Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New Potassium Binders for the Treatment of Hyperkalemia: Current Data and Opportunities for the Future

Hyperkalemia is a clinical problem with potential mechanisms ranging from increased cellular potassium release (eg, pseudohyperkalemia, metabolic acidosis) to reduced potassium excretion (eg, reduced responsiveness to aldosterone, reduced aldosterone secretion, reduced distal sodium, and water delivery). 1,2 Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <45 mL/min per 1.73 m2, are at increased risk of hyperkalemia, resulting from ≥1 of these mechanisms.3 Renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system inhibitors (RAASis) are recommended by guidelines for lowering blood pressure, slowing CKD progression in patients with CKD,4,5 and reducing cardiovascular mortality and heart failure hospitalizations in patients with heart failure and a reduced ejection fraction,6,7 but these drugs compound the hyperkalemia risk.1,8–10 The risk is magnified when the drugs are used in combination (eg, aliskiren in combination with ACE inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers;8,11 mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists in combination with ACE inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers). Moreover, the risk for hyperkalemia is magnified in diseases, such as diabetes mellitus and heart failure.4,5,12,13 The occurrence or fear of inducing hyperkalemia has led to premature discontinuation, suboptimal dosing, and often failure to use an RAASi, thereby exposing patients to increased cardiovascular risk. Current treatment approaches for chronic hyperkalemia are limited. Options for the management of hyperkalemia include discontinuation or reduced doses of RAASi, administration of loop diuretics, dietary potassium restriction, or sodium polystyrene sulfonate.14 None of these approaches are optimal because they require withholding life-saving or kidney preserving therapy (ie, RAASi), have a low rate of patient adherence (eg, dietary restriction), or have an unfavorable adverse effect profile and low tolerability (ie, sodium polystyrene sulfonate). 15 New agents to treat hyperkalemia are in the late …
Social Security Reform with Heterogeneous Agents

This paper analyzes the quantitative role of idiosyncratic uncertainty in an economy in which rational agents vote on hypothetical social security reforms. We find that the role of a pay-as-you-go social security system as a partial insurance and redistribution device significantly reduces political support for a transition to an economy with a fully funded system. We conclude that the status quo bias in favor of an unfunded social security system is stronger in economies in which agents of similar age differ significantly with respect to labor earnings and wealth due to idiosyncratic income uncertainty. (Copyright: Elsevier)
A hybrid approach to develop a real time COFDM based data link using TI C64xx DSP and XC5VSX95T FPGA

Error correcting codes are combined with Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) modulation scheme to make it capable to cater for the severe multipath frequency selective environments which cause inter symbol interference (ISI). Modern communication systems are using Coded-OFDM technology due to its excellent performance in such environments. This paper presents a real time implementation of an end-to-end COFDM based Software Defined Radio. The Baseband and IF Signal Processing Module (BISPM) uses Texas Instrument TMS 320C6455 Digital Signal Processor (DSP) and XC5VSX95T Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The BISPM is reconfigurable to BPSK (Binary Phase Shift Keying), QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying) and 16QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) modulation schemes. Sensitivity, data throughput, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and synchronization results are evaluated from real time hardware platform. The prototype performance was evaluated for Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) and indoor Rayleigh channel. Results show that the prototype achieves the sensitivity requirements of −80dBm (at bit error rate (BER) of 10−6) for BPSK and QPSK modulation schemes and that of −75dBm (at BER of 10−6) for 16QAM modulation scheme, which designates the prototype design specifications. Also, there was a significant improvement in the BER performance of the data link developed by a hybrid (using both DSP and FPGA) approach as compared to that of by DSP only.
Anaesthetic considerations in a patient with methylmalonyl-coenzyme A mutase deficiency

1. Corso RM, Piraccini E, Sorbello M, Bellantonio D, Tedesco M. The ultrasound-guided transmuscular quadratus lumborum block for perioperative analgesia in open nephrectomy: A case report. Minerva Anestesiol 2017. doi: 10.23736/ S0375-9393.17. 12167-X. 2. Chakraborty A, Goswami J, Patro V. Ultrasound-guided continuous quadratus lumborum block for postoperative analgesia in a pediatric patient. A A Case Rep 2015;4:34-6. 3. Hansen CK, Dam M, Bendtsen TF, Børglum J. Ultrasound-guided quadratus lumborum blocks: Definition of the clinical relevant endpoint of injection and the safest approach. A A Case Rep 2016;6:39. 4. Willard FH, Vleeming A, Schuenke MD, Danneels L, Schleip R. The thoracolumbar fascia: Anatomy, function and clinical considerations. J Anat 2012;221:507-36. 5. Ueshima H, Otake H, Lin JA. Ultrasound-guided quadratus How to cite this article: Suri A, Sindwani G, Sahu S, Sureka S. Quadratus lumborum block failure: “A must know complication”. Indian J Anaesth 2017;61:1016-8. © 2017 Indian Journal of Anaesthesia | Published by Wolters Kluwer Medknow This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
Extraction de règles de corrélation décisionnelles

Dans cet article, nous introduisons deux nouveaux concepts : les regles de correlation decisionnelles et les vecteurs de contingence. Le premier resulte d'un couplage entre les regles de correlation et les regles de decision. Il permet de mettre en evidence des liens pertinents entre certains ensembles de motifs d'une relation binaire et les valeurs d'un attribut cible (appartenant a cette meme relation) en se basant a la fois sur la mesure du Khi-carre et sur le support des motifs extraits. De par la nature du probleme, les algorithmes par niveaux font que l'extraction des resultats a lieu avec des temps de reponse eleves et une occupation memoire importante. Afin de palier a ces deux inconvenients, nous proposons un algorithme base sur l'ordre lectique et les vecteurs de contingence.
The Effect of Aminophylline on Renal Colic: A Randomized Double Blind Controlled Trial

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of aminophylline infusion as a painkiller compared with placebo in patients with acute renal colic. Patients and Methods: From March to August 2005, 141 patients with clinical renal colic, who were under 60 years of age, had no history of heart or hepatic failure, asthma, theophylline or beta blocker use, reaction to methylxantines, pregnancy or breast feeding, and were not prescribed spasmolytic or analgesics, entered our study. They were randomly assigned to receive either 375 mg of aminophylline or placebo infusion under double blind conditions. Pain intensity was recorded using a visual analog scale (VAS), before drug administration and 30 and 60 minutes afterwards. The drug effectiveness was defined as ≥40% decrease in pain intensity 60 minutes after the onset of infusion, without exacerbation during the following 4 hours. Results: Seventy patients received aminophylline; it was effective in 45 (64%; 95% confidence interval 52–75%). Alternatively, placebo was effective in 12 of 71 control patients (17%; 95% confidence interval 9–28%); (P < 0.001). Thirty and 60 minutes after administration, aminophylline reduced pain by 24% and 39% respectively, as compared with 6% and 8% pain reduction in the placebo group. Conclusion: This prospective study provides remarkable information about the efficacy of aminophylline on pain relief and decreasing narcotic usage in symptomatic urinary calculi. It is safe, inexpensive, with minute side effects and can be considered a good alternative or additive to narcotic analgesics in the management of renal colic.
Road Asphalt Pavements Analyzed by Airborne Thermal Remote Sensing: Preliminary Results of the Venice Highway

This paper describes a fast procedure for evaluating asphalt pavement surface defects using airborne emissivity data. To develop this procedure, we used airborne multispectral emissivity data covering an urban test area close to Venice (Italy). For this study, we first identify and select the roads' asphalt pavements on Multispectral Infrared Visible Imaging Spectrometer (MIVIS) imagery using a segmentation procedure. Next, since in asphalt pavements the surface defects are strictly related to the decrease of oily components that cause an increase of the abundance of surfacing limestone, the diagnostic absorption emissivity peak at 11. 2μm of the limestone was used for retrieving from MIVIS emissivity data the areas exhibiting defects on asphalt pavements surface.The results showed that MIVIS emissivity allows establishing a threshold that points out those asphalt road sites on which a check for a maintenance intervention is required. Therefore, this technique can supply local government authorities an efficient, rapid and repeatable road mapping procedure providing the location of the asphalt pavements to be checked.
Histopathological observations in experimental cryptococcosis caused by a hypha-producing strain of Cryptococcus neoformans (Coward strain) in mice.

Three distinct types of lesions were recognizable viz: histiocytic granulomata; tuberculoid granulomata with central necrosis surrounded by epithelioid cells and micro-abscesses.The inflammatory reaction was most severe with hyphal fragments and small, round or oval forms; it tended to diminish when larger round cells appeared and capsules increased in thickness. Large cells with wide capsules were not associated with any significant inflammatory reaction.
REY AUDITORY VERBAL LEARNING TEST AS A TOOL FOR DIAGNOSIS OF MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT

Background. Previous research suggests that patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) manifest more "false alarm" (FA) responses in recognition memory tests than patients with Huntington disease (Delis et al., 1991), minimal cognitive impairment (MCI) or normal controls (Greenaway et al., 2006). It has been shown that 50% of patients with MCI develop dementia within 5 years (Gauthier et al., 2006). An early diagnosis of MCI when treatment is most effective is thus warranted. The objective of this study was to characterize recognition memory error patterns in patients with MCI in order to predict an incipient AD. Methods. 33 MCI patients whose MMSE scores were between 25 and 27 participated in the study and were compared to 97 TLE patients who underwent full neuropsychological evaluations. FA measure was applied to analyze the recognition memory errors on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). Results. According to the independent sample t-test, MCI patients de mon strated significantly more FA errors than TLE patients (p=0.01). A significant negative correlation between the number of FA mistakes and the score on the MMSE was found in the MCI group (p=0.04). Conclusions: The present findings suggest that a high number of FA errors, in a framework of a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation, may be helpful in an early diagnosis of MCI. REY AUDITORY VERBAL LEARNING TEST AS A TOOL FOR DIAGNOSIS OF MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT
Price Dynamics In Virtual World Auctions May

Virtual worlds like World of Warcraft and Second Life are slowly becoming recognized by researchers as ideal testing grounds for their theories. The unprecedented control over the world’s dynamics and the easy access to its data make them ideal for observation and controlled experiments. Do results from these worlds, however, have bearing on the physical world? While the agents in these worlds are indeed controlled by humans, the characteristics of these worlds differ from the physical world in many ways, not the least of which is in physics. One way to begin to answer this question is to analyze the behavior of bidders and sellers in virtual currency auctions. Specifically, this paper examines auctions in World of Warcraft and argues that buyers and sellers both value the game’s currency and price items consistently. The paper then briefly explains why the auction mechanism differs from eBay’s enough to render useless the techniques employed to analyze eBay auctions, and it concludes with a justification of why researchers should pay more attention to virtual worlds.
Joint Estimation of Multiple High-dimensional Precision Matrices.

Motivated by analysis of gene expression data measured in different tissues or disease states, we consider joint estimation of multiple precision matrices to effectively utilize the partially shared graphical structures of the corresponding graphs. The procedure is based on a weighted constrained ℓ∞/ℓ1 minimization, which can be effectively implemented by a second-order cone programming. Compared to separate estimation methods, the proposed joint estimation method leads to estimators converging to the true precision matrices faster. Under certain regularity conditions, the proposed procedure leads to an exact graph structure recovery with a probability tending to 1. Simulation studies show that the proposed joint estimation methods outperform other methods in graph structure recovery. The method is illustrated through an analysis of an ovarian cancer gene expression data. The results indicate that the patients with poor prognostic subtype lack some important links among the genes in the apoptosis pathway.
Electrochemical techniques for the repair of reinforced concrete suffering carbonation-induced corrosion

Abstract The use of electrochemical techniques in the repair of reinforced concrete suffering carbonation-induced corrosion is increasing thanks to advantages connected with the possibility of preserving carbonated concrete and minimising the alteration of the surface, which make these techniques attractive for facades or monuments that have a high cultural, historical or architectural value. Electrochemical techniques allow repassivation of the steel through the application of a temporary or permanent cathodic current. These techniques have been used for several decades, although some aspects connected with their application have not been clarified yet. This paper presents a state-of-the-art on the techniques of electrochemical realkalisation and cathodic protection used in carbonated concrete, and describes the recent developments in this field, with particular reference to experimental investigations and on-site applications carried out in Italy in recent years.
Java based Distributed Genetic Programming on the Internet

A distributed approach for parallelising Genetic Programming (GP) on the Internet is proposed and its feasibility demonstrated with a distributed GP system termed DGP developed in Java. DGP is run successfully across the world over the Internet on heterogeneous platforms without any central coordination. The run results and the outcome of an experiment to determine DGP's performance are reported together with a description of DGP.
Induction of fibrinogen binding and platelet aggregation as a potential intrinsic property of various glycoprotein IIb/IIIa (alphaIIbbeta3) inhibitors.

The blockade of platelet integrin glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa is a promising new antiplatelet strategy. The binding of ligands or of the ligand-mimetic peptide RGD causes a conformational change of GP IIb/IIIa from the nonactivated to the activated state. Because several blocking agents/inhibitors are ligand-mimetics, the current study evaluates whether these agents have the intrinsic property to activate GP IIb/IIIa. Fibrinogen binding to GP IIb/IIIa on platelets or on CHO cells expressing recombinant GP IIb/IIIa was evaluated by flow cytometry or 125I-labeled fibrinogen. Incubation with the monoclonal antibody (MoAb) fragment c7E3 (abciximab) results in fibrinogen binding to GP IIb/IIIa and in the access of ligand-induced binding sites. At low concentrations (0.01 to 0.1 microgram/mL), this intrinsic activating property of c7E3 can result in platelet aggregation. The disintegrin flavorodin and the RGD analogue fradafiban also induce fibrinogen binding, whereas the blocking MoAbs 2G12 and P2 and the activation-specific MoAb PAC-1 do not. Aspirin and indomethacin cannot block c7E3-induced fibrinogen binding to GP IIb/IIIa, but can inhibit c7E3-induced platelet aggregation. Thus, we conclude that GP IIb/IIIa inhibitors can demonstrate an intrinsic activating property, which can result in fibrinogen binding to GP IIb/IIIa and consequently in platelet aggregation. Cyclooxygenase inhibitors can inhibit platelet aggregation caused by GP IIb/IIIa inhibitors. Further studies will have to evaluate the clinical relevance of the potential intrinsic activating property of GP IIb/IIIa inhibitors and define consequences for the future drug development and evaluation of these potent antiplatelet agents.
A Label-free, Microfluidics and Interdigitated Array Microelectrode Based Impedance Biosensor in Combination with Nanoparticles Immunoseparation for Detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Food Samples

A microfluidic flow cell with embedded gold interdigitated array microelectrode (IDAM) was developed and integrated with nanoparticle-antibody conjugates into an impedance biosensor to rapidly detect pathogenic bacteria. The flow cell consisting of a detection microchamber and inlet and outlet microchannels was fabricated by bonding an IDAM chip to a Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microchannel. The detection microchamber with a dimension of 7 x 0.5 x 0.02 mm and a volume of 60 nl was used to collect bacterial cells in the active layer above the electrode. Magnetic nanoparticle antibody conjugates (MNAC) were prepared by conjugating streptavidin-coated magnetic nanoparticles with biotin-labeled polyclonal goat anti-E. coli antibodies and were used in the separation and concentration of target bacteria. The cells of E. coli O157:H7 inoculated in a food sample were first captured by the MNAC, separated and concentrated by applying a magnetic field, washed, and then suspended in mannitol solution and finally injected through the microfluidic flow cell for impedance measurement. The lowest detection limit of this biosensor for detection of E. coli O157:H7 in pure culture and ground beef samples was 8.4 x 105 and 7.9 x 106 cfu ml-1, respectively, and the total detection time from sampling to measurement was 35 min. Equivalent circuit analysis indicated that the bulk medium resistance, double layer capacitance, and dielectric capacitance were responsible for causing the impedance change due to the presence of E. coli O157:H7 cells on the surface of IDAM. Sample pre-enrichment, electrode surface immobilization, and redox probes were not needed in this impedance biosensor.
Functionalizing magnetite nanoparticles and vesicles with saccharide coatings for the targeting of cell surface lectins

The specific interaction between saccharide molecules and saccharide-binding proteins, lectins, can be exploited in order to actively target nanostructures to specific cell types for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. However, the conjugation of saccharides to nanostructures can be complex, leading to a lack of versatility in the functionalities that can be achieved, or poorly characterized and therefore potentially inconsistent.Herein is reported a new procedure by which novel saccharide-containing molecules, for the functionalization of nanostructures, could be synthesized rapidly and with good yields. The synthesis was found to be versatile, providing coating molecules for magnetite nanoparticles and phospholipid vesicles from a number of different hydrazides and reducing sugars.The stability of the synthesized coating molecules was assessed, both in aqueous solution and when bound to the surface of a magnetite nanoparticle, and found to be satisfactory for cell culture purposes. The availability of the saccharide units for lectin binding was confirmed using a Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM-D) in addition to a number of assays. Finally, microscopy techniques were used to study the interactions between saccharide-functionalized magnetite nanoparticles and two cell types, fibroblasts (3T3) and hepatocytes (HepG2). This work demonstrated the ability of saccharide coatings to improve the uptake of nanostructures in a cell culture environment and highlighted the potential cell manipulation application of saccharide-coated magnetite nanoparticles.
A market share estimation model for an engineering contracting company "a practical approach"

1 Abstract—In this paper, a market share estimation model for an engineering contracting company is presented. The models are generated by means of two major concepts; namely "Budgeting by Market Objectives" and "Budgeting by Company Performance". Explicit formulas are given to estimate the market share of a company. The validity of the formulas is crosschecked. It is exhibited that the proposed models are useful to guide the top management in selecting appropriate projects or employed as decision-making tools, SWOT analysis tools and generating various kinds of scenarios for future strategies. determined. As it progresses, market and performance based budget figures must match. This fact, in turn yields a relationship between estimated market share and the company performance determined annually. These issues are discussed in Section III. Application of the formulas given in Section III is shown within the case study presented in Section IV. One of the considerable aspects of this work is the derivation of the wins probabilities on project basis. Therefore, in Section V we propose an approach to derive the win probabilities by means of what we call "Competitors Performance Matrix-CPM" concept. The second case study is given in Section VI to exhibit the construction of CPM, which in turn yields the likelihood probability to win for each project. Finally, it is concluded that the techniques presented in this paper are useful tools for decision-making, SWOT analysis and strategic planning etc. It is also indicated that the formulas given in this paper haven been well proven throughout the "25 years long experience" of the author.
Knowledge refinement in diagnostic expert systems

This paper presents a new methodology for the incremental refinement of a knowledge base consisting of inductive rules. The novelty of the approach resides in the use of a body of deep knowledge for guiding the process of rule refinement, even in case this deep knowledge is too complex or not specific enough to deductively generate classification rules. Justifications derived from the deep knowledge can be exploited in order to localize failures and to propose changes oriented to improve the knowledge base. If only incomplete justifications are found, statistical evidence is used to select those which are likely to be the most reliable ones; justifications are also used to evaluate proposed changes in the knowledge base; this is done by reasoning on many examples and counterexamples at the same time.