Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Flow cytometric analysis of T cell/monocyte ratio in clinically isolated syndrome identifies patients at risk of rapid disease progression

Background: Multiple sclerosis is a chronic inflammatory central nervous system disease diagnosed by clinical presentation and characteristic magnetic resonance imaging findings. The role of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis has been emphasized in particular in the context of differential diagnosis in patients with a first episode suggestive of multiple sclerosis. Objective: We investigated here the potential additional value of analysis of CSF cellularity by fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) in the setting of a routine diagnostic work-up in our inpatient clinic. Methods: CSF cells from back-up samples from patients with suspected chronic inflammatory central nervous system disorder were analyzed by FACS and correlated with clinical data, magnetic resonance imaging findings and oligoclonal band status. Results: We found distinct changes of T cell/monocyte (CD4/CD14) and B cell/monocyte (CD20/CD14) ratios between clinically isolated syndrome (CIS)/multiple sclerosis and other neurologic diseases or other inflammatory neurologic diseases. In particular, patients with a rapid transition from CIS to multiple sclerosis had an elevated CD4/CD14 ratio. A subgroup analysis showed diagnostic value of CD4/CD8 ratio in the differential diagnosis of CIS/multiple sclerosis to neurosarcoidosis. Conclusion: The diagnostic and prognostic accuracy of autoimmune neuroinflammatory diseases can be improved by FACS analysis of CSF cells.
Rapid diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis by a dot‐immunobinding assay

In this study, a dot‐immunobinding assay (Dot‐Iba) was standardized to measure circulating antimycobacterial antibodies in the cerebrospinal ¯uid (CSF) specimens for the rapid laboratory diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis (TBM). Specific CSF‐IgG antibody to Mycobacterium tuberculosis from a culture proven patient with TBM was isolated and coupled with activated Cynogen bromide‐Sepharose 4B. Using an immunoabsorbent affinity chromatography, 14 kDa antigen present in the culture filtrates of M. tuberculosis was isolated and this antigen was used in the Dot‐Iba, to quantitate specific antimycobacterial antibodies in CSF specimens. The Dot‐Iba gave positive results in all the 5 culture proven patients with TBM and gave no false positive results in CSFs from patients with partially treated pyogenic meningitis. Dot‐Iba developed in our laboratory is a simple, rapid and specific method and more importantly suited for the routine application in laboratories with limited resources.
Sparse image representation with encryption

In this thesis we present an overview of sparse approximations of grey level images. The sparse representations are realized by classic, Matching Pursuit (MP) based, greedy selection strategies. One such technique, termed Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP), is shown to be suitable for producing sparse approximations of images, if they are processed in small blocks. When the blocks are enlarged, the proposed Self Projected Matching Pursuit (SPMP) algorithm, successfully renders equivalent results to OMP. A simple coding algorithm is then proposed to store these sparse approximations. This is shown, under certain conditions, to be competitive with JPEG2000 image compression standard. An application termed image folding, which partially secures the approximated images is then proposed. This is extended to produce a self contained folded image, containing all the information required to perform image recovery. Finally a modified OMP selection technique is applied to produce sparse approximations of Red Green Blue (RGB) images. These RGB approximations are then folded with the self contained approach.
ROSS: a high-performance, low memory, modular time warp system

We introduce a new time warp system called ROSS: Rensselaer's Optimistic Simulation System. ROSS is an extremely modular kernel that is capable of achieving event rates as high as 1,250,000 events per second when simulating a wireless telephone network model (PCS) on a quad processor PC server. In a head-to-head comparison, we observe that ROSS out performs the Georgia Tech Time Warp (GTW) system on the same computing platform by up to 180%. ROSS only requires a small constant amount of memory buffers greater than the amount needed by the sequential simulation for a constant number of processors. The driving force behind these high-performance and low memory utilization results is the coupling of an efficient pointer-based implementation framework, Fujimoto's (1989) fast GVT algorithm for shared memory multiprocessors, reverse computation and the introduction of kernel processes (KPs). KPs lower fossil collection overheads by aggregating processed event lists. This aspect allows fossil collection to be done with greater frequency, thus lowering the overall memory necessary to sustain stable, efficient parallel execution.
Investigation Eucalyptus Extraction as Green Corrosion Inhibitor in Crude Oil Pipeline

This study investigate the internal corrosion of low carbon steel (API 5L X52) pipelines in the crude oil, as well as prepare and use natural and locally available plant ( the bark of eucalyptus tree) as a natural corrosion inhibitor, The eucalyptus bark extraction achieved by two types of solvents in order to show the solvent effect on inhibition process, the first being distilled water and the second is diethyl ether, the two types of the new inhibitor compared with a chemical inhibitor which used by Missan Oil Company (MOC) in terms of the cost, toxicity, availability and performance. FT-IR spectra and using a chemical reagents achieved to detection the presence of many active groups and the presence of tannins, phenols and alkaloids in the Eucalyptus Bark (EB). Some experiments were achieved to estimate the performance of a new inhibitor, one of these tests include corrosion measurement by simple immersion in crude oil within and without of inhibitors which added in different amounts 30, 40, 50, and 60 ppm at two temperature 300 and 323k, where the best inhibition efficiencies which get when added the inhibitors in a critical amounts or closest to it, since for the aqueous extract (EB-A) the inhibition efficiency reached (94.4) and (86.71)% at 300 and 323K respectively, and for diethyl ether extract (EB-D) reached (82.87) and (84.6)% at 300 and 323K respectively, while the chemical inhibitor (CRW) which used by MOC reach to (84.21) and (88.73)% at 300 and 323K respectively . Optical microscopy examination have been conducted to evaluate the corrosion nature where it show a clear difference in the topography of the immersed samples surface after add the inhibitors at two temperatures. The results show , that the new corrosion inhibitor is not only equivalent to a chemical inhibitor, but have greatly improvement properties such as : high efficiency , low cost , non-toxic , easily to product, and nonpolluting as compared with chemical inhibitor which is considered toxic and cancer inhibitor.
Intrathecal neuromedin U induces biphasic effects on sympathetic vasomotor tone, increases respiratory drive and attenuates sympathetic reflexes in rat

BACKGROUND Neuromedin U (NMU) is a brain–gut peptide that plays regulatory roles in feeding, anxiety, smooth muscle contraction, blood flow, pain and adrenocortical function via two receptors, the NMU receptor 1 and NMU receptor 2. NMU has several known functions in the periphery, but its role in central cardiorespiratory regulation remains poorly understood.
Satisfiability Coding Lemma

We present and analyze two simple algorithms for finding satisfying assignments of /spl kappa/-CNFs (Boolean formulae in conjunctive normal form with at most /spl kappa/ literals per clause). The first is a randomized algorithm which, with probability approaching 1, finds a satisfying assignment of a satisfiable /spl kappa/-CNF formula F in time O(n/sup 2/|F|2/sup n-n//spl kappa//). The second algorithm is deterministic, and its running time approaches 2/sup n-n/2/spl kappa// for large n and /spl kappa/. The randomized algorithm is the best known algorithm for /spl kappa/>3; the deterministic algorithm is the best known deterministic algorithm for /spl kappa/>4. We also show an /spl Omega/(n/sup 1/4/2/sup /spl radic/n/) lower bound on the size of depth 3 circuits of AND and OR gates computing the parity function. This bound is tight up to a constant factor. The key idea used in these upper and lower bounds is what we call the Satisfiability Coding Lemma. This basic lemma shows how to encode satisfying solutions of a /spl kappa/-CNF succinctly.
Ru-Doping in TiO2 electron transport layers of planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells for enhanced performance

TiO2 is widely used as an electron transport layer (ETL) material for perovskite solar cells, and various methods have been used to engineer the properties of TiO2 ETLs for further improving the performance of perovskite solar cells. In this study, compact Ru-doped TiO2 films, prepared via a one-step spray pyrolysis method, have been employed as ETLs for planar perovskite solar cells. Compared to the pristine TiO2 film, the doped counterpart exhibits remarkably improved conductivity, as revealed by the conducting atomic force microscopy measurement. Consequently, the optimized device containing a 1% Ru-doped TiO2 ETL presents a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of up to 15.7% (with an average value of 14.74%), which is 17% higher than that of the device using the pristine TiO2 layer (13.42%, with an average value of 12.20%). The mechanism behind the enhancement in photovoltaic parameters has been investigated intensively via physicochemical characterization. A slight upshift of the conduction band minimum (CBM) is observed in the case of Ru-doped TiO2 films. More importantly, fast injection of the photo-generated electrons from a perovskite layer into an ETL is also found when Ru-doped TiO2 is applied as the ETL. Meanwhile, impedance spectroscopy suggests that the application of Ru-doped TiO2 films leads to an increase in recombination resistance and a decrease in selective contact resistance. The enhancement in PCE is attributed to the improved charge injection and transport properties of the Ru-doped TiO2 film, as well as its better band matching with the perovskite layer. These results demonstrate that doping TiO2 ETLs with Ru is an efficient approach to improve the photovoltaic performance of perovskite solar cells. The presented work will provide a potential approach for developing materials with high-quality electron transport layers for efficient perovskite-based photovoltaic devices.
ClassifyingHuman Activities in HouseholdEnvir onments

The recognitionof daily humanactvitities is becoming more and more important for humanoi d robots. For the robot, beinga daily companionof thehuman,it is crucial that it is ableto understand what the humanis doing in orderto reactaccordingly. Although thereexist many systemsfor recognising humanactivities there is a lack of having a structuredclassificationof theseactivities. In this paperdifferentconceptsfor classifyinghumanactivities are presented.First, a conceptmotivated by recognition approachesis present ed, which is calledstructuralclassification.Thesecondconcept is guidedby the functionalmeaningof activities. Thesetwo conceptsare then combinedin a third classificationwhichconnectsthestructuralwith the functional classification. The benefitof the combined classificationis, that it addssemanticsinto thestructuralview of activitiesandit enablesthealgorithmsfor furtherrefinementof therecognition.
Improving Simultaneous Mapping and Localization in 3D Using Global Constraints

Recently, the problem of learning volumetric maps from three-dimenisional range data has become quite popular in the context of mobile robotics. One of the key challenges in this context is to reduce the overall amount of data. The smaller the namber of data points, however, the fewer information is available to register the scans and to conputer a consistent map. In this paper we present a novel approach that estimates global constaints from the data and utilizes these contraints to improve the registration process. In our current system we simultaneously minimize the distance between scans and the distance of edges from planes extracted from the edges to obtain highly accurate three-dimensional modele of the environment. Several experiments carried out in simulation as well as with three-dimensional data obtained with a mobile robot in an outdoor environment we show that our approach yields seriously more accurate models compared to a standard apporach that does not utilize the global constraints.
Large-scale fluctuations in the distribution of galaxies

The null hypothesis that the three-dimensional power spectrum measured from the APM Survey is consistent with the one-dimensional power spectrum measured from the pencil-beams surveys of Broadhurst et al. and of Szalay et al. is tested. The external estimates of the mean power that we make are sensitive to details of the model for the survey geometry and to the assumed level of the distortion of the pattern of galaxy clustering caused by peculiar motions. We find that the measured 3D clustering of galaxies can account for the presence of peaks in the one­ dimensional power spectrum but is less successful in recovering the detailed appearance of the observations. We find no strong evidence for any additional large­ scale structure in the deep pencil beams beyond that recovered from the APM Survey. We conclude that it is unlikely that large-scale structure can be responsible for the steep local number counts of bright galaxies.
Atypical Adenomatous Hyperplasia of Prostate Lacks TMPRSS2-ERG Gene Fusion

Atypical adenomatous hyperplasia (AAH) is a distinct entity in prostate pathology, defined as a well-circumscribed lobule of closely packed crowded small glands or acini. Although it has been proposed as a precursor lesion to prostate cancer, the biological nature of AAH is currently uncertain. The TMPRSS2-ERG fusion gene is a common recurrent chromosomal rearrangement in prostate cancer and in its precursor lesion, prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia. The prevalence of TMPRSS2-ERG alteration in AAH is unknown. Fifty-five separate prostate specimens containing AAH were investigated by fluorescence in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry for TMPRSS2-ERG rearrangement. TMPRSS2-ERG rearrangements were not identified in AAH either by fluorescence in situ hybridization or by immunohistochemistry.
Real-time Population of Knowledge Bases: Opportunities and Challenges

Dynamic content is a frequently accessed part of the Web. However, most information extraction approaches are batch-oriented, thus not effective for gathering rapidly changing data. This paper proposes a model for fact extraction in real-time. Our model addresses the difficult challenges that timely fact extraction on frequently updated data entails. We point out a naive solution to the main research question and justify the choices we make in the model we propose.
European Lung Foundation: from local to global

Key points Although there are many patient organisations in Europe, this is not the case in all countries across the globe. Access to care is one of the main global issues highlighted by the European Lung Foundation International Patient Advisory Committee. The European Respiratory Society/European Lung Foundation Healthy Lungs for Life campaign can be used locally or globally to raise awareness of the risk factors for lung disease. Implementation science is a method that can be used to assess the feasibility of using research findings in routine healthcare in clinical settings in different parts of the world. Educational aims To show how patient- and public-focussed initiatives and activities can be adapted and modified to be effective in local, national and international settings, and to provide specific examples of these from the European Lung Foundation. Read about ELF’s local to global actions in this edition of Breathe http://ow.ly/SQ3d301Py5q
Adaptations of Natural Killer Cells to Self-MHC Class I

Natural Killer (NK) cells use germ line encoded receptors to detect diseased host cells. Despite the invariant recognition structures, NK cells have a significant ability to adapt to their surroundings, such as the presence or absence of MHC class I molecules. It has been assumed that this adaptation occurs during NK cell development, but recent findings show that mature NK cells can also adapt to the presence or absence of MHC class I molecules. Here, we summarize how NK cells adjust to changes in the expression of MHC class I molecules. We propose an extension of existing models, in which MHC class I recognition during NK cell development sequentially instructs and maintains NK cell function. The elucidation of the molecular basis of the two effects may identify ways to improve the fitness of NK cells and to prevent the loss of NK cell function due to persistent alterations in their environment.
Gain‐scheduling MPC of nonlinear systems

Predictive control of nonlinear systems is addressed by embedding the dynamics into an LPV system and by computing robust invariant sets. This mitigates the on‐line computational burden by transferring most of the computations off‐line. Benefits and conservatism of this approach are discussed in relation with the control of a critical mechanical system. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Consistent causal effect estimation under dual misspecification and implications for confounder selection procedures

In a previously published article in this journal, Vansteeland et al. [Stat Methods Med Res. Epub ahead of print 12 November 2010. DOI: 10.1177/0962280210387717] address confounder selection in the context of causal effect estimation in observational studies. They discuss several selection strategies and propose a procedure whose performance is guided by the quality of the exposure effect estimator. The authors note that when a particular linearity condition is met, consistent estimation of the target parameter can be achieved even under dual misspecification of models for the association of confounders with exposure and outcome and demonstrate the performance of their procedure relative to other estimators when this condition holds. Our earlier published work on collaborative targeted minimum loss based learning provides a general theoretical framework for effective confounder selection that explains the findings of Vansteelandt et al. and underscores the appropriateness of their suggestions that a confounder selection procedure should be concerned with directly targeting the quality of the estimate and that desirable estimators produce valid confidence intervals and are robust to dual misspecification.
Transparent Contribution of Storage and Memory

Many research projects have proposed contributorysystems that utilize the significant free disk space, idle memory, and wasted CPU cycles found on end-user machines. These applications include peer-to-peer backup, large-scale distributed storage, and distributed computation such as signal processing and protein folding. While users are generally willing to give up unused CPU cycles, a variety of subtle factors conspire to deter participation in disk and memory-based contributory systems. First, users are often reluctant to give up disk space even though they aren’t using it. Second, as contribution consumes available space, disk performance suffers. Finally, contributory applications pollute the machine’s memory, forcing user pages to be evicted to disk. This paging can disrupt user activity for seconds or even minutes. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of two operating system mechanisms to support transparent contribution of storage and memory. A transparent file system(TFS) leaves the entire disk available to the user while allowing contributory storage applications to use all of the free space. We show that TFS’s layout and allocation algorithms permit contributory storage while slowing the file system by no more than 4%. Atransparent memory manager (TMM) controls memory usage by contributory applications, ensuring that users will not notice an increase in the miss rate of their applications. TMM is able to protect user pages such that page miss overhead is limited to 1.7%, while donating hundreds of megabytes of memory.
Carbapenem Resistance in Elizabethkingia meningoseptica Is Mediated by Metallo-β-Lactamase BlaB

ABSTRACT Elizabethkingia meningoseptica, a Gram-negative rod widely distributed in the environment, is resistant to most β-lactam antibiotics. Three bla genes have been identified in E. meningoseptica, coding for the extended-spectrum serine-β-lactamase CME (class D) and two unrelated wide-spectrum metallo-β-lactamases, BlaB (subclass B1) and GOB (subclass B3). E. meningoseptica is singular in being the only reported microorganism possessing two chromosomally encoded MBL genes. Real-time PCR and biochemical analysis demonstrate that the three bla genes are actively expressed in vivo as functional β-lactamases. However, while CME elicits cephalosporin resistance, BlaB is the only β-lactamase responsible for E. meningoseptica resistance to imipenem, as GOB activity is masked by higher cellular levels of BlaB. On the other hand, we demonstrate that blaBlaB expression is higher in the stationary phase or under conditions that mimic the nutrient-limiting cerebrospinal fluid colonized by E. meningoseptica in human meningitis.
Changing trends in hepatitis C–related mortality in the United States, 1995‐2004

The disease burden and mortality from hepatitis C are predicted to increase in the United States as the number of persons with long‐standing chronic infection grows. We analyzed hepatitis C mortality rates derived from US Census and multiple‐cause‐of‐death data for 1995‐2004. Deaths were considered hepatitis C–related if: (1) hepatitis C was the underlying cause of death, (2) chronic liver disease was the underlying cause and hepatitis C was a contributing cause, or (3) human immunodeficiency virus was the underlying cause and chronic liver disease and hepatitis C were contributing causes. A total of 56,409 hepatitis C–related deaths were identified. Mortality rates increased 123% during the study period (1.09 per 100,000 persons to 2.44 per 100,000), but average annual increases were smaller during 2000‐2004 than 1995‐1999. After peaking in 2002 (2.57 per 100,000), overall rates declined slightly, but continued to increase among persons aged 55‐64 years. Overall increases were greater among males (144%) than females (81%) and among non‐Hispanic blacks (170%) and Native Americans (241%) compared to non‐Hispanic whites (124%) and Hispanics (84%). The 7,427 hepatitis C deaths in 2004 (mean age: 55 years), corresponded to 148,611 years of potential life lost. The highest mortality rates in 2004 were observed among males, persons aged 45‐54 and 55‐64 years, Hispanics, non‐Hispanic blacks, and non‐Hispanic Native American/Alaska Natives. Conclusion: Overall, hepatitis C mortality has increased substantially since 1995. Despite small declines in recent years, rates have continued to increase among persons aged 55‐64 years. Hepatitis C is an important cause of premature mortality. (HEPATOLOGY 2008.)
Minimizing the distortion of affine spline motions

The paper proposes a simple approach to the affine motion interpolation problem, where an affine spline motion is generated that interpolates a given sequence of affine keyframes and approximately satisfies rigidity constraints and certain optimization criteria. An affine spline motion is first generated so as to interpolate the given keyframes; after that, it is progressively refined via knot insertion and degree elevation into an optimal affine motion by an iterative optimization procedure.