Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dropped head syndrome due to neuromuscular disease: clinical manifestation and evaluation

In this article, we discuss the clinical approach to patients with dropped head syndrome and identify the various neuromuscular causes of dropped head syndrome including muscle, neuromuscular junction, peripheral nerve and motor neuron etiologies. We aim to increase awareness of recognition the entity of dropped head syndrome and factors that may predict response to immunomodulating therapy in dropped head syndrome. Two patients were reported with DHS associated with SM, also known as scleroderma-PM overlap syndrome . One of the cases,53 year-old women, presented with DHS with mild dysphagia. 17 She had wasting of the neck extensor as well as the shoulder girdle muscles. Serum creatinine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate and alanine aminotransferase were elevated. EMG findings showed myopathic process with early recruitment in deltoid, iliopsoas, and quadriceps muscles. A muscle biopsy of the left deltoid showed a mild and diffuse process of necrosis and regeneration associated with major perivascular inflammatory infiltrate locates in endomysial, perimysial and epimysial tissues. The autoantibody screen revealed positive antinuclear antibody (1/640),mildly positive antineutrophilic cytoplasmic antibody (1/40), positive rheumatoid factor at 128 UI/l (normal b30), and positive anti PM– Scl antibody. Cervical MRI without gadolinium was unremarkable. She was treated with prednisone 1mg/kg. The dysphagia resolved within 2 weeks and motor weakness rapidly improved. Within two months, she was able to keep her head straight. Her condition progressively improved for one year, then remained stable. 17 The other case 18 , 51- year-old man presented with neck pain and inability to maintain the head erect. The detailed blood, pathological investigations were consistent with scleromyositis. He was treated with prednisone on a 60 mg/d step-down dosage with subcutaneous methotrexate at a dose of 25 mg/wk, which resulted in remarkable improvement in neck weakness and limitations within 1 month with normalized muscle enzymes.
DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF IMAGE FUSION ALGORITHM USING DCT AND LAPLACIAN PYRAMID APPROACH

In this paper introduces a approach to implement image fusion algorithm i.e. LAPLACIAN PYRAMID based on (discrete cosine transform) DCT. This proposed technique implements a pattern selective approach to image fusion. The basic idea is to perform pyramid decomposition on each source image. It is concluded that fusion with higher level of pyramid provides better fusion quality. The execution time is proportional to the number of pyramid levels used in the fusion process. The performance of this technique is measured by root mean square error, peak signal to noise ratio, mea absolute error and signal to noise ratio. From the performance analysis it has been observed that PSNR and SNR is increased, where as RMSE and MAE is decreased in this technique. The aim of image fusion, apart from reducing the amount of data, is to create new images that are more suitable for human/machine vision. The proposed algorithm is very simple, easy to implement and could be used for real time applications such as military, remote sensing and medical imaging.
An optimal lower bound on the number of variables for graph identification

It is shown that Omega (n) variables are needed for first-order logic with counting to identify graphs on n vertices. This settles a long-standing open problem. The lower bound remains true over a set of graphs of color class size 4. This contrasts sharply with the fact that three variables suffice to identify all graphs of color class size 3, and two variables suffice to identify almost all graphs. The lower bound is optimal up to multiplication by a constant because n variables obviously suffice to identify graphs on n vertices. <<ETX>>
Resveratrol Suppresses Prostate Cancer Progression in Transgenic Mice

Resveratrol, a natural polyphenolic phytochemical, has been reported to act as an antioxidant and provide anti-cancer activities. We hypothesized that resveratrol would exert a chemopreventive effect against prostate cancer via regulation of sex steroid receptor and growth factor signaling pathways. In the current study, Transgenic Adenocarcinoma Mouse Prostate (TRAMP) males were fed resveratrol (625 mg resveratrol/kg AIN-76A diet) or phytoestrogen-free, control diet (AIN-76A) starting at five weeks of age. Mechanisms of action and histopathology studies were conducted at 12 and 28 weeks of age, respectively. Resveratrol in the diet significantly reduced the incidence of poorly differentiated prostatic adenocarcinoma by 7.7-fold. In the dorsolateral prostate (DLP), resveratrol significantly inhibited cell proliferation, increased androgen receptor (AR), estrogen receptor-β (ER-β), and insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R), and significantly decreased IGF-1, and phospho-extracellular regulating kinase 1 (phospho-ERK 1). In the ventral prostate (VP), resveratrol significantly reduced cell proliferation and phospho-ERKs 1 and 2, but did not significantly alter IGF-1R and IGF-1. Serum total testosterone, free testosterone, estradiol, dihydrotestosterone (DHT), and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) concentrations and SV-40 Tag expression in the prostate were not altered in resveratroltreated mice. Total resveratrol concentration in the blood serum of 12 week old mice treated for three weeks with 625 mg resveratrol/kg diet was 52 ± 18 nM. The decrease in cell proliferation and the potent growth factor, IGF-1, the down-regulation of downstream effectors, phospho-ERKs 1 and 2, and the increase in the putative tumor at Penylvania State U niersity on Feruary 2, 2013 http://carcfordjournals.org/ D ow nladed from
Proposed E-government Foresight Framework in Developing Countries, A Systematic Approach

E-government foresight is a major issues for many countries. It is a systematic approach for looking into the long-term futures. E-government initiatives are currently at a stage of integration and new orientation in developing countries. Smaller steps of government modernization have in part been successfully implemented; larger ones still lie ahead of us. This demands a framework for e- government foresight studies. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for the e-government foresight. Firstly, the main components of foresight from different foresight frameworks were identified using meta-synthesis approach. Then, expert’s opinion about identified components are collected and validated. The e-government foresight framework was proposed based on the Zachman architecture framework. Finally, appropriate activities and methods for conducting each stages of the framework are summarized. The implications of the results addressed a range of main issues such as dedicated framework, increased internal communication and knowledge sharing, and enhanced project management effectiveness.
Effect of Inertia and Constriction Factors on PSO and Quantum Behaved PSO

Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is characterized as a stochastic optimization algorithm that is based on the behaviour of swarm of birds searching for food. PSO is a very powerful tool for obtaining the optimal solution for complex problems. The algorithm may be modified by varying the various parameters involved and hence new variants of PSO may be obtained that improve the rate of convergence and the diversity of the solutions. In this paper, the basic PSO and the Quantum behaved PSO are compared with the variations of inertia factor and constriction factor applied on the Sphere function and Rosenbrock function. Keywords—Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Quantum PSO (QPSO), PSO with Inertia Factor (PSO-In), PSO with Constriction Factor (PSO-Co)
Approximation bounds for Black Hole Search problems

A black hole is a highly harmful stationary process residing in a node of a network and destroying all mobile agents visiting the node without leaving any trace. The Black Hole Search is the task of locating all black holes in a network, through the exploration of its nodes by a set of mobile agents. In this article we consider the problem of designing the fastest Black Hole Search, given the map of the network, the starting node and a subset of nodes of the network initially known to be safe. We study the version of this problem that assumes that there is at most one black hole in the network and there are two agents, which move in synchronized steps. We prove that this problem is not polynomial‐time approximable within any constant factor less than $389 \over 388$ (unless P = NP). We give a 6‐approximation algorithm, thus improving on the 9.3‐approximation algorithm from (Czyzowicz et al., Fundamenta Informaticae 71 (2006), 229–242). We also prove APX‐hardness for a restricted version of the problem, in which only the starting node is initially known to be safe. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, 2008
The chinese version of the coronary Artery Disease education Questionnaire-ii (cADeQ-ii): translation and validation

Objectives: It is necessary to assess disease-related knowledge in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) for tailored patient education; however there is a lack of a well-validated measurement in China. The objective of this study was to translate and validate a Chinese version of the Coronary Artery Disease Education Questionnaire-II (CADEQ-II). Methods: The Chinese version of CADEQ-II was translated and culturally adapted. Then, it was tested for psychometric properties through a convenient sampling. Content validity was examined based on a panel of five experts. The item difficulty index and item discrimination index were calculated to assess the item difficulty and item discrimination. Internal consistency reliability was measured with the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Criterion-related validity was established through comparing scores in patients with different education levels. Construct validity was assessed through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results: The Chinese version of the CADEQ-II was finalized after deleting three items and modifying two items from the original version. Three hundred and sixteen participants completed the whole questionnaire. Content validity index of the whole questionnaire was 0.87. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the overall questionnaire was 0.907. The significant difference of the knowledge scores among patients with different education levels supported criterion-related validity. CFA confirmed the proposed four-factorial structure of the questionnaire. Conclusion: The Chinese version of CADEQ-II had an acceptable reliability and validity among Chinese patients with CAD. It could be used to develop individualized health education for Chinese patients with CAD. Also, it could serve as a suitable outcome measurement to evaluate the effectiveness of education interventions related to CAD.
Clostridium difficile colonizes alternative nutrient niches during infection across distinct murine gut environments

5 Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) has grown to be the most prevalent cause of hospital 6 acquired infection in the United States. Susceptibility to CDI is induced by recent 7 antibiotic exposure, which is known to alter the structure of the gut microbiome and to 8 affect the availability of growth nutrients in the gut. We hypothesized that C. difficile is a 9 generalist that adapts its physiology to the nutrients available within the gut. We orally 10 challenged C57BL/6 mice that previously received one of three antibiotics with C. 11 difficile and demonstrated that it was able to colonize the cecum within 18 hours of 12 infection. However, levels of both spore and toxin production, which are known to be 13 affected by nutrient availability, varied between each antibiotic treatment group. To 14 more closely investigate the specific responses of C. difficile as it colonized the cecum, 15 we performed in vivo transcriptional analysis of C. difficile from cecal content of infected 16 mice. This approach revealed variation in expression of genes that drive life-cycle 17 switches as well as metabolic pathways associated with catabolizing a variety of carbon 18 sources such as carbohydrates, amino acids, and amino sugars. To assess which 19 substrates C. difficile was most likely exploiting in each antibiotic-perturbed microbiome, 20
Multifidelity Monte Carlo Estimation of Variance and Sensitivity Indices ACDL TR-2017-2

Variance-based sensitivity analysis provides a quantitative measure of how uncertainty in a model input contributes to uncertainty in the model output. Such sensitivity analyses arise in a wide variety of applications and are typically computed using Monte Carlo estimation, but the many samples required for Monte Carlo to be sufficiently accurate can make these analyses intractable when the model is expensive. This work presents a multifidelity approach for estimating of sensitivity indices that leverages cheaper low-fidelity models to reduce the cost of sensitivity analysis while retaining accuracy guarantees via recourse to the original, expensive model. This paper develops new multifidelity estimators for variance and for the Sobol’ main and total effect sensitivity indices. We discuss strategies for dividing limited computational resources among models and specify a recommended strategy. Results are presented for the Ishigami function and a convection-diffusion-reaction model that demonstrate up to 40× speedups for fixed convergence levels. For the problems tested, the multifidelity approach allows inputs to be definitively ranked in importance when Monte Carlo alone fails to do so.
Wavelet theory and applications

• A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. • The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers.
Food Safety Efforts Accelerate in the 1990's

Awareness of the health risks from foodborne disease has increased over the past 10 years. Although the Nation's food supply remains among the safest in the world, widely publicized outbreaks of foodborne illness caused by such sources as Escherichia coli (E. coli) 0157:H7 in hamburger, Listeria monocytogenes in hot dogs, and Salmonella in poultry and eggs have raised the public's concerns about risks from microbial pathogens in food. The Federal Government and the private sector have responded with a variety of efforts to protect and enhance the safety of the foods we eat. This article reviews the important events in food safety of the last decade and looks ahead at new efforts to reduce microbial contamination of foods.
Communication-optimal parallel and sequential QR and LU factorizations: theory and practice

We present parallel and sequential dense QR factorization algorithms that are both optimal (up to polylogarithmic factors) in the amount of communication they perform, and just as stable as Householder QR. Our first algorithm, Tall Skinny QR (TSQR), factors m-by-n matrices in a one-dimensional (1-D) block cyclic row layout, and is optimized for m >> n. Our second algorithm, CAQR (Communication-Avoiding QR), factors general rectangular matrices distributed in a two-dimensional block cyclic layout. It invokes TSQR for each block column factorization.
Communication-Optimal Parallel and Sequential Cholesky Decomposition [ Extended Abstract ]

Numerical algorithms have two kinds of costs: arithmetic and communication, by which we mean either moving data between levels of a memory hierarchy (in the sequential case) or over a network connecting processors (in the parallel case). Communication costs often dominate arithmetic costs, so it is of interest to design algorithms minimizing communication. In this paper we first extend known lower bounds on the communication cost (both for bandwidth and for latency) of conventional (O(n)) matrix multiplication to Cholesky factorization, which is used for solving dense symmetric positive definite linear systems. Second, we compare the cost of various Cholesky decomposition implementations to this lower bound, and draw the following conclusions: (1) “Näıve” sequential algorithms for Cholesky attain neither the bandwidth nor latency lower bounds. ∗A full version of this paper is available at http://arxiv.org/abs/0902.2537. †Research supported by Microsoft and Intel funding (Award #20080469) and by matching funding by U.C. Discovery (Award #DIG07-10227). ‡O. Holtz acknowledges support of the Sofja Kovalevskaja programm of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. §This work was done while visiting University of California, Berkeley. Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this w ork for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided th at copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and th at copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To cop y therwise, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, re quires prior specific permission and/or a fee. SPAA’09, August 11–13, 2009, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Copyright 2009 ACM 978-1-60558-606-9/09/08 . $10.00. (2) The sequential blocked algorithm in LAPACK (with the right block size), as well as various recursive algorithms [AP00, GJ01, AGW01, ST04], and one based on work of Toledo [Tol97], can attain the bandwidth lower bound. (3) The LAPACK algorithm can also attain the latency bound if used with blocked data structures rather than column-wise or row-wise matrix data structures, though the Toledo algorithm cannot. (4) The recursive sequential algorithm due to [AP00] attains the bandwidth and latency lower bounds at every level of a multi-level memory hierarchy, in a “cacheoblivious” way. (5) The parallel implementation of Cholesky in the ScaLAPACK library (again with the right block-size) attains both the bandwidth and latency lower bounds to within a poly-logarithmic factor. Combined with prior results in [DGHL08a, DGHL08b, DGX08] this gives a complete set of communication-optimal algorithms for O(n) implementations of three basic factorizations of dense linear algebra: LU with pivoting, QR and Cholesky. But it goes beyond this prior work on sequential LU and QR by optimizing communication for any number of levels of memory hierarchy.
Fqmr: a Flexible Quasi-minimal Residual Method with Inexact Preconditioning (preliminary Report) Fqmr: a Flexible Quasi-minimal Residual Method with Inexact Preconditioning (preliminary Report)

A exible version of the QMR algorithm is presented which allows for the use of a diierent preconditioner at each step of the algorithm. In particular, inexact solutions of the preconditioned equations are allowed, as well as the use of some (inner) iterative method as a preconditioner. Several theorems are presented relating the norm of the residual of the new method with the norm of the residual of other methods, including QMR and FGMRES.
Changes in the type and amount of spending disclosed by Australian pharmaceutical companies: an observational study

Objectives To describe and quantify disclosed payments from the pharmaceutical industry to the healthcare sector, and to examine the impact of the 2015 changes to Australia’s self-regulated system of transparency. Design Observational database study. Setting Australia. Participants Publicly available reports submitted by members of Australian pharmaceutical industry trade organisations, Medicines Australia and the Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association (GBMA) (October 2011–December 2017). Exposure Changes to transparency reporting requirements with the updates of pharmaceutical industry Codes of Conduct in 2015. Main outcome measures Elements of healthcare sector spending that members of industry organisations are required to publicly disclose; cumulative amount of disclosed spending (monthly average) in the year prior to and following the revision. Results There was a 34.1% reduction in disclosed spending from Medicines Australia member companies in the year after the 2015 changes to the Code of Conduct were introduced ($A89 658 566 in the preceding year, October 2014–September 2015; $A59 052 551 in the following year). The new Code allowed for reduced reporting of spending on food and beverages at events and for sponsored healthcare professionals. However, there was enhanced transparency around identification of individual health professionals receiving payments. GBMA member reporting totalled $A2 580 402 in the year prior to the revision, then ceased. Conclusions This study shows the limitations of a self-regulatory system around industry disclosure of spending. We advocate for robust regulatory systems, such as legislation, to promote mandatory long-lasting public transparency.
Studying Users ’ Computer Security Behavior : A Health Belief Perspective ( forthcoming Decision Support Systems )

The damage due to computer security incidents is motivating organizations to adopt protective mechanisms. While technological controls are necessary, computer security also depends on individual’s security behavior. It is thus important to investigate what influences a user to practice computer security. This study uses the Health Belief Model, adapted from the healthcare literature, to study users’ computer security behavior. The model was validated using survey data from 134 employees. Results show that perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits, and self-efficacy are determinants of email related security behavior. Perceived severity moderates the effects of perceived benefits, general security orientation, cues to action, and self-efficacy on security behavior.