Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Feasibility of a Laparoscopic Approach for Generalized Peritonitis from Perforated Appendicitis in Children

Purpose This study evaluated the feasibility of a laparoscopic approach in children with generalized peritonitis secondary to perforated appendicitis. Materials and Methods We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of patients who underwent laparoscopic appendectomy with drainage for generalized peritonitis secondary to perforated appendicitis at our hospital between September 2001 and April 2012. Laparoscopic outcomes were compared with outcomes of an open method for perforated appendicitis. Results Ninety-nine patients underwent laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) for generalized peritonitis from perforated appendicitis, and 87 patients underwent open appendectomy (OA) for perforated appendicitis. Wound infection was more common in the OA group (12.6%) than in the LA group (4.0%; p=0.032). The incidence of intestinal obstruction during long-term follow-up was significantly higher in the OA group (4.6% vs. 0.0% in the LA group; p=0.046). LA was possible in most patients for whom LA was attempted, with a conversion rate of 10.8%. Conversion to OA was affected by the preoperative duration of symptoms and the occurrence of intraoperative complications. Conclusion LA is feasible for use in children with generalized peritonitis from perforated appendicitis, with reasonable open conversion and perioperative complication rates comparable to those of the OA group.
An improved planner for intelligent monitoring of sustainable development of forests

An intelligent system for data fusion of remotely sensed imagery and geographic information, System of Experts for Intelligent Data Management (SEIDAM), incorporates a reasoning system or planner. The planner organizes automatically a collection of image processing, GIS, communications, and data base agents or expert systems. The agents are organized to accomplish a user-specified goal, such as perform a forest inventory update. A new planner, PALERMO/TO, has been developed which is 65% faster than an earlier version. SEIDAM software is available on the web; www.aft. pfc.forestry. ca.
The Efficacy of the BCG Vaccine against Newly Emerging Clinical Strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

To date, most new vaccines against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, including new recombinant versions of the current BCG vaccine, have usually been screened against the laboratory strains H37Rv or Erdman. In this study we took advantage of our recent work in characterizing an increasingly large panel of newly emerging clinical isolates [from the United States or from the Western Cape region of South Africa], to determine to what extent vaccines would protect against these [mostly high virulence] strains. We show here that both BCG Pasteur and recombinant BCG Aeras-422 [used here as a good example of the new generation BCG vaccines] protected well in both mouse and guinea pig low dose aerosol infection models against the majority of clinical isolates tested. However, Aeras-422 was not effective in a long term survival assay compared to BCG Pasteur. Protection was very strongly expressed against all of the Western Cape strains tested, reinforcing our viewpoint that any attempt at boosting BCG would be very difficult to achieve statistically. This observation is discussed in the context of the growing argument made by others that the failure of a recent vaccine trial disqualifies the further use of animal models to predict vaccine efficacy. This viewpoint is in our opinion completely erroneous, and that it is the fitness of prevalent strains in the trial site area that is the centrally important factor, an issue that is not being addressed by the field.
Formation of Large Polysulfide Complexes during the Lithium-Sulfur Battery Discharge

Sulfur cathodes have much larger capacities than transition-metal-oxide cathodes used in commercial lithium-ion batteries but suffer from unsatisfactory capacity retention and long-term cyclability. Capacity degradation originates from soluble lithium polysulfides gradually diffusing into the electrolyte. Understanding of the formation and dynamics of soluble polysulfides during the discharging process at the atomic level remains elusive, which limits further development of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. Here we report first-principles molecular dynamics simulations and density functional calculations, through which the discharging products of Li-S batteries are studied. We find that, in addition to simple Li2Sn (1 n 8) clusters generated from single cyclooctasulfur (S8) rings, large Li-S clusters form by collectively coupling several different rings to minimize the total energy. At high lithium concentration, a Li-S network forms at the sulfur surfaces. The results can explain the formation of the soluble Li-S complex, such as Li2S8, Li2S6, and Li2S4, and the insoluble Li2S2 and Li2S structures. In addition, we show that the presence of oxygen impurities in graphene, particularly oxygen atoms bonded to vacancies and edges, may stabilize the lithium polysulfides that may otherwise diffuse into the electrolyte.
Multilevel Latent Class Analysis: An Application of Adolescent Smoking Typologies With Individual and Contextual Predictors

Latent class analysis (LCA) is a statistical method used to identify subtypes of related cases using a set of categorical or continuous observed variables. Traditional LCA assumes that observations are independent. However, multilevel data structures are common in social and behavioral research and alternative strategies are needed. In this article, a new methodology, multilevel latent class analysis (MLCA), is described and an applied example is presented. Latent classes of cigarette smoking among 10,772 European American females in 9th grade who live in 1 of 206 rural communities across the United States are considered. A parametric and nonparametric approach for estimating an MLCA are presented and both individual and contextual predictors of the smoking typologies are assessed. Both latent class and indicator-specific random effects models are explored. The best model was comprised of 3 Level 1 latent smoking classes (heavy smokers, moderate smokers, nonsmokers), 2 random effects to account for variation in the probability of Level 1 latent class membership across communities, and a random factor for the indicator-specific Level 2 variances. Several covariates at the individual and contextual level were useful in predicting latent classes of cigarette smoking as well as the individual indicators of the latent class model. This article will assist researchers in estimating similar models with their own data.
Risk of Lyme disease: perceptions of residents of a Lone Star tick-infested community.

BACKGROUND Lone Star ticks (Amblyomma americanum) have been suggested as a vector of the agent of Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato) in the USA, based on associations with an infection manifesting mainly as erythema migrans. In laboratory experiments, however, they failed to transmit B. burgdorferi sensu stricto. METHODS In this study, carried out from 1994 to 1996, we determined the seroprevalences of B. burgdorferi (1.2%), Ehrlichia chaffeensis (7%), E. phagocytophila (0%), Rickettsia rickettsii (0%), R. typhi (0%), Coxiella burneti (0%), Francisella tularensis (0%), and Babesia microti (0%) by standard serological methods for 325 residents (97% of the total population) of Gibson Island, coastal Maryland, USA, where 15% of the residents reported having had Lyme disease within a recent 5-year span. FINDINGS Of the 167 seronegative individuals who were followed up prospectively for 235 person-years of observation, only 2 (0.85%) seroconverted for B. burgdorferi. Of 1556 ticks submitted from residents, 95% were identified as Lone Star ticks; only 3% were deer ticks (Ixodes dammini), the main American vector of Lyme disease. B. burgdorferi s.s. infected 20% of host-seeking immature deer ticks, and borreliae ("B. lonestari") were detected in 1-2% of Lone Star ticks. Erythema migrans was noted in 65% of self-reports of Lyme disease, but many such reports indicated that the rash was present while the tick was still attached, suggesting a reaction to the bite itself rather than true Lyme disease. Sera from individuals reporting Lyme disease generally failed to react to B. burgdorferi or any other pathogen antigens. CONCLUSION The residents of Gibson Island had an exaggerated perception of the risk of Lyme disease because they were intensely infested with an aggressively human-biting and irritating nonvector tick. In addition, a Lyme disease mimic of undescribed etiology (named Masters' disease) seems to be associated with Lone Star ticks, and may confound Lyme disease surveillance. The epidemiological and entomological approach used in this study might fruitfully be applied wherever newly emergent tickborne zoonoses have been discovered.
Creating infinite contrast in fluorescence microscopy by using lanthanide centered emission

The popularity of fluorescence microscopy arises from the inherent mode of action, where the fluorescence emission from probes is used to visualize selected features on a presumed dark background. However, the background is rarely truly dark, and image processing and analysis is needed to enhance the fluorescent signal that is ascribed to the selected feature. The image acquisition is facilitated by using considerable illumination, bright probes at a relatively high concentration in order to make the fluorescent signal significantly more intense than the background signal. Here, we present two methods for completely removing the background signal in spectrally resolved fluorescence microscopy. The methodology is applicable for all probes with narrow and well-defined emission bands (Full width half-maximum < 20 nm). Here, we use two lanthanide based probes exploiting the narrow emission lines of europium(III) and terbium(III) ions. We used a model system with zeolites doped with lanthanides immobilized in a polymer stained with several fluorescent dyes regularly used in bioimaging. After smoothing the spectral data recorded in each pixel, they are differentiated. Method I is based on the direct sum of the gradient, while method II resolves the fluorescent signal by subtracting a background calculated via the gradient. Both methods improve signal-to-background ratio significantly and we suggest that spectral imaging of lanthanide-centered emission can be used as a tool to obtain absolute contrast in bioimaging.
Compressive principal component pursuit

We consider the problem of recovering a target matrix that is a superposition of low-rank and sparse components, from a small set of linear measurements. This problem arises in compressed sensing of structured high-dimensional signals such as videos and hyperspectral images, as well as in the analysis of transformation invariant low-rank recovery. We analyze the performance of the natural convex heuristic for solving this problem, under the assumption that measurements are chosen uniformly at random. We prove that this heuristic exactly recovers low-rank and sparse terms, provided the number of observations exceeds the number of intrinsic degrees of freedom of the component signals by a polylogarithmic factor. Our analysis introduces several ideas that may be of independent interest for the more general problem of compressive sensing of superpositions of structured signals.
Evolving changes in lung interstitial fluid content after acute myocardial infarction: mechanisms and pathophysiological correlates.

In acute myocardial infarction (AMI), alveolar interstitium edema is generally attributed to a hydrostatic imbalance. However, inflammatory burden and/or neural/hormonal/hemodynamic stimulation might injure the microvascular endothelium, eliciting interstitial overflow and altering alveolar-capillary gas diffusion. In 118 patients with AMI (ejection fraction >or=50% and wedge pulmonary pressure <16 mmHg), admission alveolar-capillary gas diffusing membrane conductance (DM) averaged 35.1 ml.min(-1). mmHg(-1) and was 27% lower than in 25 controls (P < 0.01). Infusion of saline in the pulmonary circulation (to test sodium exchange across the pulmonary capillary wall) lowered DM by 7.1% (P < 0.01) and was neutral in controls. At 1 wk, 83 patients that showed DM improvement >5% were assigned to group 1, and 28 patients with DM worsening >5% were assigned to group 2. Saline retained efficacy in group 2 and had no DM effect in group 1 (supporting a link between changes in baseline DM and those in microvascular salt exchange). Ventricular function was unchanged in group 1, whereas group 2 had developed diastolic dysfunction. At 1 yr, 3% of cases in group 1 and 37% of cases in group 2 had alveolar edema. Thus, AMI is frequently associated with abnormal pulmonary microvascular sodium transport/water conductance that, in the case of ventricular dysfunction supervenience, may persist and worsen the outcome. In 37 AMI similar patients and 11 control subjects, nitric oxide overexpression with l-arginine improved baseline DM and in AMI patients prevented DM reduction by saline, suggesting a mechanistic role of an impaired nitric oxide pathway in the microvascular barrier dysfunction.
SOLUTION TESTS OF CORROSION-INHIBITING ADMIXTURES FOR REINFORCED CONCRETE

As a potential solution to the mounting problem of corrosion deterioration of structures, corrosion-inhibiting admixtures have been studied and introduced into service. This report conveys the results of a lab study of corrosion-inhibiting admixtures for concrete. The commercial corrosion-inhibiting admixtures for concrete have been analyzed by short-term pore solution immersion tests. Each product has been evaluated solely in comparison with the performance of untreated systems. Direct comparison of competitive products is neither attempted nor intended.
On the interdependencies between voice quality, glottal gaps, and voice-source related acoustic measures

In human speech production, the voice source contains important non-lexical information, especially relating to a speaker’s voice quality. In this study, direct measurements of the glottal area waveforms were used to examine the effects of voice quality and glottal gaps on voice source model parameters and various acoustic measures. Results showed that the open quotient parameter, cepstral peak prominence (CPP) and most spectral tilt measures were affected by both voice quality and glottal gaps, while the asymmetry parameter was predominantly affected by voice quality, especially of the breathy type. This was also the case with the harmonic-to-noise ratio measures, indicating the presence of more spectral noise for breathy phonations. Analysis showed that the acoustic measure H1 − H2 was correlated with both the open quotient and asymmetry source parameters, which agrees with existing theoretical studies. Index Terms: voice source, voice quality, acoustic measures
The evolutionary and ecological roots of human social organization

Social organization among human foragers is characterized by a three-generational system of resource provisioning within families, long-term pair-bonding between men and women, high levels of cooperation between kin and non-kin, and relatively egalitarian social relationships. In this paper, we suggest that these core features of human sociality result from the learning- and skill-intensive human foraging niche, which is distinguished by a late age-peak in caloric production, high complementarity between male and female inputs to offspring viability, high gains to cooperation in production and risk-reduction, and a lack of economically defensible resources. We present an explanatory framework for understanding variation in social organization across human societies, highlighting the interactive effects of four key ecological and economic variables: (i) the role of skill in resource production; (ii) the degree of complementarity in male and female inputs into production; (iii) economies of scale in cooperative production and competition; and (iv) the economic defensibility of physical inputs into production. Finally, we apply this framework to understanding variation in social and political organization across foraging, horticulturalist, pastoralist and agriculturalist societies.
Microstructural Design of Multiphase Advanced High Strength Steels

Abstract The properties of multiphase (MP) Advanced High Strength Steels (DP, TRIP, TWIP) are controlled by dispersed non-ferritic phases (NFP), which can be quenched martensite, deformation-induced martensite, retained austenite or twinned austenite. The yield strength, work hardening and ductility of these steels are determined by the volume fraction, carbon content, scale and spatial distribution of the NFP. This paper summarizes recently published results on the effects of microstructure on the tensile properties of DP and TRIP steels and discusses these observations in terms of micromechanisms of plastic yielding, work hardening and fracture. For DP steels, all three properties are enhanced by developing a fine, uniform distribution of NFP grains. For TRIP steels, the volume fraction of hard NFP increases continuously with strain and the tensile properties are strongly influenced by the rate of austenite transformation (RA stability). RA stability increases with increasing carbon content, decreasing dimensions of RAislands and with increasing strength of the surrounding phase. An optimum combination of RA transformation rate and high strength/hardening is obtained with a TRIP microstructure comprising intercritical ferrite grains + granular bainite.
LABERINTO at ImageCLEF 2012 Medical Image Retrieval Task

This paper shows the experimentation and the results obtained for LABERINTO research group at the ImageCLEF 2012 medical task. We focus our work on image retrieval based on textual information related to the image. Last year we demonstrated that query expansion exploiting the hierarchical structure of the MeSH descriptors achieved a significant improvement in image retrieval systems. This year our goal is to improve the results obtained last year adding a relevance factor to the query terms. In addition, we have developed a new strategy combining the expansion strategy based on the hierarchical MeSH structure with another expansion strategy very popular among researchers in this field, where the query terms are expanded using MMTx program. The experiments carried out have shown that a relevance factor for the query terms achieves a significant improvement for the results of the different expansion strategies.
Axial Compressive Behavior of Single-Stage Bellows of TiNi Shape Memory Alloy for Seismic Applications

The bellows formed of TiNi shape memory alloy (SMA) is proposed as a new type of seismic protection device. The bellows structure is known to have lower rigidity along the axial direction through effect of its shape. TiNi is known to be one of the most typical SMAs, which have high damping characteristics for dynamics engaged in its twin formation under martensite state and have the ability to recover completely from the large strain after unloaded and or heated. In this study, fundamental compressive behavior of TiNi bellows was investigated and discussed. Several shapes of TiNi single-stage bellows produced by rubber bulge method were prepared. They were heat-treated for some heat treatments and then examined on compression tests. Based on the results, the relationships among the bellows shapes and the stiffness, energy-absorbing capacity and so on were clarified. Finally, it was found from these results that single-stage bellows of TiNi SMA could be used as one of seismic protection devices.
Direct Kalman Filtering of GPS / INS for Aerospace Applications

In integrated navigation systems Kalman filters are widely used to increase the accuracy and reliability of the navigation solution. Usually, an indirect Kalman filter formulation is applied to estimate the errors of an INS strapdown algorithm (SDA), which are used to correct the SDA. In contrast to that, in the direct Kalman filter formulation total quantities like position, velocity and attitude are among the state variables of the filter, which allows them to be estimated directly. This contribution investigates the influence of these two different approaches of Kalman filtering on the overall system performance of a loosely coupled GPS/INS system for aerospace applications. Both filter formulations were implemented and compared via Monte Carlo simulation runs with focus on the accuracy of the estimated inertial sensor biases and on GPS drop out situations. We found a comparable performance of both navigation algorithms concerning attitude and position errors as well as inertial sensor bias estimation as long as GPS aiding was available. However, the simulation results indicate a superior performance of the direct Kalman filter formulation in GPS drop out situations, which can by explained by the way the inertial measurements are processed.
TCF7L2 Genotype and α-Cell Function in Humans Without Diabetes

The diabetes-associated allele in TCF7L2 increases the rate of conversion to diabetes; however, the mechanism by which this occurs remains elusive. We hypothesized that the diabetes-associated allele in this locus (rs7903146) impairs insulin secretion and that this defect would be exacerbated by acute free fatty acid (FFA)–induced insulin resistance. We studied 120 individuals of whom one-half were homozygous for the diabetes-associated allele TT at rs7903146 and one-half were homozygous for the protective allele CC. After a screening examination during which glucose tolerance status was determined, subjects were studied on two occasions in random order while undergoing an oral challenge. During one study day, FFA was elevated by infusion of Intralipid plus heparin. On the other study day, subjects received the same amount of glycerol as present in the Intralipid infusion. β-Cell responsivity indices were estimated with the oral C-peptide minimal model. We report that β-cell responsivity was slightly impaired in the TT genotype group. Moreover, the hyperbolic relationship between insulin secretion and β-cell responsivity differed significantly between genotypes. Subjects also exhibited impaired suppression of glucagon after an oral challenge. These data imply that a genetic variant harbored within the TCF7L2 locus impairs glucose tolerance through effects on glucagon as well as on insulin secretion.
K One Hand Gesture Recognition

- Sign language is the most natural and expressive way for the hearing impaired. Its most appealing application is the development of more effective and friendly interfaces for human-machine interaction. Gestures are a natural and powerful way of communication. A hand gesture recognition system can provide an opportunity for a mute person to communicate with normal people without the need of an interpreter. We proposed use to the finite state machine with key frame selection facility and gesture trajectory features for one hand gesture recognition. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed scheme for recognizing One Handed American Sign Language.