Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pregnancy course and outcomes in women with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy

Objectives To characterise pregnancy course and outcomes in women with arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy (ARVD/C). Methods From a combined Johns Hopkins/Dutch ARVD/C registry, we identified 26 women affected with ARVD/C (by 2010 Task Force Criteria) during 39 singleton pregnancies >13 weeks (1–4 per woman). Cardiac symptoms, treatment and episodes of sustained ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) and heart failure (HF) ≥ Class C were characterised. Obstetric outcomes were ascertained. Incidence of VA and HF were compared with rates in the non-pregnant state. Long-term disease course was compared with 117 childbearing-aged female patients with ARVD/C who had not experienced pregnancy with ARVD/C. Results Treatment during pregnancy (n=39) included β blockers (n=16), antiarrhythmics (n=6), diuretics (n=3) and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) (n=28). In five pregnancies (13%), a single VA occurred, including two ICD-terminated events. Arrhythmias occurred disproportionately in probands without VA history (p=0.045). HF, managed on an outpatient basis, developed in two pregnancies (5%) in women with pre-existing overt biventricular or isolated right ventricular disease. All infants were live-born without major obstetric complications. Caesarean sections (n=11, 28%) had obstetric indications, except one (HF). β Blocker therapy was associated with lower birth weight (3.1±0.48 kg vs 3.7±0.57 kg; p=0.002). During follow-up children remained healthy (median 3.4 years), and mothers were without cardiac mortality or transplant. Neither VA nor HF incidence was significantly increased during pregnancy. ARVD/C course (mean 6.5±5.6 years) did not differ based on pregnancy history. Conclusions While most pregnancies in patients with ARVD/C were tolerated well, 13% were complicated by VA and 5% by HF.
Influence of gamma-rays on the mouse liver cytochrome P450 system and its modulation by phenothiazine drugs.

PURPOSE Phenothiazine drugs have been found to sensitize hypoxic cancer cells while offering protection to normal cells. Since phenothiazines are known to induce the cytochrome P450 system, its radiomodulation by phenothiazines has been examined. MATERIALS AND METHODS Mice were administered phenothiazines intraperitoneally and irradiated with different doses of gamma-rays at 1.38 Gy/min. The activities of NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase and NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase, the content of cytochrome P450 and b5, the extent of lipid peroxidation as well as the activities of LDH, XO, SOD, GST and DTD were determined in the liver. RESULTS The levels of different components of the cytochrome P450 system and antioxidant enzymes were enhanced up to 5 Gy and decreased thereafter. However, a progressive increase was noticed in peroxidative damage and the activities of LDH and XO. Administration of phenothiazines enhanced the radiation effect on components of the cytochrome P450 system (except NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase) and the activities of SOD, GST and DTD. Concomitantly, phenothiazines inhibited lipid peroxidation, LDH and XO. CONCLUSIONS Activation of the cytochrome P450 system by phenothiazines leading to the enhancement of antioxidant potential of animals and free-radical scavenging are attributes of the radioprotective action of phenothiazines.
Processing of Bulk Metallic Glass

Bulk metallic glass (BMG) formers are multicomponent alloys that vitrify with remarkable ease during solidification. Technological interest in these materials has been generated by their unique properties, which often surpass those of conventional structural materials. The metastable nature of BMGs, however, has imposed a barrier to broad commercial adoption, particularly where the processing requirements of these alloys conflict with conventional metal processing methods. Research on the crystallization of BMG formers has uncovered novel thermoplastic forming (TPF)‐based processing opportunities. Unique among metal processing methods, TPF utilizes the dramatic softening exhibited by a BMG as it approaches its glass‐transition temperature and decouples the rapid cooling required to form a glass from the forming step. This article reviews crystallization processes in BMG former and summarizes and compares TPF‐based processing methods. Finally, an assessment of scientific and technological advancements required for broader commercial utilization of BMGs will be made.
Equilibrium with Consumer Adjustment to Choice

I present a spatial model of differentiated product markets in which consumers with heterogeneous tastes rationally improve their attitude towards the product they choose. Adjustment raises prices if adjustment facility is greater for consumers who initially prefer a product more (e.g., preferences and corresponding adjustments exhibit the halo effect). It lowers prices if instead easier adjustment for consumers with weaker initial preferences causes attitudinal regression to the mean. The theory explains higher prices in markets to the poor and less educated and so motivates re-examination of previously proposed solutions to the poor performance of those markets.
Progressive versus catastrophic disability: a longitudinal view of the disablement process.

BACKGROUND There is little epidemiologic data on the development of disability over time in older persons. This study uses prospective data from cohorts followed annually for 6 to 7 years to identify persons who developed severe disability and to characterize the time course of their disabling process and subsequent mortality. METHODS Incidence rates of severe disability, defined as need for help in three or more activities of daily living (ADLs), were estimated for 6,640 persons who had not reported severe disability at baseline and at the first four annual follow-up visits. Among persons developing severe disability, those who reported no need for help in ADLs in previous interviews were defined as cases of catastrophic disability, and those who had previously reported some disability in ADLs were defined as cases of progressive disability. RESULTS Overall, 212 subjects developed progressive and 227 developed catastrophic disability. The rates of progressive disability and catastrophic disability were 11.3 and 12.1 cases per 1,000 person-years, respectively. For both types of disability, incidence rates increased exponentially with age, but the increase was steeper for progressive disability. At ages 70-74, less than 25% of severe disability was progressive, while over age 85 progressive disability represented more than half of severe disability. Incidence rates of total and both types of severe disability were similar in men and women. Mortality after severe disability onset was extremely high. Survival was unrelated to age at disability onset and type of disability but was significantly longer in women than in men (median 3.44 vs 2.12 years; p < .0001). CONCLUSION Tracking the development of disability provides new and important insights into the disability experience in older men and women that are potentially relevant in planning preventive, intervention, and long-term care strategies.
Optimizing infectious disease interventions during an emerging epidemic

The emergence and global impact of the novel influenza A(H1N1)v highlights the continuous threat to public health posed by a steady stream of new and unexpected infectious disease outbreaks in animals and humans. Once an emerging epidemic is detected, public health authorities will attempt to mitigate the epidemic by, among other measures, reducing further spread as much as possible. Scarce and/or costly control measures such as vaccines, anti-infective drugs, and social distancing must be allocated while epidemiological characteristics of the disease remain uncertain. Here we present first principles for allocating scarce resources with limited data. We show that under a broad class of assumptions, the simple rule of targeting intervention measures at the group with the highest risk of infection per individual will achieve the largest reduction in the transmission potential of a novel infection. For vaccination of susceptible persons, the appropriate risk measure is force of infection; for social distancing, the appropriate risk measure is incidence of infection. Unlike existing methods that rely on detailed knowledge of group-specific transmission rates, the method described here can be implemented using only data that are readily available during an epidemic, and allows ready adaptation as the epidemic progresses. The need to observe risk of infection helps to focus the ongoing planning and design of new infectious disease surveillance programs; from the presented first principles for allocating scarce resources, we can adjust the prioritization of groups for intervention when new observations on an emerging epidemic become available.
Effective Optimization Criteria and Relay Selection Algorithms for Physical-Layer Security in Multiple-Antenna Relay Networks

Physical-layer security for wireless networks has become an effective approach and recently drawn significant attention in the literature. In particular, the deployment and allocation of resources such as relays to assist the transmission have gained significant interest due to their ability to improve the secrecy rate of wireless networks. In this work, we examine relay selection criteria with arbitrary knowledge of the channels of the users and the eavesdroppers. We present alternative optimization criteria based on the signal-to-interference and the secrecy rate criteria that can be used for resource allocation and that do not require knowledge of the channels of the eavesdroppers and the interference. We then develop effective relay selection algorithms that can achieve a high secrecy rate performance without the need for the knowledge of the channels of the eavesdroppers and the interference. Simulation results show that the proposed criteria and algorithms achieve excellent performance.
Sliding mode based longitudinal guidance of UAVs

This paper presents a sliding mode based longitudinal guidance scheme for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). A nonlinear sliding surface is proposed here for altitude control of UAVs. Longitudinal guidance law based on traditional linear sliding surface cannot provide good performance for both large and small errors in altitude, hence a non-linear surface is proposed here. The proposed sliding surface gives good performance in level cruising as well as during climb/decent phase. The Proposed guidance scheme is implemented on a 6-degrees-of-freedom (6-dof) nonlinear simulation of a UAV, and different scenarios of climb, decent and level cruise phase is simulated.
Diabetes mellitus and the risk of dementia

Objective: To determine the influence of type 2 diabetes mellitus on the risk of dementia and AD. Background: Both dementia and diabetes are frequent disorders in elderly people. Methods: Prospective population-based cohort study among 6,370 elderly subjects. At baseline study participants were examined for presence of diabetes mellitus. Nondemented participants were followed up, on average, for 2.1 years. Incident dementia was diagnosed using a three-step screening and comprehensive diagnostic workup. To complete the follow-up, medical files were studied of persons who could not be reexamined. We estimated relative risks with proportional hazard regression, adjusting for age, sex, and possible confounders. Results: During the follow-up, 126 patients became demented, of whom 89 had AD. Diabetes mellitus almost doubled the risk of dementia (relative risk [RR] 1.9 [1.3 to 2.8]) and AD (RR 1.9 [1.2 to 3.1]). Patients treated with insulin were at highest risk of dementia (RR 4.3 [1.7 to 10.5]). Conclusion: The diabetes attributable risk for dementia of 8.8% suggests that diabetes may have contributed to the clinical syndrome in a substantial proportion of all dementia patients.
Review of the Experimental Background and Implementation of Computational Models of the Ocular Lens Microcirculation

Our sense of vision is critically dependent on the clarity of the crystalline lens. The most common cause of transparency loss in the lens is age-related nuclear cataract, which is due to accumulative oxidative damage to this tissue. Since the ocular lens is an avascular tissue, it has to maintain its physiological homeostasis and antioxidant levels using a system of water microcirculation. This system has been experimentally imaged in animal lenses using different modalities. Based on these data, computational models have been developed to predict the properties of this system in human lenses and its changes due to aging. Although successful in predicting many aspects of lens fluid dynamics, at least in animal models, these in-silica models still need further improvement to become more accurate and representative of human ocular lens. We have been working on gathering experimental data and simultaneously developing computational models of lens microcirculation for the past decade. This review chronologically looks at the development of data-driven computational foundations of lens microcirculation model, its current state, and future advancement directions. A comprehensive model of lens fluid dynamics is essential to understand the physiological optics of this tissue and ultimately the underlying mechanisms of cataract onset and progression.
Title Elevated blood pressure aggravates intracerebral hemorrhage-induced brain injury

Elevated blood pressure (BP) is commonly seen in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), and is independently associated with poor functional outcomes. Little is known about how elevated BP influences ICHrelated brain injury. In the present study, we investigated the physiological and brain histological changes, as well as functional recovery following ICH in renovascular hypertensive rats. Renovascular hypertension (RVHT) was achieved by applying a silver clip onto the left renal artery of adult Sprague-Dawley rats. ICH was induced by an intrastriatal injection of bacterial collagenase IV about 5–6 weeks after left renal artery clipping or the sham operation. Following induction of ICH, both the normotensive and RVHT rats demonstrated an ultra-acute elevation in BP. Elevated BP increased hematoma volume, brain swelling, and apoptosis in the perihematomal areas. Brain degeneration, including local atrophy and lateral ventricle enlargement, was greater in the RVHT rats. In addition, many proliferating cells were seen over the ipsilateral striatum in the RVHT rats after ICH. The modified limb placing tests were done weekly for 3 weeks. In line with the histological damage, elevated BP worsened neurological deficits. These results suggest that ICH in the hypertensive rats mimics the clinical scenario of hypertensive ICH and may provide a platform to study the mechanisms of ICH-induced brain injury and potential therapies for ICH.
Comparative Effects of Dietary Fat Types on Hepatic Enzyme Activities Related to the Synthesis and Oxidation of Fatty Acid and to Lipogenesis in Rats

The effects of different types of dietary fat on the activities of hepatic enzymes related to fatty acid synthesis {glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) and acetyl-CoA carboxylase ACC)}, oxidation {acyl-CoA synthetase (AST), carnitine palmitoyl transferase (CPT), and peroxisomal β-oxidation (P βOX)}, and lipogenesis {phosphatidate phosphohydrolase (PAP), diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT), and phosphocholine diacylglycerol transferase (PCDGT)}, and plasma and liver lipid levels were investigated in male Wistar rats. The animals were 6 weeks old and about 120 g of body weight, and were fed on test diets containing 20% of a mixture of tripalmitin, tristearin and corn oil (SFA), olive oil (OLI), sunflower oil (SUN), linseed oil (LIS), and sardine oil (SAR) for 2 weeks. The concentrations of plasma total cholesterol (T-CHOL), high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-CHOL), triacylglycerol (TG) and phospholipid (PL) were generally higher in the rats fed on SEA and OLI than in those given SUN, LIS and SAR. The rats fed on OLI had a higher level of liver T-CHOL than those fed on the other fats. The liver TG content was nearly higher from the intake of SFA and OLI than from SUN, LIS and SAR, although the liver PL level was not affected by the type of dietary fat. The SFA and OLI groups had the highest activities of hepatic G6PDH and ACC, and the SAR group, the lowest activities. The activities of AST and CPT, and peroxisomal P βOX in the liver were higher in the rats fed on the LIS and SAR diets than in those given the other diets. The hepatic PAP activity was higher from the intake of OLI and SUN, and tended to be higher from SFA than from LIS and SAR. The activity of liver DGAT was higher from SFA and inclined to be higher from OLI, SUN, and LIS than from SAR, while the PCDGT activity in the liver was not effected by the type of dietary fat. The concentrations of plasma and liver TG were generally positively correlated with the activities of liver enzymes related to the synthesis of fatty acids and lipids, and negatively with those involved in fatty acid oxidation. Based on these results, it is suggested that the levels of plasma and liver TG were controlled by different types of dietary fat through changes in the hepatic enzyme activities related to fatty acid synthesis, lipogenesis, and fatty acid oxidation.
Anti-Pituitary Antibodies and Hypogonadotropic Hypogonadism in Type 2 Diabetes: In Search of a Role

Subnormal testosterone concentrations have been found in 25% of men with type 2 diabetes in association with inappropriately low luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone concentrations (1), which suggests that the primary defect may be at the hypothalamo-hypophyseal level. Circulating anti-pituitary antibodies (APAs) were first detected by Kobayashi et al. (2) in sera from 91 patients with type 2 diabetes at a relatively high frequency (24.2%). Thus far, a possible role of pituitary autoimmunity in diabetic patients with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH) has never been investigated. Ninety-five consecutive male patients with type 2 diabetes and aged >35 years were recruited among those attending the Unit of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases at the Second University of Naples from September 2010 to September 2012. Patients with severe obesity (BMI >35 kg/m2) were excluded. The diagnosis of isolated HH included a serum testosterone level <12.0 nmol/L, normal or low gonadotropin concentrations, and symptoms and signs of androgen deficiency. Erectile dysfunction was diagnosed …
Triptolide is more effective in preventing T cell proliferation and interferon‐gamma production than is FK506

The Chinese traditional herb Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. F (TWHF) has been reported to be effective in the treatment of a variety of autoimmune disorders. The major active component of this herb is triptolide and most of the efficacy of this herb immunosuppression is attributed to triptolide. FK506 is also a potent immunosuppressive agent and is currently being used clinically. The present studies compare the effectiveness of triptolide and FK506 to suppress certain human T cell functions. Specifically human T cell proliferation, IL‐2 and IFNγ were compared. The results show that, overall, triptolide is more effective at inhibiting T cell proliferation and IFNγ production than FK506 and the two compounds inhibit IL‐2 production in an equivalent manner. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
In vitro binding of purified murine ecotropic retrovirus envelope surface protein to its receptor, MCAT-1

An amino-terminal portion of the Friend murine leukemia virus (MLV) envelope surface protein [SU, residues 1 to 236 [SU:(1-236)]] and its receptor, MCAT-1, were each purified from insect cells after expression by using recombinant baculoviruses. Friend SU:(1-236) bound specifically to Xenopus oocytes that expressed MCAT-1 with an affinity (Kd, 55 nM) similar to that of viral SU binding to permissive cells. Direct binding of Friend SU:(1-236) to purified MCAT-1 was observed in detergent and after reconstitution into liposomes. Analysis of binding demonstrated that MCAT-1 and Friend SU:(1-236) interact with a stoichiometry of near 1:1. These findings demonstrate that the amino-terminal domain from the SU of ecotropic murine retroviruses contains an MCAT-1 binding domain.
A Novel Approach of Automatic Target Recognition using High Resolution Radar Range Profiles

Generalized information cut (GIC) based on the nonlinear feature mapping using the kernel function is invariant for the linear transformation and the coordinates shift. By comparison and analysis of the angle similarity measurement and generalized information cut, the criterion of generalized information cut is proposed to solve the automatic target recognition using high resolution radar range profile. Feature mapping and inner product is synthesized in the feature space. The range profile data established from four different scaled aircraft models in unclassifiable low dimensional space is mapped into classifiable high dimensional space via the kernel function, and then the linear classifiable pattern transformed from nonlinear unclassifiable pattern is accomplished. Experimental results suggest that the target recognition technique based on the proposed method achieves better anti-noise performance, and is much more efficient in the improvement of recognition ratio of four different aircrafts than using the conventional angle similarity coefficient (the vectorial angle cosine).
Working Papers

This paper analyses the role of welfare systems in shaping migration patterns in Central and Eastern Europe over the transition process and after EU accession. It argues that states have played a crucial role in affecting migration by creating and widening opportunities for potential and actual migrants through welfare system policies. This explains why CEE countries where social spending figures have been lower, unemployment benefit schemes less extensive, and where labour market mismatches remained unaddressed, experienced greater out-migration. Investigating the role of sending states’ institutions in a comparative framework and over time, this paper analyses migration as part of broader social and economic processes and contributes to our understanding of how sending countries’ institutional factors affect out-migration.
Efficient discovery of unknown ads for audio podcast content

Audio podcasting has been widely used by many online sites such as newspapers, web portals, journal, etc., to deliver audio content to users through download or subscription. Within 1 to 30 minutes long of one podcast story, it is often that multiple audio advertisements (ads) are inserted into and repeated, with each of a length of 5 to 30 seconds, at different locations. Based on knowledge of typical structures of podcast contents, this paper proposes a novel efficient advertisement discovery approach to identify and locate unknown ads from a large collection of audio podcasting. Two techniques: candidate region segmentation and sampling technique are employed to speed up the search. The approach has been tested over a variety of podcast contents collected from MIT Technology Review, Scientific American, and Singapore Podcast websites. Experimental results show that the proposed approach achieves detection rate of 97.5% with a significant computation saving as compared to existing state-of-the art methods.