Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exhaled nitric oxide predicts lung function decline in difficult-to-treat asthma

A subset of patients with asthma is known to have progressive loss of lung function despite treatment with corticosteroids. The aim of the present study was to identify risk factors of decline in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) in patients with difficult-to-treat asthma. In total, 136 nonsmoking patients with difficult-to-treat asthma were recruited between 1998 and 1999. Follow-up assessment was performed 5–6 yrs later in 98 patients. The predictive effect of clinical characteristics and inflammatory markers were analysed at baseline (asthma onset and duration, atopy, airway hyperresponsiveness, blood and sputum eosinophils, and the fraction of nitric oxide in exhaled air (FeNO)) on subsequent decline in post-bronchodilator FEV1. Patients with high FeNO (≥20 ppb) had an excess decline of 40.3 (95% confidence interval (CI) 7.3–73.2) mL·yr−1 compared to patients with low FeNO. FeNO ≥20 ppb was associated with a relative risk of 1.9 (95% CI, 1.1–2.6) of having an accelerated (≥25 mL·yr−1) decline in FEV1. In patients with baseline FEV1 ≥80% of predicted, this relationship was even stronger: 90 versus 29% had accelerated decline in FEV1 (FeNO ≥20 ppb versus FeNO <20 ppb respectively; relative risk 3.1 (95% CI, 1.7–3.4). Exhaled nitric oxide is a predictor of accelerated decline in lung function in patients with difficult-to-treat asthma, particularly if forced expiratory volume in one second is still normal.
Effect of UVA light on the activity of several aged human lens enzymes.

PURPOSE To determine the effect of UVA irradiation on the specific activities of several protective and metabolic enzymes in aged human lenses. METHODS Intact human lenses (ages 55-75) in artificial aqueous humor were irradiated in a quartz cuvette with UVA light (925 J/cm(2) per hour) at +20 degrees C. The lenses were homogenized and the activities of enzymes in the water-soluble (WS) fraction were measured in irradiated and nonirradiated lenses. RESULTS One hour of UVA photolysis of human lens resulted in a 70% loss in glutathione reductase (GR)-specific activity and a 24% loss in glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (G3PD)-specific activity. At the same time, glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) showed little or no loss in specific activity. GR and G3PD showed similar losses when human lenses were photolyzed with the same dose of UVA light delivered to the lens over 8 hours, using a 12.5% neutral-density filter (ndf), or over 24 hours with a 4.25% ndf. One hour photolysis of the human lens WS fraction under anaerobic conditions yielded an almost complete inactivation of GR, but only an 18% loss of G3PD activity. Under aerobic conditions, however, both enzyme activities were almost completely lost. Clear fetal bovine lenses, photolyzed under the identical conditions, displayed essentially the same loss of GR activity. CONCLUSIONS UVA light causes inactivation of GR in human and fetal calf lenses under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions. This suggests that flavine adenine dinucleotide (FAD), the prosthetic group of GR, may be responsible for the enzyme's self-sensitizing properties. WS proteins from aged human lens generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) during UVA irradiation, which may be responsible for the inactivation of G3PD.
Use of in vitro assays to assess the potential cytotoxic, genotoxic and antigenotoxic effects of vanillic and cinnamic acid

Abstract Vanillic acid (VA) found in vanilla and cinnamic acid (CA) the precursor of flavonoids and found in cinnamon oil, are natural plant phenolic acids which are secondary aromatic plant products suggested to possess many physiological and pharmacological functions. In vitro and in vivo experiments have shown that phenolic acids exhibit powerful effects on biological responses by scavenging free radicals and eliciting antioxidant capacity. In the present study, we investigated the antioxidant capacity of VA and CA by the trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) assay, cytotoxicity by neutral red uptake (NRU) assay in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells and also the genotoxic and antigenotoxic effects of these phenolic acids using the cytokinesis-blocked micronucleus (CBMN) and the alkaline comet assays in human peripheral blood lymphocytes. At all tested concentrations, VA (0.17–67.2 μg/ml) showed antioxidant activity but CA (0.15–59.2 μg/ml) did not show antioxidant activity against 2,2-azino-bis (3-ethylbenz-thiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS). VA (0.84, 4.2, 8.4, 16.8, 84 and 168 μg/ml) and CA (0.74, 3.7, 7.4, 14.8, 74, 148 μg/ml) did not have cytotoxic and genotoxic effects alone at the studied concentrations as compared with the controls. Both VA and CA seem to decrease DNA damage induced by H2O2 in human lymphocytes.
The role of aortic chemoreceptors during acute anemia.

The importance of aortic chemoreceptors in the circulatory and metabolic responses during acute anemia was studied in anesthetized dogs. Data were obtained from nine dogs in which the aortic chemoreceptors were surgically denervated prior to induction of anemia, and from seven sham-operated dogs. Cardiac output (QT), limb blood flow (QL), limb and whole body oxygen uptake (VO2) were determined at normal hematocrit (Hct) and at 30 min of anemia (Hct = 13%) produced by isovolemic dextran-for-blood exchange. At 30 min of anemia, QT was increased from 91 to 186 mL . kg-1 . min-1 (p less than 0.01) and from 99 to 153 mL . kg-1 . min-1 (p less than 0.01) in the sham and denervated groups, respectively. The increase in QT during anemia was less (p less than 0.05) in the aortic-denervated series. Limb flow was also increased during anemia in both groups (p less than 0.01); the mean value of 89 mL . kg-1 . min-1 in the denervated group was less than that of 130 mL . kg-1 . min-1 observed in the sham animals (p less than 0.05). Whole body VO2 decreased (p less than 0.05) in the denervated group at 30 min of anemia; limb VO2 was maintained at the preanemic control value in both groups. The data indicate that during acute anemia the aortic chemoreceptors contribute to the increase in QT.
Cruciate-retaining Total Knee Arthroplasty at 5 to 7 Years Followup

Cruciate-retaining total knee implants may improve postoperative function in total knee arthroplasty, but whether patients experience good restoration of kinematics, undue wear, or increased revision rates is debatable. I evaluated clinical results, radiographs, and survival rates of the NexGen® posterior cruciate-retaining implant at 5-7 years followup in 251 knees (198 patients) in a prospective, consecutive total knee replacement series done from 1996-1997. A consistent improvement in knee scores and range of motion was observed from preoperative evaluation through 5 years followup. Alignment remained constant and knee stability did not deteriorate. Knee Society scores were good or excellent for 90% of patients. The average range of motion was 123°, and 73% of patients achieved a mean range of motion of 116°-130°. Mean physical quality of life measures improved from preoperative evaluation to the last followup. There were no complete or progressive radiolucencies. Four screw radiolucencies had progressive increases in diameter. Survival of the implant at 7 years was more than 98%. The NexGen® posterior cruciate-retaining implant provided satisfactory kinematic and clinical results with no substantive polyethylene wear. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic study, Level II-2 (poor-quality randomized controlled trial). See the Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
What makes clinical research in developing countries ethical? The benchmarks of ethical research.

In recent years there has been substantial debate about the ethics of research in developing countries. In general the controversies have centered on 3 issues: first the standard of care that should be used in research in developing countries; second the “reasonable availability” of interventions that are proven to be useful during the course of research trials; and third the quality of informed consent. The persistence of controversies on such issues reflects in part the fact that existing ethical guidelines can be interpreted in multiple ways are sometimes contradictory or rely on unstated yet controversial ethical principles. To provide unified and consistent ethical guidance we apply a previously proposed ethical framework for clinical research within developed countries to developing countries explicating a previously implicit requirement for collaboration. More importantly we propose specific and practical benchmarks to guide researchers and research-ethics committees in assessing how well the enumerated ethical principles have been fulfilled in particular cases. (excerpt)
Prevalence, incidence and persistence of EB virus antibody in young adults.

Abstract The prevalence rate for antibody to EB virus measured by the indirect immunofluorescence technic in 1084 young adults varied from 26 to 87 per cent depending on age and geographic area. In a prospective study of 150 Yale students 53 had EBV antibody on entry into college; 43 of 97 students lacking antibody had seroconversion during the next four to eight years, 28 with recognized clinical infectious mononucleosis and 15 with inapparent or unrecognized illness. This was an infection rate of 11.1 per cent per year in the susceptible group. Of 164 Peace Corps volunteers 76 per cent had detectable anti-EBV titers on entrance into service, and of 30 lacking antibody 27 per cent were infected over one year while working in Colombia, South America. In Yale students EBV antibody was always present in serum specimens obtained as long as eight years after clinical or subclinical infection, usually at levels of 1:40 or higher.
Cloud Computing Services: Theoretical Foundations of Ethical and Entrepreneurial Adoption Behaviour

Cloud computing is an emerging service technology that has ethical and entrepreneurial implications. Due to technological innovations increasing the attention placed on cloud computing services, more people are focusing on the security and privacy issues determined by ethical guidelines and how the technology is evolving as an entrepreneurial service innovation. This paper presents a theoretical perspective on how a person adopts cloud computing. The literature on technology innovation and adoption behaviour is examined with a focus on social cognitive theory. A theoretical framework is then presented, which indicates a number of propositions to describe the intention of a person to adopt cloud computing services. The role of technology marketing capability, sustained learning and outcome expectancy are included in helping to understand the role of cloud computing applications. Suggestions for future research and practical implications are stated.
Circular Law for the Gaussian Ensemble

is the ”empirical spectral distribution” (ESD) of An. The circular law concerns the limiting distribution of μAn , where An are random matrices. Let (Mn) ∞ n=1 be a sequence of matrices where each entry is an iid random variable with mean 0 and 1. That is, Mn = (xij), where xij = x for some fixed x. The circular law states that μAn converges weakly in distribution to the uniform measure on the unit disk, where An = 1 √ n Mn (note that the ESDs are random measures). We prove the following special case:
Subgraph matching using compactness prior for robust feature correspondence

Feature correspondence plays a central role in various computer vision applications. It is widely formulated as a graph matching problem due to its robust performance under challenging conditions, such as background clutter, object deformation and repetitive patterns. A variety of fast and accurate algorithms have been proposed for graph matching. However, most of them focus on improving the recall of the solution while rarely considering its precision, thus inducing a solution with numerous outliers. To address both precision and recall feature correspondence should rather be formulated as a subgraph matching problem. This paper proposes a new subgraph matching formulation which uses a compactness prior, an additional constraint that prefers sparser solutions and effectively eliminates outliers. To solve the new optimization problem, we propose a meta-algorithm based on Markov chain Monte Carlo. By constructing Markov chain on the restricted search space instead of the original solution space, our method approximates the solution effectively. The experiments indicate that our proposed formulation and algorithm significantly improve the baseline performance under challenging conditions when both outliers and deformation noise are present.
Coastal protection of submarine optical cables: Croatian experiences

This paper presents Croatian experiences with the submarine optical cable deployment. Submarine cable has been used as transmission media in national telecommunication network. Special emphasis is given to the review of the construction of submarine optical cables coastal protection. The method of drilling from the coast to the seabed and putting in polyethylene ducts and optical cables supports the basic goals of natural environment preservation, the coast and the undersea areas. Its implementation, with an adequate mechanical protection of submarine cables, provides reliable, safe and high-quality telecommunication connections.
GlideCursor: pointing with an inertial cursor

Pointing on large displays with an indirect, relative pointing device such as a touchpad often requires clutching. This article introduces gliding, where the cursor continues to move during the clutching gestures. The effect is that of controlling the cursor as a detached object that can be pushed, with inertia and friction similar to a puck being pushed on a table. We analyze gliding from a practical and a theoretical perspective and report on two studies. The first controlled experiment establishes that gliding reduces clutching and can improve pointing performance for large distances. We introduce cursor efficiency to capture the effects of gliding on clutching. The second experiment demonstrates that participants use gliding even when an efficient acceleration function lets them perform the task without it, without degrading performance.
Development and Characterization of an Electrically Rechargeable Zinc-Air Battery Stack

An electrically rechargeable zinc-air battery stack consisting of three single cells in series was designed using a novel structured bipolar plate with air-breathing holes. Alpha-MnO 2 and LaNiO 3 severed as the catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The anodic and cathodic polarization and individual cell voltages were measured at constant charge-discharge (C-D) current densities indicating a uniform voltage profile for each single cell. One hundred C-D cycles were carried out for the stack. The results showed that, over the initial 10 cycles, the average C-D voltage gap was about 0.94 V and the average energy efficiency reached 89.28% with current density charging at 15 mA·cm −2 and discharging at 25 mA·cm −2 . The total increase in charging voltage over the 100 C-D cycles was ~1.56% demonstrating excellent stability performance. The stack performance degradation was analyzed by galvanostatic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The charge transfer resistance of ORR increased from 1.57 to 2.21 Ω and that of Zn/Zn 2+ reaction increased from 0.21 to 0.34 Ω after 100 C-D cycles. The quantitative analysis guided the potential for the optimization of both positive and negative electrodes to improve the cycle life of the cell stack.
Rational Ordering and Clustering of Examples for Incremental Learning

An incremental learning paradigm assumes that there is a sequence of examples, which is not under control of the learning system. However in some cases the learner can manage the order of some objects from the sequence by updating the weights with the same incremental algorithm. In this paper we focus on one possible approach to manage the order of such examples to achieve higher overall accuracy of the classification. We suggest a method that groups these examples into clusters interleaved by recalculations of weights of the classifiers from the ensemble. The method first orders the examples into the descending order according to the amount of differences in the classifiers’ outputs. Then the examples are grouped into clusters for which the sum of differences in opinions are as equal as possible. Our experiments show that the proposed method allows to reduce the number of weight recalculations up to one fourth without any loss in classification accuracy.
Ecologia da regeneração de espécies arbóreo-arbustivas em savanas: o papel das árvores nucleadoras

O objetivo deste estudo foi o de entender os padroes de restauracao e autorregeneracao sob a influencia da area da copa de quatro especies arboreas (arvores-bercario ou nucleadoras) dominantes na regiao da savana (lavrado) de Roraima, extremo norte da Amazonia brasileira: Curatella americana L. , Byrsonima crasssifolia (L.) H. B. K, Byrsonima coccolobifolia Kunth e Roupala montana Aubl. O estudo levou em conta a composicao, a riqueza (S) e a diversidade (Shannon-Weaver) de plantas arboreo-arbustivas encontradas sob a copa destas especies nucleadoras, alem de fazer uma comparacao dos resultados atraves do indice de similaridade de Sorensen. Tambem foram avaliados os estagios de vida (plântula, jovem e estabelecido) e o padrao de distribuicao espacial dos individuos arboreo-arbustivos sob as copas das especies avaliadas. Os resultados demonstraram que as arvores-bercario estudadas possuem preferencias de estabelecimento fortemente vinculadas aos fatores edaficos, notadamente textura e saturacao por aluminio, e que isto se reflete na diversidade de plantas sob seu dominio de copa. Quanto ao efeito nucleador das especies estudadas, constatou-se que a auto-regeneracao e marcante, principalmente nas especies simpatricas do genero Byrsonima (48% para B. crassifolia e 46% para B. coccolobifolia) e em menor grau em R. montana (12 %) e C. americana (6%). A riqueza e a diversidade de plantas arboreo-arbustivas foram maiores sob a copa de C. americana (S = 16; H’ = 1,389-1,824), enquanto que as demais tiveram indices menores: R. montana (S = 13; H’ = 1,453-1,992), B. coccolobifolia (S = 12; H’ = 0,669) e B. crassifolia (S = 10; H’ = 0,864-1,908). A maioria dos individuos arboreo-arbustivos encontrados sob a area de influencia da copa de B. coccolobifolia foi de B. coccolobifolia (46%), enquanto que de B. crassifolia, 48% foram de auto-regeneracao. Sob C. americana, a especie Randia formosa esteve presente com 33%; e sob R. montana as especies Connarus favosus e B. crassifolia possuiam 23%. Das especies inventariadas sob a copa dos individuos nucleadores, foi constatado que B. crassifolia, Eugenia punicifolia, Erythroxilum suberosum e Xylopia aromatica sao especies sem exigencia nutricional para seu estabelecimento, enquanto C. americana e Rourea grosourdyana exigem basicidade. Os resultados sugerem que as condicoes de estresse ambiental constante (sazonalidade marcante do regime pluviometrico e solos de baixa fertilidade natural), associado a forte pressao antropogenica (fogo), transmitem as especies nucleadoras deste ecossistema um importante papel na manutencao e formacao da diversidade vegetal das savanas de Roraima, pois geram efeitos favoraveis ao recrutamento e a manutencao de especies regionais. A substituicao destas especies-bercario (resistentes e adaptadas as condicoes locais) por outras exoticas (nao adaptadas) pode causar efeitos danosos ao ambiente, com consequencias diretas relacionadas a perda da biodiversidade regional. As arvores-bercario das savanas de Roraima sao constituintes de todo o sistema de restauracao ambiental.
Multi-task Semi-supervised Semantic Feature Learning for Classification

Multi-task learning has proven to be useful to boost the learning of multiple related but different tasks. Meanwhile, latent semantic models such as LSA and LDA are popular and effective methods to extract discriminative semantic features of high dimensional dyadic data. In this paper, we present a method to combine these two techniques together by introducing a new matrix tri-factorization based formulation for semi-supervised latent semantic learning, which can incorporate labeled information into traditional unsupervised learning of latent semantics. Our inspiration for multi-task semantic feature learning comes from two facts, i.e., 1) multiple tasks generally share a set of common latent semantics, and 2) a semantic usually has a stable indication of categories no matter which task it is from. Thus to make multiple tasks learn from each other we wish to share the associations between categories and those common semantics among tasks. Along this line, we propose a novel joint Nonnegative matrix tri-factorization framework with the aforesaid associations shared among tasks in the form of a semantic-category relation matrix. Our new formulation for multi-task learning can simultaneously learn (1) discriminative semantic features of each task, (2) predictive structure and categories of unlabeled data in each task, (3) common semantics shared among tasks and specific semantics exclusive to each task. We give alternating iterative algorithm to optimize our objective and theoretically show its convergence. Finally extensive experiments on text data along with the comparison with various baselines and three state-of-the-art multi-task learning algorithms demonstrate the effectiveness of our method.
Heterogeneity in lymphocyte spectrin distribution: ultrastructural identification of a new spectrin-rich cytoplasmic structure

Spectrin-like proteins are found in a wide variety of non-erythroid cells where they generally occur in the cell cortex near the plasma membrane. To determine the intracellular distribution of alpha-spectrin (alpha-fodrin) in lymphocytes, we have developed an immunoperoxidase method to localize this protein at the ultrastructural level. Of considerable interest, particularly with regard to our efforts to determine the function of spectrin in this cell type, was the finding that its subcellular localization and its relationship with the plasma membrane can vary dramatically. Based on its position in the cell, alpha-spectrin can occur in two forms in lymphocytes: one that associates closely with the plasma membrane and another that occurs at some distance from the cell periphery, either as a single large aggregate or as several smaller ones. The single large aggregate of spectrin is a stable feature in a number of lymphocyte cell lines and hybrids which were used to examine its ultrastructural characteristics. A previously undescribed cellular structure, consisting of a meshwork of spectrin filaments and membranous vesicles, was identified in these cells. This structure could be induced to dissipate in response to membrane perturbants (e.g., hyperthermia and phorbol esters, known effectors of lymphocyte function and differentiation) and the patterns resulting from the redistribution of spectrin were a reflection of those observed routinely in lymphocytes in situ. The correlation between naturally occurring spectrin localization patterns and those seen after membrane perturbation suggested the possibility that spectrin distribution is indicative of particular maturation stages or functional states in lymphocytes. The implications of these findings with regard to the role of spectrin in lymphocyte function are discussed.