Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Heterogeneous susceptibility for uraemic media calcification and concomitant inflammation within the arterial tree

Background End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is strongly associated with arterial calcification of the tunica media, decreased vascular compliance and sudden cardiac death. Here, we analysed the distribution pattern of uraemic media calcification and concomitant inflammation in mice and men. Methods Uraemia was induced in DBA/2 mice with high-phosphate diet. Subsequently, we analysed arterial medial calcification using histology, mass spectrometry, and wire myography. Gene expression was quantified using a whole transcriptome array and quantitative PCR. In a cohort of 36 consecutive patients with CKD stage 4–5, we measured the calcium score of the coronary arteries, the ascending thoracic aorta and the infrarenal abdominal aorta using computed tomography scans. Results Uraemic DBA/2 mice showed only minor calcifications in thoracic aortas, whereas there was overt media calcification in abdominal aortas. The transcriptional profile and immunohistochemistry revealed induction of Vcam1 expression by vascular smooth muscle cells in uraemic abdominal aortas. Macrophages infiltrated the tunica media of the abdominal aorta. Anti-inflammatory treatment did not improve uraemic media calcification in our animal model. Arterial calcifications in ESRD patients showed a similar distribution pattern in computed tomography scans, with higher calcium scores of the abdominal aorta when compared with the thoracic aorta. Conclusion Taken together, there was a similar heterogeneous pattern of calcification in both mice and humans, where the abdominal aorta was more prone to media calcification when compared with the thoracic aorta. In uraemia, smooth muscle cells of the abdominal aorta showed a phenotypic switch to an inflammatory and osteoblastic phenotype.
Pilot Contamination in Small-Cell Massive MIMO Systems

In this paper, we address pilot contamination problem in massive MIMO systems, and investigate the effect of cell size reduction on this phenomenon. While all the effects of noise are removed, the only limiting factor on the performance of massive MIMO systems is pilot contamination. On the other hand, Small Cell Networks are promising design architecture in terms of energy and area spectral efficiency as well as green system design. In this paper, we will show that cell size reduction is also capable of removing the effect of pilot contamination and improves the performnace of massive MIMO technique. In order to investigate the effect of cell size reduction, we will introduce two metrics, worst-case capacity and average capacity. As we will see, in terms of both metrics, cell size reduction provide high capacity gain and therefore, SCN along with massive MIMO technique are potential architecture of future cellualr networks.
Nausea and vomiting after surgery under general anesthesia: an evidence-based review concerning risk assessment, prevention, and treatment.

BACKGROUND The German-language recommendations for the management of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) have been revised by an expert committee. Major aspects of this revision are presented here in the form of an evidence-based review article. METHODS The literature was systematically reviewed with the goal of revising the existing recommendations. New evidence-based recommendations for the management of PONV were developed, approved by consensus, and graded according to the scheme of the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN). RESULTS The relevant risk factors for PONV include female sex, nonsmoker status, prior history of PONV, motion sickness, use of opioids during and after surgery, use of inhalational anesthetics and nitrous oxide, and the duration of anesthesia. PONV scoring systems provide a rough assessment of risk that can serve as the basis for a risk-adapted approach. Risk-adapted prophylaxis, however, has not been shown to provide any greater benefit than fixed (combination) prophylaxis, and PONV risk scores have inherent limitations; thus, fixed prophylaxis may be advantageous. Whichever of these two approaches to manage PONV is chosen, high-risk patients must be given multimodal prophylaxis, involving both the avoidance of known risk factors and the application of multiple validated and effective antiemetic interventions. PONV should be treated as soon as it arises, to minimize patient discomfort, the risk of medical complications, and the costs involved. CONCLUSION PONV lowers patient satisfaction but is treatable. The effective, evidence-based measures of preventing and treating it should be implemented in routine practice.
High-Sensitive Troponin Measurement in Emergency Department Patients Presenting with Syncope: A Retrospective Analysis

Objective To study the relevance of high-sensitive troponin measurements in the acute workup in patients admitted to the emergency department of a large university hospital due to syncope. Methods In this retrospective study all patients admitted to the emergency department because of syncope of the Inselspital, University Hospital Bern between 01 August 2010 and 31 October 2012, with serial determination of high-sensitive troponin (baseline and three hours control) were included. Of all identified patients we obtained data on demographics, laboratory data, ECG as well as on outcome. A change in high-sensitive troponin in the three hours control of +/−30% compared to baseline was considered significant. Results A total of 121 patients with a mean age of 67 years (SD 16) were included in the study. 79 patients (65%) were male and 42 (35%) were female. There was no significant difference in the median high sensitive-troponin level at baseline and in the three hours control (0.01 mcg/L [0.003 to 0.022] versus 0.011 mcg/L [0.003 to 0.022], p = 0.47). Median percent change in high-sensitive troponin level between baseline and control was 0% (−9.1 to 5). 51 patients (42%) had elevated high-sensitive troponin levels at baseline with 7 patients (6%) showing a dynamic of +/−30% change from the baseline measurement in the 3 hours control. 3 of these patients received coronary angiography due to the dynamic in high-sensitive troponin, none of whom needed intervention for coronary revascularization. Conclusions On basis of the current study, where no single patient took benefit from determination of high-sensitive troponin, measurement of cardiac troponins should be reserved for patients with syncope presenting with symptoms suggestive for the presence of an acute cardiac syndrome.
A distributed channel probing scheme for wireless networks

This paper presents a distributed channel probing scheme for wireless networks. By transmitting a probing signal in a channel and measuring the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR), a wireless node can estimate channel admissibility and predict its required transmission power without fully powering up. The channel probing scheme can be used as part of a distributed channel allocation algorithm, and simulations have shown that it outperforms other schemes.
An Independent Control System for Testing and Analysis of UAVs in Indoor Environments

This work proposes the development of an embedded system compatible with any Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) remotely controlled by radio, which is able to perform the control of an UAV and monitor and store all flight data for later retrieval and analysis. This will allow the future identification of stability patterns of a vehicle, identification and quantification of instabilities occurrences, and aid the discovery of the causes of accidents. The proposed solution allows the replication of experiments in order to perform the characterization of UAVs. In the presented experiments, the vehicle was controlled using remote control channels and all flight data was stored. Disturbances were added to the vehicle during testings and the system was able to detect them.
Regulation and expression of a renin-angiotensin system in human pancreas and pancreatic endocrine tumours.

OBJECTIVE Evidence exists for the presence of a renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in the pancreas. The aims of this study were to prove the presence of an intrinsic RAS in the human pancreas and to analyse the role of such an RAS in pancreatic endocrine tumours (PETs). METHODS Gene expression of key RAS components (angiotensinogen and angiotensin II receptors, namely AT1 and AT2) was investigated in human pancreas and in PETs by semi-quantitative RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS Expression of mRNAs of RAS components was found in human pancreas and in PETs. Data from semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis demonstrated an increase in the mRNA expression of angiotensinogen and AT2 receptor in PETs when compared with that in normal pancreas. By immunohistochemistry, angiotensinogen protein was predominantly localized in the pancreatic islets while AT1 receptor protein was in the pancreatic ducts. CONCLUSIONS The data support the notion of the existence of an intrinsic RAS in the human pancreas. It also indicates, for the first time, that such a local pancreatic RAS is subject to regulation by PETs and its significant change may have pathophysiological relevance in patients with PETs.
Condition-dependent expression of virulence in a trypanosome infecting bumblebees

Parasite virulence affects both the temporal dynamics of host-parasite relationships and the degree to which parasites regulate host populations. If hosts can compensate for parasitism, then parasites may exhibit condition-dependent virulence, with high virulence being seen only when the host is under conditions of stress. Despite their usually low level of virulence, theory suggests that such parasites may still affect host population dynamics. We tested whether a trypanosome intestinal parasite of bumblebees, Crithidia bombi, expresses condition-dependent virulence. Hosts were infected with the parasite and then kept under either favourable or starvation (stressed) conditions. Under favourable conditions the infection caused no mortality, while when hosts were starved the infection increased the host mortality rate by 50%. In addition, we found a parasite-related change in host resource allocation patterns. Infected bees invested relatively more resources into their fat body and less into their reproductive system than did non-infected bees. Whether this reallocation is parasite-driven, to enhance transmission, or a host-response to parasitism, remains unknown.
Direct and concentration-dependent regulation of the proneural gene Neurogenin2 by Pax6

Expression of the proneural gene Neurogenin2 is controlled by several enhancer elements, with the E1 element active in restricted progenitor domains in the embryonic spinal cord and telencephalon that express the homeodomain protein Pax6. We show that Pax6 function is both required and sufficient to activate this enhancer, and we identify one evolutionary conserved sequence in the E1 element with high similarity to a consensus Pax6 binding site. This conserved sequence binds Pax6 protein with low affinity both in vitro and in vivo, and its disruption results in a severe decrease in E1 activity in the spinal cord and in its abolition in the cerebral cortex. The regulation of Neurogenin2 by Pax6 is thus direct. Pax6 is expressed in concentration gradients in both spinal cord and telencephalon. We demonstrate that the E1 element is only activated by high concentrations of Pax6 protein, and that this requirement explains the restriction of E1 enhancer activity to domains of high Pax6 expression levels in the medioventral spinal cord and lateral cortex. By modifying the E1 enhancer sequence, we also show that the spatial pattern of enhancer activity is determined by the affinity of its binding site for Pax6. Together, these data demonstrate that direct transcriptional regulation accounts for the coordination between mechanisms of patterning and neurogenesis. They also provide evidence that Pax6 expression gradients are involved in establishing borders of gene expression domains in different regions of the nervous system.
The ARCP flying capacitor inverter

Reduction of switching losses is an important issue in development of high power multilevel converters. Improvement of the known soft switching techniques to find application in multilevel topologies is therefore a worth attempt started recently. This paper proposes a new auxiliary circuit for the flying capacitor multilevel converters realizing soft switching conditions for these converters using the auxiliary resonant commutated pole (ARCP) technique. The proposed ARCP auxiliary circuit provides zero-voltage-switching conditions for main switches without any extra voltage and current stresses on the main and auxiliary switches. The auxiliary switches operate in zero-current-switching conditions as in case of ARCP circuit in a two-level converter. All degrees of freedom of space vector modulation remain available, so that any kind of PWM technique and current control strategy can be used without any constraint. The proposed auxiliary circuit operates also similarly for the redundant switching states of multilevel space vector PWM being used for voltage control of flying capacitors. The results obtained from simulation and experimental set-up verify adequate operation of proposed auxiliary circuit
On Generalized Tian Ji’s Horse Racing Strategy

Abstract Tian Ji’s horse racing strategy, a famous Chinese legend, constitutes a promising concept to be applied to important issues in today’s competitive environment; this strategy is elaborated on and analyzed by examining the general case. The mathematical formulation concerning the calculation of winning, drawing or losing combinations and probabilities is presented to illustrate the interesting insights on how ancient philosophies could promote thinking in business competitiveness, in particular, the wisdom behind sacrificing the part for the benefit of the whole or sacrificing the short-term objectives in order to gain the long-term goal.
Rolling the tachyon in super BSFT

We investigate the rolling of the tachyon on the unstable D9 brane in type IIA string theory by studying the BSFT action. The action is known for linear profiles of the tachyon, which is the expected asymptotic behavior of the tachyon as it approaches the closed string vacuum, as recently described by Sen. Making a rather strong assumption about the extrapolation of this action to a lagrangian, we find consistentency with the general Sen description, in that it implies a constant energy density with diminishing pressure. However, the details are somewhat different from an effective field theory of Born-Infeld type. For instance, the BSFT action implies there are poles for certain rolling velocities, while a Born-Infeld action would have a cut. We also find that solutions with pressure diminishing from either the positive or negative side are possible.
Strategies to work with HLA data in human populations for histocompatibility, clinical transplantation, epidemiology and population genetics: HLA-NET methodological recommendations

HLA‐NET (a European COST Action) aims at networking researchers working in bone marrow transplantation, epidemiology and population genetics to improve the molecular characterization of the HLA genetic diversity of human populations, with an expected strong impact on both public health and fundamental research. Such improvements involve finding consensual strategies to characterize human populations and samples and report HLA molecular typings and ambiguities; proposing user‐friendly access to databases and computer tools and defining minimal requirements related to ethical aspects. The overall outcome is the provision of population genetic characterizations and comparisons in a standard way by all interested laboratories. This article reports the recommendations of four working groups (WG1‐4) of the HLA‐NET network at the mid‐term of its activities. WG1 (Population definitions and sampling strategies for population genetics’ analyses) recommends avoiding outdated racial classifications and population names (e.g. ‘Caucasian’) and using instead geographic and/or cultural (e.g. linguistic) criteria to describe human populations (e.g. ‘pan‐European’). A standard ‘HLA‐NET POPULATION DATA QUESTIONNAIRE’ has been finalized and is available for the whole HLA community. WG2 (HLA typing standards for population genetics analyses) recommends retaining maximal information when reporting HLA typing results. Rather than using the National Marrow Donor Program coding system, all ambiguities should be provided by listing all allele pairs required to explain each genotype, according to the formats proposed in ‘HLA‐NET GUIDELINES FOR REPORTING HLA TYPINGS’. The group also suggests taking into account a preliminary list of alleles defined by polymorphisms outside the peptide‐binding sites that may affect population genetic statistics because of significant frequencies. WG3 (Bioinformatic strategies for HLA population data storage and analysis) recommends the use of programs capable of dealing with ambiguous data, such as the ‘gene[rate]’ computer tools to estimate frequencies, test for Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium and selective neutrality on data containing any number and kind of ambiguities. WG4 (Ethical issues) proposes to adopt thorough general principles for any HLA population study to ensure that it conforms to (inter)national legislation or recommendations/guidelines. All HLA‐NET guidelines and tools are available through its website http://hla‐net.eu.
A Framework for Personalized Information Retrieval Model

Existing search engines ignore the user’s search context and return results to the user solely based on their relevance value to the query. Hence, the need for personalized information retrieval system which takes into account the actual user’s profile during the retrieval process is “mandatory. ” In this paper, we propose a framework for personalized information retrieval model using user profiles. It incorporates the user profile module into the retrieval process to filter results returned by traditional search engine so that they meet the specific needs of the user.
Women’s compliance with nutrition and lifestyle recommendations before pregnancy: general population cohort study

Objective To examine the extent to which women planning a pregnancy comply with recommendations for nutrition and lifestyle. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Southampton, United Kingdom. Participants 12 445 non-pregnant women aged 20-34 recruited to the Southampton Women’s Survey through general practices, 238 of whom became pregnant within three months of being interviewed. Main outcome measures Folic acid supplement intake, alcohol consumption, smoking, diet, and physical activity before pregnancy. Results The 238 women who became pregnant within three months of the interview were only marginally more likely to comply with recommendations for those planning a pregnancy than those who did not become pregnant in this period. Among those who became pregnant, 2.9% (95% confidence interval 1.2% to 6.0%) were taking 400 μg or more of folic acid supplements a day and drinking four or fewer units of alcohol a week, compared with 0.66% (0.52% to 0.82%) of those who did not become pregnant. 74% of those who became pregnant were non-smokers compared with 69% of those who did not become pregnant (P=0.08). Women in both groups were equally likely to consume five or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day (53% in each group, P=1.0), but only 57% of those who became pregnant had taken any strenuous exercise in the past three months compared with 64% in those who did not become pregnant (P=0.03). Conclusion Only a small proportion of women planning a pregnancy follow the recommendations for nutrition and lifestyle. Greater publicity for the recommendations is needed, but as many pregnancies are unplanned, improved nutrition and lifestyles of women of childbearing age is also required.
Benchmarking Databases with History Support

An increasing number of applications such as risk evaluation in banking or inventory management require support for temporal data. After more than a decade of standstill, the recent adoption of some bitemporal features in SQL:2011 has reinvigorated the support among commercial database vendors, who incorporate an increasing number of relevant bitemporal features. Naturally, assessing the performance and scalability of temporal data storage and operations is of great concern for potential users. The cost of keeping and querying history with novel operations (such as time travel, temporal joins or temporal aggregations) is not adequately reflected in any existing benchmark. In this paper, we present a benchmark proposal which provides comprehensive coverage of the bitemporal data management. It builds on the solid foundations of TPC-H but extends it with a rich set of queries and update scenarios. This workload stems both from real-life temporal applications from SAP's customer base and a systematic coverage of temporal operators proposed in the academic literature. In the accompanying paper [6] we present preliminary results of our benchmark on a number of temporal database systems, also highlighting the need for certain language extensions. In the appendix of this technical report we provide all details required to implement the benchmark.
The effect of business improvement districts on the incidence of violent crimes

Objective To examine whether business improvement districts (BID) contributed to greater than expected declines in the incidence of violent crimes in affected neighbourhoods. Method A Bayesian hierarchical model was used to assess the changes in the incidence of violent crimes between 1994 and 2005 and the implementation of 30 BID in Los Angeles neighbourhoods. Results The implementation of BID was associated with a 12% reduction in the incidence of robbery (95% posterior probability interval −2 to 24) and an 8% reduction in the total incidence of violent crimes (95% posterior probability interval −5 to 21). The strength of the effect of BID on robbery crimes varied by location. Conclusion These findings indicate that the implementation of BID can reduce the incidence of violent crimes likely to result in injury to individuals. The findings also indicate that the establishment of a BID by itself is not a panacea, and highlight the importance of targeting BID efforts to crime prevention interventions that reduce violence exposure associated with criminal behaviours.
MAC FER-based codec adaptation for multimedia streaming over wireless networks

Transmitting real-time multimedia data has been a big challenge for wireless communications. The QoS experienced by the multimedia traffic is subject to the time-variant characteristics of the wireless channels. In this paper, a cross-layer algorithm is proposed to combat the wireless channel variation by adjusting the multimedia codec settings according to the MAC frame error rate in real-time. The proposed algorithm is computational efficient and the numerical experiments show that the cross-layer algorithm indeed achieves better performance even for the wireless channels in severe conditions.