hg (P < .01) the first day that sodium intake was elevated and remained increased the following 3 days. In a different group of dogs (n = 5), the increment of sodium intake during 4 days did not induce changes in arterial pressure when nitric oxide synthesis was not inhibited. Cumulative sodium balance was higher (P < .01) in dogs treated simultaneously with the nitric oxide synthesis inhibitor and high sodium intake (158 +/- 21 mmol sodium) than in those treated only with the nitric oxide synthesis inhibitor (82 +/- 19 mmol sodium) or with high sodium intake (36 +/- 13 mmol sodium). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Evaluation on FPGA of triple rail logic robustness against DPA and DEMA

Side channel attacks are known to be efficient techniques to retrieve secret data. In this context, this paper concerns the evaluation of the robustness of triple rail logic against power and electromagnetic analyses on FPGA devices. More precisely, it aims at demonstrating that the basic concepts behind triple rail logic are valid and may provide interesting design guidelines to get DPA resistant circuits which are also more robust against DEMA.
MIMO Multiuser Precoding System using Weighted MMSE Prefilter and Vector Perturbation

In this paper, we propose a new jointly optimized linear prefilter and nonlinear vector perturbation approach to the multiple transmit multiple receive (MIMO)-multiuser (MU) precoder system. As a closest lattice point search problem in the vector perturbation based method, the suboptimal QRD-M is used. For the prefilter design, the weighted MMSE criterion is used. Simulation results show that the proposed jointly weighted optimized linear prefilter with nonlinear perturbation vectors can achieve better BER performance
The fractal geometry of the soil—covered landscape

The soil-covered landscape surface can be idealized from two viewpoints. The intuitive view is of a smooth, absolutely continuous surface with continuous contour lines and measurable in integral dimensions. The alternative view emphasizes the roughness, a surface of little regularity and at the limit of no contours, the appropriate measure being that of fractional Hausdorff dimension. Regularity is a local property and both idealizations need to stop far short of the limit to avoid awkward consequences. The dichotomy of viewpoint can be matched in the theory of Gaussian random fields. These, if they are smooth, are very smooth but if they are irregular they are highly irregular (erratic); there is no middle ground. This Belayev dichotomy is defined and both modes applied to the soil-covered landscape. On the one hand, if the landscape is subject to a general diffusive type degradation or more generally a Davisian downwasting regime then the curvature of the landscape surface is progressively straightened and the distribution of gradient (increments) along a typical traverse will eventually adopt a Gaussian form. Then from the irregular viewpoint the surface is ultimately well represented by a fractional Brownian surface of low Hausdorff dimension (2·0 < dim < 2·3). The Hausdorff dimension is directly related to the entropy of the landscape and as degradation proceeds both quantities decrease in value. On the other hand, if the surface is regarded as smooth and well represented by an absolutely continuous Gaussian field then the mean value of the number of upcrossings of a level or the extent of an excursion set will also be Gaussian. This analysis is restricted to one dimension; the number of times a profile curve crosses or the amount of time it spends above any given level. Predictions from both viewpoints are substantially corroborated in a map analysis of 15 sites on varied terrains in Southern England and the map analysis checked against one based upon digital tape data for one of the sites.
Epidemiologic Aspects on Low-Back Pain in Industry

The role of epidemiology with respect to back pain in industry is to clarify the natural history and clinical course of the pain and to identify workplace factors and individual factors of importance. On the basis of knowledge-obtained through epidemiologic research, preventive measures can be instituted and risk factors eliminated. This paper reviews epidemiologic data accumulated over the past 30 years. The impact of back conditions on industry is emphasized.
A big data approach to acoustic model training corpus selection

Deep neural networks (DNNs) have recently become the state of the art technology in speech recognition systems. In this paper we propose a new approach to constructing large high quality unsupervised sets to train DNN models for large vocabulary speech recognition. The core of our technique consists of two steps. We first redecode speech logged by our production recognizer with a very accurate (and hence too slow for real-time usage) set of speech models to improve the quality of ground truth transcripts used for training alignments. Using confidence scores, transcript length and transcript flattening heuristics designed to cull salient utterances from three decades of speech per language, we then carefully select training data sets consisting of up to 15K hours of speech to be used to train acoustic models without any reliance on manual transcription. We show that this approach yields models with approximately 18K context dependent states that achieve 10% relative improvement in large vocabulary dictation and voice-search systems for Brazilian Portuguese, French, Italian and Russian languages.
In vivo magnetomotive optical molecular imaging using targeted magnetic nanoprobes

Dynamic magnetomotion of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) detected with magnetomotive optical coherence tomography (MM-OCT) represents a new methodology for contrast enhancement and therapeutic interventions in molecular imaging. In this study, we demonstrate in vivo imaging of dynamic functionalized iron oxide MNPs using MM-OCT in a preclinical mammary tumor model. Using targeted MNPs, in vivo MM-OCT images exhibit strong magnetomotive signals in mammary tumor, and no significant signals were measured from tumors of rats injected with nontargeted MNPs or saline. The results of in vivo MM-OCT are validated by MRI, ex vivo MM-OCT, Prussian blue staining of histological sections, and immunohistochemical analysis of excised tumors and internal organs. The MNPs are antibody functionalized to target the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2 neu) protein. Fc-directed conjugation of the antibody to the MNPs aids in reducing uptake by macrophages in the reticulo-endothelial system, thereby increasing the circulation time in the blood. These engineered magnetic nanoprobes have multifunctional capabilities enabling them to be used as dynamic contrast agents in MM-OCT and MRI.