Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strength of evidence for perioperative use of statins to reduce cardiovascular risk: systematic review of controlled studies

Objective To determine the strength of evidence underlying recommendations for use of statins during the perioperative period to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events. Design Systematic review of studies with concurrent control groups. Data sources Four electronic databases, the references of identified studies, international experts on perioperative medicine, and the authors of the primary studies. Review methods Two reviewers independently extracted data from studies that reported acute coronary syndromes or mortality in patients receiving or not receiving statins during the perioperative period. Main outcome measure Random effects summary odds ratios for death or acute coronary syndrome during the perioperative period. Results 18 studies—two randomised trials (n=177), 15 cohort studies (n=799 632), and one case-control study (n=480)—assessed whether statins provide perioperative cardiovascular protection; 12 studies enrolled patients undergoing non-cardiac vascular surgery, four enrolled patients undergoing coronary bypass surgery, and two enrolled patients undergoing various surgical procedures. In the randomised trials the summary odds ratio for death or acute coronary syndrome during the perioperative period with statin use was 0.26 (95% confidence interval 0.07 to 0.99) and the summary odds ratio in the cohort studies was 0.70 (0.57 to 0.87). Although the pooled cohort data provided a statistically significant result, statins were not randomly allocated, results in retrospective studies were larger (odds ratio 0.65, 0.50 to 0.84) than those in the prospective cohorts (0.91, 0.65 to 1.27), and dose, duration, and safety of statin use was not reported. Conclusion The evidence base for routine administration of statins to reduce perioperative cardiovascular risk is inadequate.
Group visits improve metabolic control in type 2 diabetes: a 2-year follow-up.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether group visits, delivered as routine diabetes care and structured according to a systemic education approach, are more effective than individual consultations in improving metabolic control in non-insulin-treated type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS In a randomized controlled clinical trial of 112 patients, 56 patients were allocated to groups of 9 or 10 individuals who participated in group consultations, and 56 patients (considered control subjects) underwent individual visits plus support education. All visits were scheduled every 3 months. RESULTS After 2 years, HbA(1c) levels were lower in patients seen in groups than in control subjects (P < 0.002). Levels of HDL cholesterol had increased in patients seen in groups but had not increased in control subjects (P = 0.045). BMI (P = 0.06) and fasting triglyceride level (P = 0.053) were lower. Patients participating in group visits had improved knowledge of diabetes (P < 0.001) and quality of life (P < 0.001) and experienced more appropriate health behaviors (P < 0.001). Physicians spent less time seeing 9-10 patients as a group rather than individually, but patients had longer interaction with health care providers. CONCLUSIONS Group consultations may improve metabolic control in the medium term by inducing more appropriate health behaviors. They are feasible in everyday clinical practice without increasing working hours.
Review of NoSQL databases and performance testing on HBase

NoSQL (Not Only SQL) is the generic term of a kind of non-relational database products. This paper, firstly, lists the disadvantages of traditional relational databases, introduces NoSQL databases including their advantages, disadvantages and their application status. Then, a comparison is made between NoSQL databases and SQL database, also another comparison between different NoSQL products. Finally, we introduce the architecture and data model of HBase database, which is a representative of NoSQL databases, and did some performance tests on HBase database, including the column family test, the sort test, the random read/write test and the query test. Test results show that written and query speed of HBase is slow under a single machine environment, but can be significantly improved in multimachine cluster environment.
Stability of the extended 3-D LOD-FDTD including lumped elements

Stability of the extended three-dimensional locally one-dimensional finite difference time domain (LOD-FDTD) including lumped elements is analyzed in this paper, and three common elements are investigated: resistor, capacitor, and inductor. The elements are inserted into the LOD-FDTD in the explicit, semi-implicit and implicit schemes. Stability analysis shows that the extended LOD-FDTD methods are unconditionally stable in the semi-implicit and implicit schemes, whereas, it is conditionally stable in the explicit scheme, and its stability criterion depends on both the values of the element and the mesh sizes. Finally, a simple microstrip circuit including an inductor is simulated in the extended LOD-FDTD to demonstrate the validity of the stability analysis.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex detected by modified fluorescent in situ hybridization in lymph nodes of clinical samples.

INTRODUCTION Lymph node tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of extrapulmonary tuberculosis and is the most frequently identified type in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Conventional diagnosis has serious limitations for rapid detection of extrapulmonary tuberculosis in clinical samples. Here PCR and modified FISH have been tested as complementary diagnosis methods for extrapulmonary tuberculosis. METHODOLOGY The specific insertion sequence IS6110 for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex was used to perform PCR and build DNA and PNA FISH probes (20bp). PCR and modified DNA and PNA FISH assays were performed to evaluate 41 lymph node paraffin-embedded tissue samples, in comparison with the histopathology diagnosis, which was considered the gold standard (22 positive and 19 negative). RESULTS In comparison with histopathology diagnosis PCR showed 62.5 % sensitivity and 77.8 % specificity (χ(2) = 4.583 p < 0.05). Modified DNA FISH showed 71.4% sensitivity and 84.6% specificity (χ(2) = 11.21 p < 0.05). PNA FISH showed 66.7% sensitivity and 60.0% specificity (χ(2) = 2.93 p > 0.05). Ziehl Neelsen stain was positive in only four cases of 22 lymph node samples positive to histopathology. In contrast, PCR and modified DNA FISH were positive in 20 cases of the same group. The negative cases were coincident in all tests. CONCLUSIONS PCR and DNA FISH showed a significant increase in the number of cases detected and also showed higher sensitivity and specificity compared with data reported by traditional methodology. In developing countries, these techniques could help to complement the early diagnosis and timely treatment of extrapulmonary tuberculosis.
Violations of Real Time Communication Constraints caused by Memory Transfers exceeding CPU Cache Limits in RTAI and RTnet

Standard Linux is not able to assure real-time guarantees for applications. Several extensions, which permit the use of Linux in real-time systems, have been proposed in the past. The paper focuses on RTAI, which runs standard Linux as low-priority task within a separate real-time kernel. The open source protocol stack RTnet provides deterministic communication over non-deterministic media like Ethernet. While measurements proved that RTAI and RTnet are able to meet deadlines under high CPU loads, memory interactions invalidate real-time constraints when more data than physical CPU caches can handle is transferred at once.
Characterization of chaotic dynamics in the vocalization of Cervus elaphus corsicanus.

Chaos, oscillations, instabilities, and intermittency represent only some nonlinear examples apparent in the natural world. These phenomena appear in any field of study, and advances in complex and nonlinear dynamic techniques bring about opportunities to better understand animal signals. In this work an analysis method is suggested based on the characterization of the vocal-fold dynamics by means of the nonlinear time-series analysis, and by the computations of the parameters typical of chaotic oscillations: Attractor reconstruction, spectrum of Lyapunov exponents, and maximum Lyapunov exponent were used to reconstruct the dynamic of the vocal folds. Identifying a sort of vocal fingerprint can be useful in biodiversity monitoring and understanding the health status of a given animal. This method was applied to the vocalization of the Cervus elaphus corsicanus, the Sardinian red deer.
Compensatory phospholipid digestion is required for cholesterol absorption in pancreatic phospholipase A(2)-deficient mice.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Numerous studies have suggested phospholipid inhibition of dietary cholesterol absorption through the gastrointestinal tract. This study addressed the importance of luminal phospholipid hydrolysis in this process. METHODS The effect of phospholipase inhibition on cholesterol transport from intestinal lumen to the lymphatics was evaluated in lymph fistula rats. Cholesterol and phospholipid absorption efficiency in intact animals was evaluated in control and phospholipase A(2) (PLA2) gene-targeted mice. RESULTS The PLA2 inhibitor FPL 67047XX retarded cholesterol absorption in a lymph fistula rat model. Under basal chow-fed dietary conditions, cholesterol absorption efficiency from a single bolus meal, and plasma lipid levels, were similar among PLA2+/+, PLA2+/-, and PLA2-/- mice. Interestingly, the nonhydrolyzable phospholipid dioleoyl ether phosphatidylcholine suppressed cholesterol absorption by 10% to 18% in mice without regard to their PLA2 genotype. When 1-palmitoyl-2-[(14)C]oleoyl-phosphatidylcholine was used as the substrate, the radiolabeled phospholipid was found to be hydrolyzed and absorbed with equal efficiency in PLA2+/+, PLA2+/-, and PLA2-/- mice. CONCLUSIONS These results suggested that although phospholipid digestion in the intestinal lumen is a prerequisite for efficient cholesterol absorption, additional enzyme(s) can compensate for pancreatic PLA2 in catalyzing phospholipid digestion and facilitating cholesterol absorption in PLA2 knockout mice.
Stimulation of stop codon readthrough: frequent presence of an extended 3′ RNA structural element

In Sindbis, Venezuelan equine encephalitis and related alphaviruses, the polymerase is translated as a fusion with other non-structural proteins via readthrough of a UGA stop codon. Surprisingly, earlier work reported that the signal for efficient readthrough comprises a single cytidine residue 3′-adjacent to the UGA. However, analysis of variability at synonymous sites revealed strikingly enhanced conservation within the ∼150 nt 3′-adjacent to the UGA, and RNA folding algorithms revealed the potential for a phylogenetically conserved stem–loop structure in the same region. Mutational analysis of the predicted structure demonstrated that the stem–loop increases readthrough by up to 10-fold. The same computational analysis indicated that similar RNA structures are likely to be relevant to readthrough in certain plant virus genera, notably Furovirus, Pomovirus, Tobravirus, Pecluvirus and Benyvirus, as well as the Drosophilia gene kelch. These results suggest that 3′ RNA stimulatory structures feature in a much larger proportion of readthrough cases than previously anticipated, and provide a new criterion for assessing the large number of cellular readthrough candidates that are currently being revealed by comparative sequence analysis.
Patterned Activity within the Local Cortical Architecture

The cerebral cortex is a vastly complex structure consisting of multiple distinct populations of neurons residing in functionally specialized cortical compartments. A fundamental goal in systems neuroscience is to understand the interactions among cortical neurons and their relationship to behavior. It is hypothesized that dynamic activity patterns, such as oscillations in global neuronal activity, could span large, heterogeneous populations of cortical neurons in such a manner as to bind together the activity of otherwise disparate cortical networks. Little is known about the mechanisms by which such global oscillatory patterns entrain cortical networks, or the contribution of such activity patterns to cortical function. An important step toward elucidating the role of such patterned activity in cortical information processing is understanding these interactions at the local circuit level. Here, we highlight recent findings that provide insight into how dynamic activity patterns affect specific neuronal populations and circuits.
Measuring Microsatellite Conservation in Mammalian Evolution with a Phylogenetic Birth–Death Model

Microsatellites make up ∼3% of the human genome, and there is increasing evidence that some microsatellites can have important functions and can be conserved by selection. To investigate this conservation, we performed a genome-wide analysis of human microsatellites and measured their conservation using a binary character birth--death model on a mammalian phylogeny. Using a maximum likelihood method to estimate birth and death rates for different types of microsatellites, we show that the rates at which microsatellites are gained and lost in mammals depend on their sequence composition, length, and position in the genome. Additionally, we use a mixture model to account for unequal death rates among microsatellites across the human genome. We use this model to assign a probability-based conservation score to each microsatellite. We found that microsatellites near the transcription start sites of genes are often highly conserved, and that distance from a microsatellite to the nearest transcription start site is a good predictor of the microsatellite conservation score. An analysis of gene ontology terms for genes that contain microsatellites near their transcription start site reveals that regulatory genes involved in growth and development are highly enriched with conserved microsatellites.
The combined burden of cognitive, executive function, and psychosocial problems in children with epilepsy: a population‐based study

The combined burden of psychosocial (Achenbach scales), cognitive (Raven matrices), and executive function (EF) problems was studied in a population‐based sample of 6‐ to 12‐year‐old children with epilepsy (n=162; 99 males, 63 females) and in an age‐ and sex‐matched control group (n=107; 62 males, 45 females). Approximately 35% of the children with epilepsy had severe non‐verbal cognitive problems. In those that did not, mild cognitive problems (26% vs 11%, p=0.005), EF problems (31% vs 11%, p<0.001), and psychosocial problems (45% vs 10%, p<0.001) were each much more common than among controls. Having problems in two or all three of these areas simultaneously was more frequent among the children with epilepsy (14% vs. 3%, p<0.001 and 4% vs 0%, p<0.001 respectively). Excluding those having remote symptomatic epilepsy aetiology did not change the problem load significantly for the children with epilepsy with the important exception that having severe non‐verbal problems was approximately halved from 35 to 18%. In 30 children with benign epilepsy of childhood with centrotemporal spikes, mild cognitive problems were somewhat more common, but psychosocial and EF problems were similar compared with control children.
The Crotal SRL System : a Generic Tool Based on Tree-structured CRF

We present the Crotal system, used in the CoNLL09 Shared Task. It is based on XCRF, a highly configurable CRF library which can take into account hierarchical relations. This system had never been used in such a context thus the performance is average, but we are confident that there is room for progression.
Climatotherapy at the Dead Sea: An Effective Treatment Modality for Atopic Dermatitis With Significant Positive Impact on Quality of Life

BackgroundAtopic dermatitis (AD) has an appreciable effect on quality of life. Improving the quality of life of AD patients is a priority. ObjectiveThis study aimed to evaluate the impact of Dead Sea climatotherapy (DSC) as a treatment of AD and its influence on the quality of life of these patients. MethodsForty-nine adult patients with AD treated during the years 2009–2010 at the Deutsches Medizinisches Zentrum Medical Center participated in this prospective study. Climatotherapy was administered in accordance with a computer-designed protocol and included gradually increased sun exposure after a sea bath. Severity of AD was evaluated using the Scoring Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) index. Patient quality of life was evaluated using Skindex-29. Statistical analysis was performed using a paired t test and Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney U tests. ResultsAfter treatment, the mean SCORAD value improved by 39 points (P < 0.001). The overall Skindex-29 score improved by a mean value of 33 points (P < 0.001). The pretreatment SCORAD, duration of AD, and maximal daily sun exposure predicted the posttreatment SCORAD values. Pretreatment Skindex-29 and patient age predicted the posttreatment Skindex-29 in a multiple linear regression model. ConclusionsDead Sea climatotherapy provides an effective treatment modality for AD by improving the patient’s skin condition and quality of life.
Dimension Reduction of Large AND-NOT Network Models

Boolean networks have been used successfully in modeling biological networks and provide a good framework for theoretical analysis. However, the analysis of large networks is not trivial. In order to simplify the analysis of such networks, several model reduction algorithms have been proposed; however, it is not clear if such algorithms scale well with respect to the number of nodes. The goal of this paper is to propose and implement an algorithm for the reduction of AND-NOT network models for the purpose of steady state computation. Our method of network reduction is the use of "steady state approximations" that do not change the number of steady states. Our algorithm is designed to work at the wiring diagram level without the need to evaluate or simplify Boolean functions. Also, our implementation of the algorithm takes advantage of the sparsity typical of discrete models of biological systems. The main features of our algorithm are that it works at the wiring diagram level, it runs in polynomial time, and it preserves the number of steady states. We used our results to study AND-NOT network models of gene networks and showed that our algorithm greatly simplifies steady state analysis. Furthermore, our algorithm can handle sparse AND-NOT networks with up to 1000000 nodes.
Functional analysis of receptor tyrosine kinase mutations in lung cancer identifies oncogenic extracellular domain mutations of ERBB2

We assessed somatic alleles of six receptor tyrosine kinase genes mutated in lung adenocarcinoma for oncogenic activity. Five of these genes failed to score in transformation assays; however, novel recurring extracellular domain mutations of the receptor tyrosine kinase gene ERBB2 were potently oncogenic. These ERBB2 extracellular domain mutants were activated by two distinct mechanisms, characterized by elevated C-terminal tail phosphorylation or by covalent dimerization mediated by intermolecular disulfide bond formation. These distinct mechanisms of receptor activation converged upon tyrosine phosphorylation of cellular proteins, impacting cell motility. Survival of Ba/F3 cells transformed to IL-3 independence by the ERBB2 extracellular domain mutants was abrogated by treatment with small-molecule inhibitors of ERBB2, raising the possibility that patients harboring such mutations could benefit from ERBB2-directed therapy.
Techniques used to search for a permanent electric dipole moment of the 199 Hg atom and the implications for CP violation

We discuss in detail the search for a permanent electric dipole moment (EDM) of the 199Hg atom reported by Griffith et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 101601 (2009)]. The upper bound, d(199Hg) < 3.1 × 10−29 e cm (95% C.L.), is a factor of 7 improvement over the best previous EDM limit for 199Hg, provides the most sensitive probe to date for EDMs in diamagnetic atoms, and sets new limits on time-reversal symmetry violation in extensions to the standard model. This paper provides extensive discussion of the techniques used to search for the 199Hg EDM and the implications of the new 199Hg EDM limit for CP violation in elementary particle interactions.
Susceptibility of Extended-Spectrum-β-Lactamase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae According to the New CLSI Breakpoints

ABSTRACT In 2010 the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) lowered the susceptibility breakpoints of some cephalosporins and aztreonam for Enterobacteriaceae and eliminated the need to perform screening for extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) and confirmatory tests. The aim of this study was to determine how many ESBL-producing strains of three common species of Enterobacteriaceae test susceptible using the new breakpoints. As determined with the CLSI screening and confirmatory tests, 382 consecutive ESBL-producing strains were collected at Huashan Hospital between 2007 and 2008, including 158 strains of Escherichia coli, 164 of Klebsiella pneumoniae, and 60 of Proteus mirabilis. Susceptibility was determined by the CLSI agar dilution method. CTX-M-, TEM-, and SHV-specific genes were determined by PCR amplification and sequencing. bla CTX-M genes alone or in combination with bla SHV were present in 92.7% (354/382) of these ESBL-producing strains. Forty-two (25.6%) strains of K. pneumoniae harbored SHV-type ESBLs alone or in combination. No TEM ESBLs were found. Utilizing the new breakpoints, all 382 strains were resistant to cefazolin, cefotaxime, and ceftriaxone, while 85.0 to 96.7% of P. mirabilis strains tested susceptible to ceftazidime, cefepime, and aztreonam, 41.8 to 45.6% of E. coli strains appeared to be susceptible to ceftazidime and cefepime, and 20.1% of K. pneumoniae were susceptible to cefepime. In conclusion, all ESBL-producing strains of Enterobacteriaceae would be reported to be resistant to cefazolin, cefotaxime, and ceftriaxone by using the new CLSI breakpoints, but a substantial number of ESBL-containing P. mirabilis and E. coli strains would be reported to be susceptible to ceftazidime, cefepime, and aztreonam, which is likely due to the high prevalence of CTX-M type ESBLs.
Human voice extracted biometric features: What can be used for

Strength of encryption algorithm is based on statistical performance of the bits key stream. Generate high quality key stream is a difficult task, which decides the level of security provided by the encryption algorithm. This paper propose two main directions to deal with the biometric features of human voice: first it focuses on how to extract good features that lead to produce encryption keys of lengths 128, 196, and 256 bits that have randomness characteristics, and secondly: how to generate a new encryption keys (18 new key each of 108-bits), only from 12 biometric voice features through a proposed random numbers generator. Statistical performance was performed to make sure that the random key sequence, which was generated in this paper have noise like characteristics to prove the importance of the features that were extracted from the signal of human voice, and how to deal with it. All keys that were used, passed successfully the randomness NIST tests (National Institute of Standards and Technology).