Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preparation for radioactive iodine therapy is not a risk factor for the development of hyponatremia in thyroid cancer patients

Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the preparation for radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy by thyroid hormone withdrawal (THW) or a low-iodine diet (LID) can be risk factors for the development of hyponatremia in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer after thyroidectomy. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records and laboratory findings of 326 patients who underwent preparation for RAI therapy after thyroidectomy from 2012 to 2014. Demographic and clinical variables including the method of thyrotropin stimulation and duration of LID were assessed. Serum sodium was measured twice, before operation and before RAI therapy. Hyponatremia was detected in only 3 patients (0.9%) before operation, but in 15 patients (4.6%) before RAI therapy. None of the patients had severe hyponatremia after preparation for RAI therapy. Pre-RAI therapy serum sodium was correlated with the method of thyrotropin stimulation (TWH vs recombinant human thyroid stimulating hormone, P = 0.014) and duration of LID (r = −0.131, P = 0.018); however, the preparation of RAI therapy, THW and LID, did not affect the development of hyponatremia in logistic regression analysis. Preoperative serum sodium was a significant risk factor for hyponatremia during preparation for RAI therapy. Preparation for RAI therapy by THW or LID is not a risk factor for the development of hyponatremia in patients with thyroid cancer. The development of hyponatremia was neither frequent nor severe during preparation for RAI therapy. Physicians should not be greatly concerned about rare life-threatening hyponatremia during preparation for RAI therapy.
Sustained Viremia and High Viral Load in Respiratory Tract Secretions Are Predictors for Death in Immunocompetent Adults with Adenovirus Pneumonia

The predictors for fatal adenovirus (AdV) pneumonia among immunocompetent adults are unclear. Laboratory-confirmed, hospitalized AdV pneumonia adults were prospectively enrolled in Beijing Chao-Yang hospital from March to June 2013. Clinical data and serial whole blood and respiratory tract secretions from such patients were collected. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed to quantify the viral load. A total of 14 AdV pneumonia cases were consecutively enrolled, and four of them were fatal. Ten cases were caused by AdV-55, three by AdV-7 and one by AdV-3. There were no differences in age, gender or underlying diseases between the patients in the fatal cases and surviving cases. At admission (on day 5–7 after illness onset), the patients in fatal cases presented higher initial viral loads in respiratory tract secretions (8.578 ± 2.115 vs 6.263 ± 1.225 Log10 copies/ml, p = 0.023). All patients in fatal cases presented with viremia on day 12–14 (100% vs 66.7%, p = 0.017). A higher initial viral load in the respiratory tract and sustained viremia (more than 2 weeks) may be predictors for fatal clinical outcomes.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Australasian Children and Adolescents

Many reports indicate increasing rates of inflammatory bowel disease, with data also showing changing patterns of this chronic disease in children and adolescents. This review focuses upon the available data of the epidemiology of inflammatory bowel disease in children and adolescents in Australia and New Zealand (collectively termed Australasia). Recent data show high incidence of IBD (especially Crohn disease) in this area and indicate rising rates of IBD in children and adolescents.
A fully EPC compatible multi frequency passive RFID tag with −11.4 dBm sensitivity

This paper presents a fully passive multi frequency RFID transponder according to the EPC HF and EPC Class 1 Gen 2 UHF standard. The combination of inductive and electro-magnetic coupling increases the applicability and flexibility of state-of-the-art RFID transponders especially for these areas of applications where RFID transponders should operate in both the HF and the UHF RF field. An easy integration into existing systems makes the multi frequency transponder competitive on the market because commercial HF and UHF readers can be used. Only two input pins are necessary to connect the chip to a broadband antenna by using the concept of combining a balanced HF and an unbalanced UHF frontend. The chip operates from 13.56MHz to 2.45GHz and is developed in a 0.13 µm low cost CMOS technology.
Identification of RDH10, an All-trans Retinol Dehydrogenase, in Retinal Muller Cells.

PURPOSE To investigate the expression of RDH10, an all-trans retinol dehydrogenase identified in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), in retinal Muller cells. METHODS The RDH10 protein levels in mouse eyecups and bovine tissues were examined by Western blot analysis using a polyclonal antibody against RDH10. The cellular localization in the retina was determined by immunohistochemistry. Expression of RDH10 in rMC-1, a cell line derived from rat Muller cells, was determined by RT-PCR and Western blot analysis. All-trans retinol dehydrogenase activity assays were performed using lysates from rMC-1 cells. The generation of all-trans retinal from tritiated all-trans retinol was analyzed by HPLC. RESULTS RDH10, retinal G protein-coupled receptor (RGR), and RPE65 all had higher expression levels in the eyecups of BALB/c than in C57Bl/6 mice. In addition to the RPE, RDH10 was also detected at lower levels in the retina and liver. Immunohistochemistry showed that RDH10 was localized in Muller cells in retinal sections. RDH10 was detected in rMC-1 cells, at both the RNA and protein levels. The rat RDH10 cDNA containing the full-length coding region was cloned from rMC-1 cells. The rat RDH10 cDNA encodes a protein of 341 amino acids and shares 99% sequence identity with human, bovine, and mouse RDH10 at the amino acid level. In rMC-1 cells, all-trans retinol dehydrogenase activity was detected in the microsomal fraction. NADP was shown to be the preferred cofactor, which is identical with the cofactor preference of the recombinant RDH10. CONCLUSIONS RDH10 was expressed in retinal Muller cells, in addition to the RPE. RDH10 generates all-trans retinal, which is the substrate for the photoisomerase RGR in Muller cells.
Application in Auto-Body Inner Packaging Integrating Case-Based Reasoning and Constraint Satisfaction

Constraint satisfaction techniques are integrated into CBR in order to develop a more efficient adaptation mechanism. According to the characteristic of auto-body inner packaging, based on the nearest neighborhood method for case retrieval, the object-oriented case presentation models of auto-body inner packaging are presented by adding index and solution object into the extended object model. Adaptation knowledge is represented as evaluation rules and constraints. The strategies for case adaptation, combining parameter substitution with constrain satisfaction, are presented to modify case solution to fit the current problem definition.
The TL region gene 37 encodes a Qa-1 antigen

Of all the biochemically defined mouse MHC class I molecules, the Qa-1 antigens are the only ones for which a gene has not been identified. Recent evidence has suggested that Qa-1 antigens are functional class I molecules and can function as restriction elements for gamma/delta T cells. We have examined the relationship between Qa-1 and the product of gene 37, a presumed novel class I antigen encoded within the TL region. Immunoprecipitation and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of the molecules reactive with anti-Qa-1 and anti-37 sera show that the Qa-1 molecule of Qa-1b (Qa-1.2) mouse strains is identical to the product of gene 37 on the basis of molecular weight, pI, and strain distribution. Immunodepletion, biosynthetic labeling, and tunicamycin treatment confirm that the protein encoded by gene 37 in Qa-1b mice is Qa-1.2. In contrast, the anti-37 serum was unable to recognize the Qa-1 molecule in Qa-1a strains. Given the fact that the only allele to gene 37 thus far identified in a Qa-1a strain (A/J) has a termination codon in the alpha 3 domain, our data lead us to conclude that the Qa-1 molecule expressed in Qa-1a mice is not a true allelic product of the gene 37 encoded antigen of Qa-1b mouse strains.
McPAT 1 . 0 : An Integrated Power , Area , and Timing Modeling Framework for Multicore Architectures ∗

This paper introduces McPAT 1.0, an integrated power, area, and timing modeling framework that supports comprehensive design space exploration for multicore and manycore processor configurations ranging from 90nm to 22nm and beyond. At the microarchitectural level, McPAT includes models for the fundamental components of a chip multiprocessor, including in-order and out-of-order processor cores, networks-on-chip, shared caches, integrated memory controllers, and multiple-domain clocking. At the circuit and technology levels, McPAT supports critical-path timing modeling, area modeling, and dynamic, short-circuit, and leakage power modeling for each of the device types forecast in the ITRS roadmap including bulk CMOS, SOI, and double-gate transistors. McPAT has a flexible XML interface to facilitate its use with many performance simulators. ∗Currently 1.0 beta version is released.
Social support in type II diabetes care: a case of too little, too late

Coping with type II diabetic patients is increasingly posing large financial burdens, sorely felt especially by growing economies. Self-management has been found to be an effective approach towards maintaining good control in diabetics. However, although efforts at implementing self-management have had initial success, there has been a lack of sustainability. This review examines the different components impinging on self-care among type II diabetic patients. These include the critical role of social support, the need for support from health care providers, the value of support from family and friends, the influence of sex and cultural factors in self-care behavior, the benefits of peer support, and the role of literacy in diabetes self-care. Despite the mounting evidence for the effectiveness of social support in diabetes care, and the various stakeholders including this in their clinical guidelines, there has only been a lukewarm response from policy-makers towards ensuring its implementation. Hence, more effort is required from health care providers in moving away from just understanding the effects of new drugs and subsequently putting their patients on these drugs, and going back to the basics of communicating with the patients, understanding their woes, and helping to motivate/empower their patients. This paper analyzes the various components of social support, their influence on diabetes self-care, and how health care providers can help in this process.
Monte Carlo Estimator for Image Creation with Symmetric Sampling of Phong BRDF Model

The paper is directed to the advanced rendering techniques for realistic image creation. We construct and offer a new Monte Carlo estimator for numerical solution of the rendering equation based on Phong BRDF (Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function) model. We consider the kernel of Phong rendering equation and present the Monte Carlo solution by a sum of two independent integrals, one for diffuse and one for specular part respectively. The diffuse integral equation is solved by applying Combined Uniform Separation of integration domain to achieve variance reduction. The hemispherical integration domain is symmetrically separated into 8 sub‐domains of equal orthogonal spherical triangles and 8 sub‐domains of equal spherical quadrangles. All spherical triangles, spherical quadrangles respectively are symmetric each to other as well as have fixed vertices and computable parameters. The symmetric sampling scheme is applied to generate the sampling points and solve the diffuse integral equation. The i.
A neurocognitive framework for comparing linguistic and musical interactions

ABSTRACT Most cognitive research concerned with the relationship between language and music asks whether isolated individuals represent and process them in similar ways. In this paper, we focus instead on the relationship between interactive language and interactive music and suggest that speakers engaged in dialogue and musicians engaged in joint performance face similar difficulties – how to relate their contributions to their partners in terms of both timing and content. We propose a model that spans interactive language and music in which each interactor constructs a single joint prediction of their own and their partner’s behaviour, and then compares that prediction against the actual behaviour when it occurs. We discuss how predictions differ depending on turn organisation, as well as message spontaneity. We relate this proposal to behavioural and neuroscientific data from interaction research in the domains of both music and language.
Automated writing Assessment of Student's Open-ended Answers Using the Combination of Novel Approach and Latent Semantic Analysis

In previous work we have applied the novel [7] a method originally designed to evaluate automatic machine translation systems, in assessing short essays written by students [16]. In this paper we present a comparative evaluation between this combination algorithms and a system based on BLEU and Latent Semantic Analysis. In addition we propose an effective combination schema for them. We study how much combination approach scores correlate to human scorings and other evaluation metrics. In spite of the simplicity of these shallow NLP methods, they achieve state-of-the art correlations to the teacher's scores while keeping the language-independence and without requiring any domain specific knowledge.
An Iterative Algorithm for Spatio-Temporal Filter Optimization

We propose a simultaneous spatiotemporal filter optimization algorithm for the single trial ElectroEncephaloGraphy (EEG) classification problem. The algorithm is a generalization of the Common Spatial Pattern (CSP) algorithm, which incorporates non-homogeneous weighting of the crossspectrum matrices. The spectral weighting coefficients and the spatial filter are alternately updated. The validation results on 162 motor-imagery BCI datasets show that the proposed method outperforms wide-band filtered CSP in most datasets and gives comparable accuracy to Common Sparse Spectral Spatial Pattern (CSSSP) with far less computational cost. The proposed method is highly interpretable and modular at the same time because the temporal filter is parameterized in the spectral domain.
Progress On A Computer Based Consultant

Computer based consultants are systems that incorporate specialized bodies of knowledge and make this knowledge conveniently available to users who are not computer experts. This paper summarizes initial progress on a computer based consultant project aimed at helping a novice mechanic work with electromechanical equipment. We describe some properties and abilities of consultants, and present results to date on the problem solving, vision, and natural language components of our evolving system.
Interactive animated storytelling in presenting intangible cultural heritage

Isa bey tekke does not exist any more in Sarajevo. This valuable cultural heritage object was completely destroyed and a gasoline station was built in its place. Virtual reconstruction has recovered the appearance of the building, but not what was happening inside. The Mevlevi dervish ritual was presented using interactive computer animation. The goal of this paper is to explore the perception of the user who is placed in the middle of the ritual, with dervishes twirling around, enabling him/her to discover the details following the interactive story structure.
Dealing with Complexity: A Method to Adapt and Implement a Maturity Model for Corporate Data Quality Management

Reference models usually serve as starting points for developing company specific models. Unfortunately, successful usage of reference models is often impeded by various aspects, such as a lack of acceptance among employees, incorrect model implementation, or high project costs all of which more often than not are resulting from an imbalance between the model's complexity and the complexity of a company's specific structures. The paper at hand develops a methodical approach for taking a given reference model (the Maturity Model for Corporate Data Quality Management) and transforming it into a company specific model, with a particular focus on the specific complexity of a company's structures. Corporate Data Quality Management describes the quality oriented organization and control of a company's key data assets such as material, customer, and vendor data. Two case studies show how the method has been successfully implemented in real-world scenarios.
A joint force-position measurement system for neuromotor performances assessment

This paper introduces the use of measuring both position and force in interacting with a 2D interface for neuromotor performances assessment. The system measures directly 2D position and force in interacting with images generated by an LCD. By means of those ‘primitive’ measurements it is possible to develop tests which estimate: reaction time, movement time, speed and accuracy, path deviation, jerk, dwelling time in target, contact force control parameters as a function of position, percentage of success in accomplishing different tasks, the root mean square errors in the previous parameters, their frequency transforms i.e. FFT or WT. About Cognitive aspects of human being it is possible to measure: Reaction Time, Attention and Memory.
The von Neumann entropy and information rate for ideal quantum Gibbs ensembles

: A model of a quantum information source is proposed, based on the Gibbs ensemble of ideal (free) particles (bosons or fermions). We identify the (thermodynamic) von Neumann entropy as the information rate and establish the classical Lempel–Ziv universal coding algorithm in Grassberger’s form for such a source. This generalises the Schumacher theorem to the case of non-IID qubits.
Lectures on DNA Codes

For $q$-ary $n$-sequences, we develop the concept of similarity functions that can be used (for $q=4$) to model a thermodynamic similarity on DNA sequences. A similarity function is identified by the length of a longest common subsequence between two $q$-ary $n$-sequences. Codes based on similarity functions are called DNA codes. DNA codes are important components in biomolecular computing and other biotechnical applications that employ DNA hybridization assays. The main aim of the given lecture notes -- to discuss lower bounds on the rate of optimal DNA codes for a biologically motivated similarity function called a block similarity and for the conventional deletion similarity function used in the theory of error-correcting codes. We also present constructions of suboptimal DNA codes based on the parity-check code detecting one error in the Hamming metric.
The de-ubiquitylating enzymes USP26 and USP37 regulate homologous recombination by counteracting RAP80

The faithful repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) is essential to safeguard genome stability. DSBs elicit a signaling cascade involving the E3 ubiquitin ligases RNF8/RNF168 and the ubiquitin-dependent assembly of the BRCA1-Abraxas-RAP80-MERIT40 complex. The association of BRCA1 with ubiquitin conjugates through RAP80 is known to be inhibitory to DSB repair by homologous recombination (HR). However, the precise regulation of this mechanism remains poorly understood. Through genetic screens we identified USP26 and USP37 as key de-ubiquitylating enzymes (DUBs) that limit the repressive impact of RNF8/RNF168 on HR. Both DUBs are recruited to DSBs where they actively remove RNF168-induced ubiquitin conjugates. Depletion of USP26 or USP37 disrupts the execution of HR and this effect is alleviated by the simultaneous depletion of RAP80. We demonstrate that USP26 and USP37 prevent excessive spreading of RAP80-BRCA1 from DSBs. On the other hand, we also found that USP26 and USP37 promote the efficient association of BRCA1 with PALB2. This suggests that these DUBs limit the ubiquitin-dependent sequestration of BRCA1 via the BRCA1-Abraxas-RAP80-MERIT40 complex, while promoting complex formation and cooperation of BRCA1 with PALB2-BRCA2-RAD51 during HR. These findings reveal a novel ubiquitin-dependent mechanism that regulates distinct BRCA1-containing complexes for efficient repair of DSBs by HR.
Spectral amplitude estimation-based X-ray image restoration: An extension of a speech enhancement approach

This paper describes a class of spectral amplitude estimation-based algorithms for the restoration of low dose X-ray images. Since estimation of spectral amplitude from noisy observations is a widely reported approach to restore noisy speech signals, we discuss our algorithms from the viewpoint of extending a well established speech processing technique to images. We include an analysis of residual noise. Moreover, we provide qualitative and quantitative processing results.
Multimodal Semantic Quantity Representations: Further Evidence from Korean Sign Language

Korean deaf signers performed a number comparison task on pairs of Arabic digits. In their response times profiles, the expected magnitude effect was systematically modified by properties of number signs in Korean sign language in a culture-specific way (not observed in hearing and deaf Germans or hearing Chinese). We conclude that finger-based quantity representations are automatically activated even in simple tasks with symbolic input although this may be irrelevant and even detrimental for task performance. These finger-based numerical representations are accessed in addition to another, more basic quantity system which is evidenced by the magnitude effect. In sum, these results are inconsistent with models assuming only one single amodal representation of numerical quantity.
Learning to Track Multi-target Online by Boosting and Scene Layout

We address two principal difficulties of multi-target tracking in a real traffic scenario. Firstly, fast moving traffic scenarios lead to large displacements and complex interactions with occlusions and ambiguities. Secondly, the tracking application for real traffic scenarios has the online requirement. To surmount these difficulties, we propose an approach to track the multi-target online by Boosting and scene context reasoning. To this end, we use a two-stage system, where the first stage learns a non-linear classifier which is capable of generating the observation similarities. In the second stage, we demonstrate a novel relationship between observations and the scene layout parameters. Using a probabilistic formulation and the above relationship, our method has the unique ability to handle exceptions. To evaluate our method, we create three real traffic data sets, covering urban, rural, and highway conditions. We hope that these datasets will push forward the performance of tracking systems when being moved outside the laboratory to the real world.
Toward recognizing and conveying an attitude of doubt via natural language

This paper addresses the dual problems of recognizing when an agent is expressing an attitude of doubt toward a proposition and of realizing natural language utterances that effectively convey such doubt. It presents naturally occurring examples that illustrate the wide variety of ways in which doubt can be expressed. The paper presents a recognition algorithm that uses linguistic, contextual, and world knowledge to determine when an agent is expressing doubt at a proposition and to identify the proposition that is being doubted. It then presents a realization algorithm that uses these knowledge sources to formulate utterances that will convey doubt when an agent cannot accept a proposition due to conflict between it and some other proposition in the agent's knowledge base.