Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of EMU on Selected Non-European Union Countries

In the Summer of 1998, the Executive Board discussed a set of three papers prepared by the staff that focused on the likey impact of EMU on selected non-EU countries. In recognition of the contribution these papers could make to the literature and discussion of EMU, the Board requested that this collection of papers be published. This Occasional Paper presents the three papers in one volume Chapter 1 provides an analysis of the likely impact of EMU on three regions: Central and Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean Basin, and the African CFA zone. Chapter 2 focuses on the trade and financial effects of EMU on selected transition and Mediterranean countries. And Chapter 3 considers the possible implications of EMU for the Middle East and North Africa region.
Intrapleural Steroid Instillation for Multiple Organ Failure With Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

ABSTRACT Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) increases mortality in patients with multiorgan dysfunction syndrome (MODS). This study evaluates the feasibility of intrapleural steroid instillation (IPSI) in patients with ARDS and MODS unresponsive to conventional extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Ninety-two of 467 patients who underwent ECMO between 2005 and 2009 had ARDS, and 30 consecutive adult patients of these 92 patients with severe ARDS and MODS were retrospectively analyzed in this study. Nine of these 30 patients, who did not respond to therapy and whose condition deteriorated, were managed with IPSI. All patients met the inclusion criteria of hemodynamic instability with high catecholamine infusion requirement and 100% oxygen demand in ventilation and ECMO flow. On initial diagnosis of ARDS, no differences in prognostic scorings were observed in patients who underwent conventional treatment (n = 21) and those who underwent IPSI (n = 9). Blood oxygenation, tidal volume, changing in chest radiographic findings, and survival rates were analyzed. The primary outcome was survival until discharge from the hospital. Pulmonary radiographic appearance improved after 3 days of IPSI treatment (P = 0.008); the ratio of arterial partial pressure of oxygen to fraction of inspired oxygen also increased significantly after 5 days of IPSI treatment (P = 0.028). Moreover, the 28-day mortality rate (P = 0.017), 60-day mortality rate (P = 0.003), and survival rate (78% vs. 19%; P = 0.003) significantly improved in patients undergoing IPSI, which therefore appears to be an easily implemented and highly effective treatment for patients with severe ARDS in combination with MODS, particularly in patients who fail to respond to conventional treatment.
Associations between Changes in City and Address Specific Temperature and QT Interval - The VA Normative Aging Study

Background The underlying mechanisms of the association between ambient temperature and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality are not well understood, particularly for daily temperature variability. We evaluated if daily mean temperature and standard deviation of temperature was associated with heart rate-corrected QT interval (QTc) duration, a marker of ventricular repolarization in a prospective cohort of older men. Methods This longitudinal analysis included 487 older men participating in the VA Normative Aging Study with up to three visits between 2000–2008 (n = 743). We analyzed associations between QTc and moving averages (1–7, 14, 21, and 28 days) of the 24-hour mean and standard deviation of temperature as measured from a local weather monitor, and the 24-hour mean temperature estimated from a spatiotemporal prediction model, in time-varying linear mixed-effect regression. Effect modification by season, diabetes, coronary heart disease, obesity, and age was also evaluated. Results Higher mean temperature as measured from the local monitor, and estimated from the prediction model, was associated with longer QTc at moving averages of 21 and 28 days. Increased 24-hr standard deviation of temperature was associated with longer QTc at moving averages from 4 and up to 28 days; a 1.9°C interquartile range increase in 4-day moving average standard deviation of temperature was associated with a 2.8 msec (95%CI: 0.4, 5.2) longer QTc. Associations between 24-hr standard deviation of temperature and QTc were stronger in colder months, and in participants with diabetes and coronary heart disease. Conclusion/Significance In this sample of older men, elevated mean temperature was associated with longer QTc, and increased variability of temperature was associated with longer QTc, particularly during colder months and among individuals with diabetes and coronary heart disease. These findings may offer insight of an important underlying mechanism of temperature-related cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in an older population.
The putative role of inflammation in the irritable bowel syndrome

The irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) may be defined as a painful chronic abdominal symptom complex which is usually associated with altered bowel habit, and for which there is no discernible underlying structural abnormality. It is generally accepted that symptoms are generated by abnormalities of gut function, including altered sensory perception, abnormal motility and, in some patients, abnormalities of epithelial function. Behavioural factors are important, particularly in the reporting of symptoms. What is lacking is an understanding of the pathogenetic mechanisms that alter gut function. IBS is a heterogeneous condition, not only in its clinical presentation and pathophysiology, but also in terms of its pathogenesis. While both central and peripheral factors have been implicated in the pathogenesis of IBS, this article will restrict itself to an evaluation of the evidence supporting inflammation as a basis for altered gut function in IBS. In considering the role of inflammation in IBS, one is prompted to make a comparison with asthma. Like IBS, asthma was once considered a psychosomatic disorder, particularly in non-atopic children. For more than 50 years the treatment of asthma focused on the pharmacological correction of abnormal end organ physiology (that is, airways hyperresponsiveness), an approach that is similar to current therapeutic approaches to IBS, and which are aimed at modulating motor activity or sensory perception. The subsequent discovery of inflammatory cells in the normally sterile broncheoalveolar lavage led to the recognition of asthma as an inflammatory condition. There are two reasons why a similar shift in thinking in IBS will be difficult. Firstly, the gut is normally in a state of controlled inflammation and the challenge of identifying a subtle increase in inflammatory cell number or composition is not to be underestimated. Secondly, IBS is intuitively more heterogeneous than asthma, and inflammation is unlikely to be a factor in all …
Variably saturated groundwater modelling for optimizing managed aquifer recharge using trench infiltration

Spreading‐basin methods have resulted in more than 130 million cubic metres of recharge to the unconfined Navajo Sandstone of southern Utah in the past decade, but infiltration rates have slowed in recent years because of reduced hydraulic gradients and (or) clogging. Trench infiltration is a promising alternative technique for increasing recharge and minimizing evaporation. This paper uses a variably saturated flow model to further investigate the relative importance of the following variables on rates of trench infiltration to unconfined aquifers: saturated hydraulic conductivity, trench spacing and dimensions, initial water‐table depth, alternate wet/dry periods, and number of parallel trenches. Modelling results showed (1) increased infiltration with higher hydraulic conductivity, deeper initial water tables, and larger spacing between parallel trenches, (2) deeper or wider trenches do not substantially increase infiltration, (3) alternating wet/dry periods result in less overall infiltration than keeping the trenches continuously full, and (4) larger numbers of parallel trenches within a fixed area increases infiltration but with a diminishing effect as trench spacing becomes tighter. An empirical equation for estimating expected trench infiltration rates as a function of hydraulic conductivity and initial water‐table depth was derived and can be used for evaluating feasibility of trench infiltration in other hydrogeologic settings. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The missions of the Viking orbiters

The two Viking orbiters carried the two landers into orbit around Mars, observed the planet to certify the landing sites, released the landers for the landings, and subsequently served as telemetry relays for the lander data. In addition, they conducted scientific investigations using two cameras, an infrared radiometer for temperature measurements, an infrared spectrometer for water vapor measurements, and the radio communication system. The nature and extent of the orbiter observations have been influenced by the requirements for lander support, the capabilities of various orbiter subsystems, and the visibility of the planet from the orbits. All the orbiter scientific experiments are continuing.
Hybrid morphology radio sources from the FIRST survey

The so-called HYbrid MOrphology Radio Sources (HYMORS) are a class of objects that appear to have a mixed Fanaroff-Riley (FR) morphology in a single object; i.e. a HYMORS has an FR I-type lobe on one side of its nucleus and an FR II-type lobe on the other side. Because of this unique feature and given that the origin of the FR morphological dichotomy is still unclear, HYMORS may possibly play a crucial role in our understanding of the FR-dichotomy. As the number of known HYMORS is quite small, we aimed to increase that number by inspecting a few areas of the sky covered by the VLA FIRST survey and by selecting 21 HYMORS candidates based on the morphology shown in the FIRST images. They were observed with the VLA in B-conf. at 4.9 GHz. Three objects from the initial sample turned out to be actual HYMORS and two others very likely to fulfill the criteria. These five were subsequently re-observed with the VLA in A-conf. at 1.4 GHz. Our results provide strong support to the findings ofGopal-Krishna & Wiita (2000, AA consequently, the existence of FR-dichotomy as a whole is difficult to reconcile with the class of explanations that posit fundamental differences in the central engine.
Fast image reconstruction algorithms combining half-quadratic regularization and preconditioning

We focus on image deconvolution and image reconstruction problems where a sought image is recovered from degraded observed data. The solution is defined to be the minimizer of an objective function combining a data-fidelity term and an edge-preserving, convex regularization term. Our objective is to speed up the calculation of the solution in a wide range of situations. To this end, we propose a method applying pertinent preconditioning to an adapted half-quadratic equivalent form of the objective function. The optimal solution is then found using an alternating minimization (AM) scheme. We focus specifically on Huber regularization. We exhibit the possibility of getting very fast calculations while preserving the edges in the solution. Preliminary numerical results are reported to illustrate the effectiveness of our method.
Pregnancy in patients with pulmonary autograft valve replacement.

AIM The purpose of this study is to determine the outcome and complications of pregnancy in women with pulmonary autograft valve replacement for aortic valve disease. METHODS AND RESULTS The records of all women who had undergone pulmonary autograft valve replacement at the National Heart Hospital (now Royal Brompton Hospital) since 1968 were reviewed. From 1968 to 1993, 27 hospital survivors were female and among eight of them there were 14 pregnancies. All women were in Ability Index 1 at time of pregnancy with normal ventricular function, mild aortic regurgitation (six), mild pulmonary regurgitation (three) and mild pulmonary stenosis (two). None took anticoagulants. There was no maternal death, thromboembolic or haemorrhagic event or evidence of deterioration in valve function during pregnancy. Except for one woman (Ability Index 3) who developed dilated cardiomyopathy without aortic or pulmonary valve disease 6 months after delivery, the women remained in Ability Index 1 after pregnancy. There was no significant progression of aortic regurgitation (mild after seven pregnancies), pulmonary regurgitation (mild after six) or right-sided obstruction (mild after four). Reoperation for right-sided obstruction was carried out in two patients 4 and 7 years after a second pregnancy (9 and 15 years after the pulmonary autograft). CONCLUSION No valve-related complications occurred during pregnancy and pregnancy appeared to have no effect on the function of the pulmonary valve autograft or the right-sided homograft. The pulmonary autograft is thus an ideal procedure for a young female needing aortic valve replacement.
Functional classification in Hilbert spaces

Let X be a random variable taking values in a separable Hilbert space X, with label Y/spl isin/{0,1}. We establish universal weak consistency of a nearest neighbor-type classifier based on n independent copies (X/sub i/,Y/sub i/) of the pair (X,Y), extending the classical result of Stone to infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces. Under a mild condition on the distribution of X, we also prove strong consistency. We reduce the infinite dimension of X by considering only the first d coefficients of a Fourier series expansion of each X/sub i/, and then we perform k-nearest neighbor classification in /spl Ropf//sup d/. Both the dimension and the number of neighbors are automatically selected from the data using a simple data-splitting device. An application of this technique to a signal discrimination problem involving speech recordings is presented.
Gliotransmission and Brain Glucose Sensing: Critical Role of Endozepines

Hypothalamic glucose sensing is involved in the control of feeding behavior and peripheral glucose homeostasis, and glial cells are suggested to play an important role in this process. Diazepam-binding inhibitor (DBI) and its processing product the octadecaneuropeptide (ODN), collectively named endozepines, are secreted by astroglia, and ODN is a potent anorexigenic fac-tor. Therefore, we investigated the involvement of endozepines in brain glucose sensing. First, we showed that intracerebroventricular administration of glucose in rats increases DBI expres- sion in hypothalamic glial-like tanycytes. We then demonstrated that glucose stimulates endozepine secretion from hypothalamic explants. Feeding experiments indicate that the anorexigenic effect of central administration of glucose was blunted by coinjection of an ODN antagonist. Conversely, the hyperphagic response elicited by central glucoprivation was suppressed by an ODN agonist. The anorexigenic effects of centrally injected glucose or ODN agonist were suppressed by blockade of the melanocortin-3/4 receptors, suggesting that glucose sensing involves endozepinergic control of the melanocortin pathway. Finally, we found that brain endozepines modulate blood glucose levels, suggesting their involvement in a feedback loop controlling whole-body glucose homeostasis. Collectively, these data indicate that endozepines are a critical relay in brain glucose sensing and potentially new targets in treatment
Design of an environmental field observatory for quantifying the urban water budget

Quantifying the water budget of urban areas presents special challenges, owing to the influence of subsurface infrastructure that can cause short-circuiting of natural flowpaths. In this paper we review some considerations for data collection and analysis in support of determining urban water budget components, with a particular emphasis on groundwater, using Baltimore as an example study area. We review selected data collection techniques and applications, including use of airborne thermal infrared imagery to determine locations of groundwater inputs to streams; use of seepage transects and tracer tests to quantify surface-subsurface exchange; estimating groundwater recharge rates; analysis of base flow behavior from stream gages; mining of public agency records of potable water and wastewater flows to estimate leakage rates and flowpaths in relation to streamflow and groundwater fluxes; and considerations for building a geodatabase that includes information relevant to urban hydrologic data.
Efficacy Comparison of Escitalopram and Citalopram in the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder: Pooled Analysis of Placebo-Controlled Trials

ABSTRACT Background: Citalopram is a racemic selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) indicated for the treatment of depression. Citalopram is a racemate and its serotonin reuptake inhibitory activity resides primarily in the single S-isomer, escitalopram, which is now being evaluated for its potential usefulness in the treatment of depression and other psychiatric disorders. Results from placebo-controlled studies that also included Citalopram as an active control have shown that escitalopram is effective in treating depression and associated symptoms of anxiety. However, none of these studies was powered sufficiently to detect differences between active treatment groups. The goal of the present analysis is to evaluate the efficacy of escitalopram compared with Citalopram in the treatment of major depressive disorder. Method: Data were pooled from three similarly designed, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials of escitalopram (10–20 mg/day) and Citalopram (20–40 mg/day). Patients were male or female, ≥18 years of age, who met criteria for a major depressive episode with a Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) score ≥22 at baseline. Efficacy measures included change from baseline in MADRS score and the Clinical Global Impression of Improvement (CGI-I) scale. Improvement in associated symptoms of anxiety was measured using the change from baseline in the MADRS inner tension item. Results: Both escitalopram and Citalopram significantly improved depression and anxiety symptoms compared with placebo, and there were significantly more MADRS responders (defined as ≥50% improvement in MADRS scores at end point) in the escitalopram and Citalopram treatment groups. Escitalopram treatment was associated with statistically significant improvements in all efficacy measures relative to placebo after 1 week of treatment, whereas Citalopram treatment statistically separated from placebo at the end of week 4 (CGI-I and MADRS inner tension) or week 6 (MADRS). Escitalopram treatment also was statistically significantly superior to Citalopram treatment at a number of time points. Conclusion: These data support the effectiveness of escitalopram and Citalopram in the treatment of major depressive disorder, and suggest escitalopram may have a faster onset and greater overall magnitude of effect than citalopram in improving symptoms of depression and anxiety in patients with major depressive disorder.
Meningococcal Opa and Opc proteins: their role in colonization and invasion of human epithelial and endothelial cells

Neisseria meningitidis (Nm) isolates from disease or during carriage express, on their outer membranes, one or more of a family of closely related proteins designated Opa proteins. In this study, we have examined the potential rotes of Nm Opa proteins in bacterial attachment and invasion of endothelial as well as epithelial cells and compared the influence of Opa proteins with that of Ope protein, which has been previously shown to increase bacterial interactions with eukaryotic cells. Several variants expressing different Opa proteins (A, B, D) or Opc were selected from a culture of capsule‐deficient non‐piliated bacteria of strain C751. Although the Opa proteins increased bacterial attachment and invasion of endothelial cells, Opc was the most effective protein in increasing bacterial interactions with these cells. In contrast, attachment to several human epithelial cells was facilitated at least as much by OpaB as Opc protein. OpaA was largely without effect whereas OpaD conferred intermediate attachment. OpaB also increased invasion of epithelial cells; more bacteria were internalized by Chang conjunctival cells compared with Hep‐2 larynx carcinoma or A549 lung carcinoma cells. Monoclonal antibody reacting with OpaB inhibited bacterial interactions with the host cells. Opa‐mediated interactions were also eliminated or significantly reduced in variants expressing capsule or those with sialylated lipopolysaccharide. These data are consistent with the notion that environmental factors controlling capsule and lipopolysaccharide phenotype may modulate bacterial interactions mediated by these OM proteins. In permissive microenvironments, some Opa proteins may be important in bacterial colonization and translocation in addition to Opc. The data also support the notion that Nm Opa may confer tissue tropism.
Crystal structure of dUTP pyrophosphatase from feline immunodeficiency virus

We have determined the crystal structure of dUTP pyrophosphatase (dUTPase) from feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) at 1.9 Å resolution. The structure has been solved by the multiple isomorphous replacement (MIR) method using a P63 crystal form. The results show that the enzyme is a trimer of 14.3 kDa subunits with marked structural similarity to E. coli dUTPase. In both enzymes the C‐terminal strand of an anti‐parallel β‐barrel participates in the β‐sheet of an adjacent subunit to form an interdigitated, biologically functional trimer. In the P63 crystal form one trimer packs on the 63 screw‐axis and another on the threefold axis so that there are two independent monomers per asymmetric unit. A Mg2+ ion is coordinated by three asparate residues on the threefold axis of each trimer. Alignment of 17 viral, prokaryotic, and eukaryotic dUTPase sequences reveals five conserved motifs. Four of these map onto the interface between pairs of subunits, defining a putative active site region; the fifth resides in the C‐terminal 16 residues, which is disordered in the crystals. Conserved motifs from all three subunits are required to create a given active site. With respect to viral protein expression, it is particularly interesting that the gene for dUTPase (DU) resides in the middle of the Pol gene, the enzyme cassette of the retroviral genome. Other enzymes encoded in the Pol polyprotein, including protease (PR), reverse transcriptase (RT), and most likely integrase (IN), are dimeric enzymes, which implies that the stoichiometry of expression of active trimeric dUTPase is distinct from the other Pol‐encoded enzymes. Additionally, due to structural constraints, it is unlikely that dUTPase can attain an active form prior to cleavage from the polyprotein.
Anomaly detection in network traffic using Jensen-Shannon divergence

Anomaly detection in high speed networks is well known to be a challenging problem. It requires generally the analysis of a huge amount of data with high accuracy and low complexity. In this paper, we propose an anomaly detection mechanism against flooding attacks in high speed networks. The proposed mechanism is based on Jensen-Shannon divergence metric over sketch data structure. This sketch is used to reduce the required memory, while monitoring the traffic, by maintaining them into a predefined fixed size of hash tables. This sketch is also used to develop a probabilistic model. The Jensen-Shannon divergence is used for detecting deviations between previously established and current distributions of network traffic. We have implemented our approach and evaluated it using real Internet traffic traces, obtained from MAWI trans-Pacific wide transit link between USA and Japan. Our results show that the proposed approach is scalable and efficient in detecting anomalies without maintaining per-flow state information.