Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Augmentation of Left Ventricular Contractility by Cardiac Sympathetic Neural Stimulation

Background— Electric stimulation of mediastinal sympathetic cardiac nerves increases cardiac contractility but is not selective for the left ventricle because it elicits sinus tachycardia and enhanced atrioventricular conduction. The aim of this study was to identify sympathetic neural structures inside the heart that selectively control left ventricular inotropy and can be accessed by transvenous catheter stimulation. Methods and Results— In 20 sheep, high-frequency stimulation (200 Hz) during the myocardial refractory period with electrode catheters inside the coronary sinus evoked a systolic left ventricular pressure increase from 97±20 to 138±32 mm Hg (P<0.001) without changes in sinus rate or PR time. Likewise, the rate of systolic pressure development (1143±334 versus 1725±632 mm Hg/s; P=0.004) and rate of diastolic relaxation (531±128 versus 888±331 mm Hg/s; P=0.001) increased. The slope of the end-systolic pressure-volume relationship increased (2.3±0.8 versus 3.1±0.6 mm Hg/mL; P=0.04), as did cardiac output (3.5±0.8 versus 4.4±0.8 L/min; P<0.001). Systemic vascular resistance and right ventricular pressure remained unchanged. There was a sigmoid dose-response curve. Ultrasound analysis revealed an increase in circumferential and radial strain in all left ventricular segments that was significant for the posterior, lateral, and anterior segments. Pressure effects were maintained for at least 4 hours of continued high-frequency stimulation and abolished by &bgr;1-receptor blockade. Histology showed distinct adrenergic nerve bundles at the high-frequency stimulation site. Conclusions— Cardiac nerve fibers that innervate the left ventricle are amenable to transvenous electric catheter stimulation. This may permit direct interference with and modulation of the sympathetic tone of the left ventricle.
Detection and Identification of Fungi Intimately Associated with the Brown Seaweed Fucus serratus

ABSTRACT The filamentous fungi associated with healthy and decaying Fucus serratus thalli were studied over a 1-year period using isolation methods and molecular techniques such as 28S rRNA gene PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and phylogenetic and real-time PCR analyses. The predominant DGGE bands obtained from healthy algal thalli belonged to the Lindra, Lulworthia, Engyodontium, Sigmoidea/Corollospora complex, and Emericellopsis/Acremonium-like ribotypes. In the culture-based analysis the incidence of recovery was highest for Sigmoidea marina isolates. In general, the environmental sequences retrieved could be matched unambiguously to isolates recovered from the seaweed except for the Emericellopsis/Acremonium-like ribotype, which showed 99% homology with the sequences of four different isolates, including that of Acremonium fuci. To estimate the extent of colonization of A. fuci, we used a TaqMan real-time quantitative PCR assay for intron 3 of the beta-tubulin gene, the probe for which proved to be species specific even when it was used in amplifications with high background concentrations of other eukaryotic DNAs. The A. fuci sequence was detected with both healthy and decaying thalli, but the signal was stronger for the latter. Additional sequence types, representing members from the Dothideomycetes, were recovered from the decaying thallus DNA, which suggested that a change in fungal community structure had occurred. Phylogenetic analysis of these environmental sequences and the sequences of isolates and type species indicated that the environmental sequences were novel in the Dothideomycetes.
Wnt signaling pathway in retinal vascularization

Wnt-signaling, a ubiquitous pathway that directs differentiation, cell polarity, and tissue specificity, has been implicated as an important gene-expression pathway in retinal development. An increasing body of evidence supports the importance of Wnt-signaling, and specifically, norrin-mediated Wnt-signaling in retinal development and retinal maintenance. Gene mutations affecting the Wnt-signaling pathways result in a variety of inherited vitreoretinopathies. Additionally, there is growing evidence that prematurity and associated retinopathy are associated with alterations in the Wnt-signaling pathways. Further investigations may allow for improved diagnoses, management, and therapies in the future.
Hand Function in the Child: Foundations for Remediation

Part I: Foundation of Hand Skills 1. Cortical control of hand-object interaction 2. Anatomy and kinesiology of the hand 3. Normal and impaired development of force control in precision grip 4. Perceptual functions of the hand 5. Reaching and eye-hand coordination 6. Cognition and motor skills Part II: Development of Hand Skills 7. Hand skill development in the context of infants' play: birth to two years 8. Object manipulation in infants and children 9. Handedness in children 10. Self-care and hand skill 11. The development of graphomotor skills Part III: Therapeutic Intervention 12. Intervention for children with hand skill problems 13. A fine motor program for preschoolers 14. Evaluation of handwriting 15. Principles and practices of teaching handwriting 16. Upper extremity intervention in cerebral palsy: a neurodevelopmental approach 17. Pediatric hand therapy 18. Splinting the upper extremity of a child 19. Efficacy of interventions to enhance hand function
The impact of equol-producing status in modifying the effect of soya isoflavones on risk factors for CHD: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials

Abstract Recent studies suggest that the ability to produce equol, a metabolite of the soya isoflavone daidzein, is beneficial to coronary health. Equol, generated by bacterial action on isoflavones in the human gut, is biologically more potent than dietary sources of isoflavones. Not all humans are equol producers. We investigated whether equol-producing status is favourably associated with risk factors for CHD following an intervention by dietary soya isoflavones. We systematically reviewed randomised controlled trials (RCT) that evaluated the effect of soya isoflavones on risk factors for CHD and that reported equol-producing status. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, Ovid Medline and the Cochrane Central Register for Controlled Trials published up to April 2015 and hand-searched bibliographies to identify the RCT. Characteristics of participants and outcomes measurements were extracted and qualitatively analysed. From a total of 1671 studies, we identified forty-two articles that satisfied our search criteria. The effects of equol on risk factors for CHD were mainly based on secondary analyses in these studies, thus with inadequate statistical power. Although fourteen out of the forty-two studies found that equol production after a soya isoflavone intervention significantly improved a range of risk factors including cholesterol and other lipids, inflammation and blood pressure variables, these results need further verification by sufficiently powered studies. The other twenty-eight studies primarily reported null results. RCT of equol, which has recently become available as a dietary supplement, on CHD and its risk factors are awaited.
.1 Range Minimum Query (rmq) 1.2 Lowest Common Ancestor (lca)

We care not only about the value of the minimum element, but also about the index k of the minimum element between A[i] and A[j]; given the index, it is easy to look up the actual value of the minimum element, so it is a more interesting problem to find the index of the minimum element between A[i] and A[j]. The range minimum query problem is not a tree problem, but it closely related to a tree problem (least common ancestor).
Effect of reporting bias on meta-analyses of drug trials: reanalysis of meta-analyses

Objective To investigate the effect of including unpublished trial outcome data obtained from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the results of meta-analyses of drug trials. Design Reanalysis of meta-analyses. Data sources Drug trials with unpublished outcome data for new molecular entities that were approved by the FDA between 2001 and 2002 were identified. For each drug, eligible systematic reviews containing at least one meta-analysis were identified by searches of Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library in November 2010. Selection criteria Eligible systematic reviews were done after FDA approval of the drug, were published in English, and had outcomes and comparators that were the same as those of the trials with unpublished FDA trial outcomes, and the characteristics of participants in the systematic reviews were consistent with the FDA approved indication for the drug. Clinical guidelines, conference proceedings, duplicate systematic reviews, and systematic reviews in which included trials were not referenced or that combined trials across multiple drug classes were excluded. Systematic reviews using non-standard meta-analytic techniques (such as Bayesian or network meta-analyses) and those that used inappropriate or invalid methods for calculation of summary statistics (such as unweighted pooled analyses) were also excluded. Data extraction Two authors independently extracted data from both the published systematic reviews and the FDA’s medical and statistical reviews of the trials submitted to FDA. Main outcome measure Summary statistics (risk ratios, odds ratios, or weighted mean differences) for relevant outcomes with and without unpublished FDA trial data. Results 42 meta-analyses (41 efficacy outcomes, one harm outcome) for nine drugs across six drug classes were reanalysed. Overall, addition of unpublished FDA trial data caused 46% (19/41) of the summary estimates from the meta-analyses to show lower efficacy of the drug, 7% (3/41) to show identical efficacy, and 46% (19/41) to show greater efficacy. The summary estimate of the single harm outcome showed more harm from the drug after inclusion of unpublished FDA trial data. Conclusion The effect of including unpublished FDA trial outcome data varies by drug and outcome. Unpublished FDA trial outcome data should be available and included in meta-analysis. Making these data easily accessible is particularly important because the effects of including unpublished data vary.
Characterization and Functional Analysis of the Promoter of RAGE, the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products*

The receptor for advanced glycation end products, RAGE, is a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily of cell surface molecules differentially expressed on a range of cell types. Ligation of RAGE perturbs homeostatic mechanisms and, potentially, provides a basis for cellular dysfunction in pathologic situations in which its ligands accumulate. To understand factors underlying RAGE expression, we cloned the 5′-flanking region of the RAGE gene and characterized putative regulatory motifs. Analysis of the putative promoter region revealed the presence of three potential NF-κB-like and two SP1 binding sites. Transient transfection of vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells using chimeric 5′-deletion constructs linked to luciferase reporter revealed that the region −1543/−587 contributed importantly to both basal and stimulated expression of the RAGE gene. This region of the RAGE gene contained three putative NF-κB-like binding sites and was responsible for increased luciferase activity observed when endothelial or smooth muscle cells were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide. DNase I footprinting assays and electrophoretic mobility shift assay revealed that two of the three NF-κB-like binding sites (1 and 2) were likely functional and responsive to stimuli. Upon simultaneous mutation of NF-κB-like sites 1 and 2, both basal promoter expression and response to stimulation with LPS, as measured by relative luciferase activity, were significantly diminished. These results point to NF-κB-dependent mechanisms regulating cellular expression of RAGE and suggest a means of linking RAGE to the inflammatory response.
Approximations of the Restless Bandit Problem

The multi-armed restless bandit problem is studied in the case where the pay-off distributions are stationary $\varphi$-mixing. This version of the problem provides a more realistic model for most real-world applications, but cannot be optimally solved in practice, since it is known to be PSPACE-hard. The objective of this paper is to characterize a sub-class of the problem where {\em good} approximate solutions can be found using tractable approaches. Specifically, it is shown that under some conditions on the $\varphi$-mixing coefficients, a modified version of UCB can prove effective. The main challenge is that, unlike in the i.i. d. setting, the distributions of the sampled pay-offs may not have the same characteristics as those of the original bandit arms. In particular, the $\varphi$-mixing property does not necessarily carry over. This is overcome by carefully controlling the effect of a sampling policy on the pay-off distributions. Some of the proof techniques developed in this paper can be more generally used in the context of online sampling under dependence. Proposed algorithms are accompanied with corresponding regret analysis.
Do We Need Critical Health Psychology or Rather Critical Health Psychologists?

In her article Julie Hepworth (this issue) discusses the definition of critical health psychology and its position within the field of health psychology. We understand that she is inclined to favour a position of critical health psychology that is separate from and in opposition to mainstream health psychology. In contrast to this, we are convinced that the important concerns of critical health psychology are better served by efforts to help mainstream health psychologists think and work more strongly from a critical perspective.
Generalized state scaling-based robust control of nonlinear systems and applications to triangular systems

In this paper, we propose a high-gain scaling based controller to achieve global state-feedback stabilization of a general class of nonlinear systems which are allowed to contain uncertain functions of all the states and the control input as long as polynomial bounds on ratios of some uncertain system terms are available. The design is based on a high-gain scaling involving appropriate powers of a high-gain scaling parameter which is a dynamic signal driven by the state. The designed controller has a very simple structure being essentially a dynamic extension and a linear feedback with state-dependent dynamic gains. The obtained results are applicable to both lower triangular (strict-feedback) and upper triangular (feedforward) structures and also to systems without any triangular structure as long as a set of inequalities involving powers of the polynomial bounds on the ratios of the uncertain system terms and scaling orders is solvable. The stability analysis is based on our recent results on uniform solvability of coupled state-dependent Lyapunov equations.
Mini-Intervention for Subacute Low Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Study Design. Randomized controlled trial. Objectives. To investigate the effectiveness and costs of a mini-intervention, provided in addition to the usual care, and the incremental effect of a work site visit for patients with subacute disabling low back pain. Summary of Background Data. There is lack of data on cost-effectiveness of brief interventions for patients with prolonged low back pain. Methods. A total of 164 patients with subacute low back pain were randomized to a mini-intervention group (A), a work site visit group (B), or a usual care group (C). Groups A (n = 56) and B (n = 51) underwent one assessment by a physician plus a physiotherapist. Group B received a work site visit in addition. Group C served as controls (n = 57) and was treated in municipal primary health care. All patients received a leaflet on back pain. Pain, disability, specific and generic health-related quality of life, satisfaction with care, days on sick leave, and use and costs of health care consumption were measured at 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups. Results. During follow-up, fewer subjects had daily pain in Groups A and B than in Group C (Group A vs. Group C, P = 0.002; Group B vs. Group C, P = 0.030). In Group A, pain was less bothersome (Group A vs. Group C, P = 0.032) and interfered less with daily life (Group A vs. Group C, P = 0.040) than among controls. Average days on sick leave were 19 in Group A, 28 in Group B, and 41 in Group C (Group A vs. Group C, P = 0.019). Treatment satisfaction was better in the intervention groups than among the controls, and costs were lowest in the mini-intervention group. Conclusions. Mini-intervention reduced daily back pain symptoms and sickness absence, improved adaptation to pain and patient satisfaction among patients with subacute low back pain, without increasing health care costs. A work site visit did not increase effectiveness.
Middle-ear disease and schizophrenia: case-control study.

BACKGROUND One hundred years ago psychiatrists thought that ear disease could cause insanity by irritation of the brain. Current understanding of the role of the temporal lobes in schizophrenia and their proximity to the middle ear supports this hypothesis. AIMS To establish the rate of middle-ear disease pre-dating the onset of schizophrenia. METHOD Eighty-four patients with schizophrenia were each matched to four non-psychiatric controls by age, gender and season of birth. History of ear disease was obtained from general practice records. Additional information on symptoms was collected for participants in the case group, who also had audiometry. RESULTS The odds ratio of recorded middle-ear disease pre-dating schizophrenia was 3.68 (95% CI 1.86-7.28). This excess was particularly marked on the left (OR=4.15, 95% CI 2.08-8.29). Auditory hallucinations were associated with middle-ear disease but not with hearing loss. CONCLUSIONS There is an association between middle-ear disease and schizophrenia which may have aetiological significance.
Dual-master teleoperation control of kinematically redundant robotic slave manipulators

Kinematically redundant robotic manipulators (KRRM) can provide a great degree of flexibility for working in complex unstructured environments. Teleoperation control of KRRM requires a strategy to resolve the redundancy of the slave robot while achieving transparency in the task space. In this paper, a two-master control approach is proposed in which the first master transparently controls the redundant slave end-effector in the task space, denoted as the primary task. Meanwhile, a second master exploits the slave redundancy to perform a secondary task such as obstacle avoidance or internal position control. Kinematic redundancy is considered for the slave robot and the traditional autonomous null-space control approach is also accommodated. Teleoperation control is achieved in two steps. First, velocity-level redundancy resolution is attained through new joint-space Lyapunov-based adaptive motion/force controllers. Coordinating reference commands for the joint-space controllers are designed to give priority to the primary task and decoupling between the tasks is achieved without the use of a dynamically consistent pseudo-inverse. Experimental results with two identical planar two-degree-of-freedom master devices controlling a simulated four-degree-of-freedom redundant slave robot show the effectiveness of the approach.
Adaptive load allocation for combining Anomaly Detectors using controlled skips

Traditional Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) can be complemented by an Anomaly Detection Algorithm (ADA) to also identify unknown attacks. We argue that, as each ADA has its own strengths and weaknesses, it might be beneficial to rely on multiple ADAs to obtain deeper insights. ADAs are very resource intensive; thus, real-time detection with multiple algorithms is even more challenging in high-speed networks. To handle such high data rates, we developed a controlled load allocation scheme that adaptively allocates multiple ADAs on a multi-core system. The key idea of this concept is to utilize as many algorithms as possible without causing random packet drops, which is the typical system behavior in overload situations. We developed a proof of concept anomaly detection framework with a sample set of ADAs. Our experiments confirm that the detection performance can substantially benefit from using multiple algorithms and that the developed framework is also able to cope with high packet rates.
The Precursor Pro-Nerve Growth Factor Is the Predominant Form of Nerve Growth Factor in Brain and Is Increased in Alzheimer's Disease

Nerve growth factor (NGF) is important for regulation, differentiation, and survival of peripheral and central nervous system neurons, including basal forebrain cholinergic neurons (BFCN) which degenerate in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Mature NGF protein is processed from a larger precursor, proNGF. We demonstrate that proNGF is the predominant form of NGF in mouse, rat, and human brain tissue, whereas little or no mature NGF is detected. Previous reports showed NGF protein, measured by ELISA, is increased in AD BFCN target regions such as hippocampus and cortex. Using Western blotting, we demonstrate a twofold increase in proNGF in AD parietal cortex compared to controls, indicating that it is this precursor form, proNGF, that accumulates in AD. This increase may reflect either a role for biologically active proNGF or posttranslational disturbances in NGF biosynthesis that decrease the processing of proNGF to mature NGF in AD.
Logical Aspects of Massively Parallel and Distributed Systems

Database research has witnessed a renewed interest for data processing in distributed and parallel settings. While distributed and parallel data management systems have been around for quite some time, it is the rise of cloud computing and the advent of Big Data that presents the community with new challenges. This paper highlights recent research concerning the logical foundations of massively parallel and distributed systems. The first part of the paper concerns massively parallel systems where computation proceeds in a number of synchronized rounds. Here, the focus is on evaluation algorithms for conjunctive queries as well as on reasoning about correctness and optimization of such algorithms. The second part of the paper addresses a distributed asynchronous setting where eventual consistency comes into play. Here, the focus is on coordination-free computation and its relationship to logical monotonicity and Datalog programs.