Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Plasma concentration of cross-linked fibrin degradation product (D-dimer) and the risk of future myocardial infarction among apparently healthy men.

BACKGROUND Plasma levels of D-dimer, the primary degradation product of cross-linked fibrin, are elevated in several acute thrombotic disorders. However, whether elevated D-dimer levels among healthy individuals are associated with future coronary thrombosis is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS To evaluate whether levels of D-dimer are associated with the occurrence of future myocardial infarction (MI) among apparently healthy men, levels were measured in plasma samples collected at baseline from 296 participants in the Physicians' Health Study who later developed a first MI and from an equal number of age- and smoking status-matched control subjects who remained free of vascular disease during a mean follow-up period of 60.2 months. In univariate analyses, baseline plasma concentrations of D-dimer in the upper ranges of normal were associated with elevated risks of MI. Specifically, the relative risk of future MI for individuals with baseline D-dimer concentration exceeding the 95th percentile of the control distribution was two times higher than that of individuals with lower levels (relative risk [RR], 2.02; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04 to 4.02; P = .04). This association persisted in multivariate analyses controlling for nonlipid cardiovascular risk factors (RR, 2.12; 95% CI, 1.05 to 4.28; P = .04) and for lipoprotein(a) (RR, 2.02; 95% CI, 1.04 to 3.94; P = .03). In contrast, this association was attenuated and no longer statistically significant in analyses that controlled for total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (RR, 1.74; 95% CI, 0.78 to 3.91; P = .2) or for endogenous tissue-type plasminogen activator and its primary inhibitor, plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (RR, 1.58; 95% CI, 0.67 to 3.77; P = .3). CONCLUSIONS Elevated levels of D-dimer are associated with increased risks of future MI, although they do not appear to be an independent predictor when other risk factors are considered. As the presence of D-dimer in plasma reflects ongoing fibrin degradation, these data support the hypothesis that activation of the endogenous fibrinolytic system occurs many years in advance of coronary arterial occlusion.
Tissue Doppler Echocardiographic Evidence of Reverse Remodeling and Improved Synchronicity by Simultaneously Delaying Regional Contraction After Biventricular Pacing Therapy in Heart Failure

Background—Biventricular pacing has been proposed to improve symptoms and exercise capacity in patients with advanced heart failure and wide electrocardiographic wave complexes. This study investigated the effect of biventricular pacing on reverse remodeling and the underlying mechanisms. Methods and Results—Twenty-five patients with NYHA class III to IV heart failure and electrocardiographic wave complex duration >140 ms receiving biventricular pacing therapy were assessed serially up to 3 months after pacing and when pacing was withheld for 4 weeks. Tissue Doppler echocardiography was performed using a 6-basal, 6-mid segmental model to assess the time to peak sustained systolic contraction (TS). There was significant improvement of ejection fraction, dP/dt, and myocardial performance index; decrease in mitral regurgitation, left ventricular (LV) end-diastolic (205±68 versus 168±67 mL, P <0.01) and end-systolic volume (162±54 versus 122±42 mL, P <0.01); and improved 6-minute hall-walk distance and quality of life score after pacing for 3 months. The mechanisms of benefits were as follows: (1) improved LV synchrony, as evident by homogeneous delay of TS to a timing close to the latest (usually the lateral) segment abolishing the intersegmental difference in TS and decreasing the standard deviation of TS within the left ventricle (37.7±10.9 versus 29.3±8.3 ms, P <0.05); (2) improved interventricular synchrony; and (3) shortened isovolumic contraction time (122±57 versus 82±36 ms, P <0.05) but increased diastolic filling time. These benefits are pacing dependent, because withholding the pacing resulted in varying speeds in the loss of cardiac improvements. Conclusions—Biventricular pacing reverses LV remodeling and improves cardiac function. Improvement of LV mechanical synchrony seems to be the predominant mechanism.
Metrics for database systems: an empirical study

An important task for any software project manager is to be able to predict and control project size and development effort. Unfortunately, there is comparatively little work, other than function points, that tackles the problem of building prediction systems for software that is dominated by data considerations, in particular systems developed using 4GLs. We describe an empirical investigation of 70 such systems. Various easily obtainable counts were extracted from data models (e.g. number of entities) and from specifications (e.g. number of screens). Using simple regression analysis, a prediction system of implementation size with accuracy of MMRE=21% was constructed. This approach offers several advantages. First there tend to be fewer counting problems than with function points since the metrics we used were based upon simple counts. Second, the prediction systems were calibrated to specific local environments rather than being based upon industry weights. We believe this enhanced their accuracy. Our work shows that it is possible to develop simple and useful local prediction systems based upon metrics easily derived from functional specifications and data models, without recourse to overly complex metrics or analysis techniques. We conclude that this type of use of metrics can provide valuable support for the management and control of 4GL and database projects.
Double auction and negotiation for dynamic resource allocation with elastic demands

Resource allocation is an important topic with a wide range of applications. In many practical cases, users and resource suppliers are players in the market. As a result, much effort has been made in applying market mechanisms (such as auction and game-theoretic results) to resource allocation. The conventional approach in such studies is to consider cases where users' resource demands are fixed. However, in practice, resource demands are often elastic, which can be related to the quality of experience (QoE) that the user receives. We consider elastic resource demands in this paper, and propose a double auction and negotiation (DAN) scheme, which includes a conventional auction stage as well as a negotiation stage, where the latter allows users to dynamically adjust their demands. The proposed DAN scheme not only allows more users to get access to some amount of resource (thereby avoiding users becoming completely disconnected), but also increases the payoff of resource suppliers, as is confirmed by simulations. We also discuss the conditions of having Nash equilibrium in the users' resource demands and suppliers' pricing in the negotiation stage.
N-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and Inflammation in Obesity: Local Effect and Systemic Benefit

Overwhelming consensus emerges among countless evidences that obesity is characterized by a chronic low-grade inflammation in the adipose tissue (AT), which subsequently develops into a systemic inflammatory state contributing to obesity-associated diseases. N-3 Polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA), known as important modulators participating in inflammatory process, turn out to be an effective mitigating strategy dealing with local and systemic inflammation observed in obesity. Some of the effects of n-3 PUFA are brought about by regulation of gene expression through interacting with nuclear receptors and transcription factors; other effects are elicited by modulation of the amount and type of mediator derived from PUFAs. The metabolic effects of n-3 PUFA mainly result from their interactions with several organ systems, not limited to AT. Notably, the attenuation of inflammation in hard-hit AT, in turn, contributes to reducing circulating concentrations of proinflammatory cytokines and detrimental metabolic derivatives, which is beneficial for the function of other involved organs. The present review highlights a bridging mechanism between n-3 PUFA-mediated inflammation relief in AT and systemic benefits.
Modelling Bid and Ask Prices Using Constrained Hawkes Processes: Ergodicity and Scaling Limit

We introduce a multivariate point process describing the dynamics of the Bid and Ask price of a financial asset. The point process is similar to a Hawkes process, with additional constraints on its intensity corresponding to the natural ordering of the best Bid and Ask prices. We study this process in the special case where the fertility function is exponential so that the process is entirely described by an underlying Markov chain including the constraint variable. Natural, explicit conditions on the parameters are established that ensure the ergodicity of the chain. Moreover, scaling limits are derived for the integrated point process.
CONCENTRATION OF POSTERIOR DISTRIBUTIONS WITH MISSPECIFIED MODELS

We investigate the asymptotic properties of posterior distributions when the model is misspecified, i.e. it is comtemplated that the observations x 1 ,. ,x n might be drawn from a density in a family {h σ ,σ ∈ Θ} where Θ ⊂ R d , while the actual distribution of the observations may not correspond to any of the densities h σ . A concentration property around a fixed value of the parameter is obtained as well as concentration properties around the maximum likelihood estimate.
An algorithm for automated rating of reviewers

The current system for scholarly information dissemination may be amen able to significant improvement. In particular, going from the current system of journal publication to one of self-distributed documents offers significant cost and timeliness advantages. A major concern with such alternatives is how to provide the value currently afforded by the peer review system. Here we propose a mechanism that could plausibly supply such value. In the peer review system, papers are judged meritorious if good reviewers give them good reviews. In its place, we propose a collaborative filtering algorithm which automatically rates reviewers, and incorporates the quality of the reviewer into the metric of merit for the paper. Such a system seems to provide all the benefits of the current peer review system, while at the same time being much more flexible. We have implemented a number of parameterized variations of this algorithm, and tested them on data available from a quite different application. Our initial experiments suggest that the algorithm is in fact ranking reviewers reasonably.
Lipoprotein‐X: a substrate for lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase

Abstract. The action of lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) was studied on an abnormal lipoprotein (LP‐X) rich in phosphatidylcholine and cholesterol from the plasma of patients with obstructive liver disease. 60 mg LP‐X isolated free of other lipoproteins and subsequently labelled with 3H‐cholesterol were incubated with 1 mg highly purified enzyme in the presence of albumin. After 45 h at 37°C, the incubation mixture was subjected to zonal ultracentrifugation. 3H‐cholesteryl esters were quantified in each fraction of the zonal gradient. More than 95% of the lipoproteins in this mixture banded in the density range of LP‐X with no change in size distribution, but did contain 593 nmoles of newly formed cholesteryl esters. Agarose electrophoresis revealed an α‐migrating band in addition to the original β‐band. Also, on agar, the typically cathode migrating LP‐X was changed to anode moving material.
‘Lost to follow up’: rethinking delayed and interrupted HIV treatment among married Swazi women

Through various campaigns and strategies, more women are being tested for HIV in countries with a high prevalence of the virus. Despite the ready availability of treatment at government clinics in sub-Saharan African countries like Swaziland, women consistently report difficulty in maintaining access to treatment. Drawing on two individual case studies selected from a larger study of the so-called leaky cascade in Swaziland, we illustrate the protracted journeys married women undertake to initiate treatment. We demonstrate how women manoeuvre tactically after diagnosis, highlight factors that influence their decisions related to initiating treatment, and detail the actors involved in the decision-making process. Our research shows the persistence of structural factors that inhibit access, including economic constraints, gender inequality and patriarchal social norms. Patients referred as ‘lost to follow up’ are in many cases actively pursuing treatment within a context that includes the biomedical health system, but also extends well beyond it. We argue that the phrase ‘lost to follow up’ conceals the complex social navigation required by women to initiate and maintain access to treatment. Further, we suggest that many of the logistical challenges of monitoring and tracking people with HIV can be better addressed by taking into account the structural and social aspects of delayed treatment initiative.
Inorganic Nitrate Therapy Improves Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiomyopathy

The anthracycline doxorubicin (DOX) is a potent and effective antineoplastic antibiotic agent widely used in the treatment of a broad range of forms of cancer. The clinical use of DOX is limited by cardiotoxicity, which increases dose dependently and may lead to dilated cardiomyopathy and clinical manifestations of congestive heart failure up to 10 to 15 years after the cessation of DOX chemotherapy in as many as 30% to 40% of patients treated with this drug (1). It is well established that cardiac oxidative stress from nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidases (2) and mitochondrial sources (3) contributes substantially to
Almost global stabilization of a vertical take-off and landing aircraft in hovered flight

This paper proposes a controller which stabilizes a fixed-wing Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) in hovered flight. A six degree-of-freedom dynamic model is developed for an underactuated model-scale aircraft and a simpler three degree-of-freedom model is derived for controller design purposes. A novel nonlinear controller which renders the hovering position of the simplified system dynamics almost globally exponentially stable is proposed. Lateral stabilization is achieved by means of classic linear optimal control techniques. The nonlinear controller is designed so as to provide unidirectional thrust. Moreover, the closed-loop system is Input-to-State Stable (ISS) in the presence of unknown disturbances. Realistic simulation results demonstrate the controller's effectiveness and robustness when dealing with the problem at hand.
Identification of Critical Host Mitochondrion-Associated Genes during Ehrlichia chaffeensis Infections

ABSTRACT Ehrlichia chaffeensis is an obligate intracellular bacterium that causes human monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME). To determine what host components are important for bacterial replication, we performed microarray analysis on Drosophila melanogaster S2 cells by comparing host gene transcript levels between permissive and nonpermissive conditions for E. chaffeensis growth. Five-hundred twenty-seven genes had increased transcript levels unique to permissive growth conditions 24 h postinfection. We screened adult flies that were mutants for several of the “permissive” genes for the ability to support Ehrlichia replication. Three additional D. melanogaster fly lines with putative mutations in pyrimidine metabolism were also tested. Ten fly lines carrying mutations in the genes CG6479, separation anxiety, chitinase 11, CG6364 (Uck2), CG6543 (Echs1), withered (whd), CG15881 (Ccdc58), CG14806 (Apop1), CG11875 (Nup37), and dumpy (dp) had increased resistance to infection with Ehrlichia. Analysis of RNA by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) confirmed that the bacterial load was decreased in these mutant flies compared to wild-type infected control flies. Seven of these genes (san, Cht11, Uck2, Echs1, whd, Ccdc58, and Apop1) encoded proteins that had mitochondrial functions or could be associated with proteins with mitochondrial functions. Treatment of THP-1 cells with double-stranded RNA to silence the human UCK2 gene indicates that the disruption of the uridine-cytidine kinase affects E. chaffeensis replication in human macrophages. Experiments with cyclopentenyl cytosine (CPEC), a CTP synthetase inhibitor and cytosine, suggest that the nucleotide salvage pathway is essential for E. chaffeensis replication and that it may be important for the provision of CTP, uridine, and cytidine nucleotides.
Radio emission and the optical isophotal twist of radio-loud ellipticals

Using the surface photometric analysis data for a well defined sample of 79 nearby radio galaxies ($z \le 0.12$), it is shown that the level of radio emission associated with an elliptical galaxy during the radio-loud phase is related to the presence of large amounts of isophotal twist in its optical image. In particular, radio galaxies with $P_{\rm 408} > 3 \times 10^{25}$ W Hz -1 appear to show a preference to be associated with elliptical hosts exhibiting an isophotal twist in excess of ∼ 20°.
Integration of the freebsd TCP/IP-stack into the discrete event simulator OMNET++

The discrete event simulator OMNeT++, that is programmed in C++, shows a steady growing popularity. Due to its well-structured nature, it is easy to understand and easy to use. A shortcoming of it, however, is the limited number of available simulation models. Especially, for network simulations a validated TCP implementation was missing. In order to avoid a re-implementation of a full-featured TCP, including all potential implementation errors and costly validation tests, we integrated a TCP/IP stack of a real operating system into OMNeT++. In this paper we show that such a port is feasible with reasonable effort and we describe difficulties of the integration process as well as the applied solutions. We also present some evaluation results that outline memory and CPU usage.
Singular value decomposition for texture defect detection in visual inspection systems

In this paper the authors propose an algorithm for texture defects detection, which doesn't use supervised classification. The algorithm can be simply applied in an automatic visual inspection system. For localization of texture defects features calculation of each non-overlapping region of an image via the singular value decomposition (SVD) and image processing techniques. In next step the algorithm uses the fuzzy c-means clustering (FCM) to classify each region into two clusters. Finally the authors define a distance between centres of defective and non-defective clusters using some threshold value chosen empirically
Depth Resolution Dependence on Sample Thickness and Incident Energy in On-Axis Transmission Kikuchi Diffraction in Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)

Abstract Transmission Kikuchi diffraction is an emerging technique aimed at producing orientation maps of the structure of materials with a nanometric lateral resolution. This study investigates experimentally the depth resolution of the on-axis configuration, via a twinned silicon bi-crystal sample specifically designed and fabricated. The measured depth resolution varies from 30 to 65 nm in the range 10–30 keV, with a close to linear dependence with incident energy and no dependence with the total sample thickness. The depth resolution is explained in terms of two mechanisms acting concomitantly: generation of Kikuchi diffraction all along the thickness of the sample, associated with continuous absorption on the way out. A model based on the electron mean free path is used to account for the dependence with incident energy of the depth resolution. In addition, based on the results in silicon, the use of the mean absorption coefficient is proposed to predict the depth resolution for any atomic number and incident energy.
Contribution of Trans-splicing, 5′ -Leader Length, Cap-Poly(A) Synergism, and Initiation Factors to Nematode Translation in an Ascaris suum Embryo Cell-free System*♦

Trans-splicing introduces a common 5′ 22-nucleotide sequence with an N-2,2,7-trimethylguanosine cap (m 2,2,73GpppG or TMG-cap) to more than 70% of transcripts in the nematodes Caenorhabditis elegans and Ascaris suum. Using an Ascaris embryo cell-free translation system, we found that the TMG-cap and spliced leader sequence synergistically collaborate to promote efficient translation, whereas addition of either a TMG-cap or spliced leader sequence alone decreased reporter activity. We cloned an A. suum embryo eIF4E homolog and demonstrate that this recombinant protein can bind m7G- and TMG-capped mRNAs in cross-linking assays and that binding is enhanced by eIF4G. Both the cap structure and the spliced leader (SL) sequence affect levels of A. suum eIF4E cross-linking to mRNA. Furthermore, the differential binding of eIF4E to a TMG-cap and to trans-spliced and non-trans-spliced RNAs is commensurate with the translational activity of reporter RNAs observed in the cell-free extract. Together, these binding data and translation assays with competitor cap analogs suggest that A. suum eIF4E-3 activity may be sufficient to mediate translation of both trans-spliced and non-trans-spliced mRNAs. Bioinformatic analyses demonstrate the SL sequence tends to trans-splice close to the start codon in a diversity of nematodes. This evolutionary conservation is functionally reflected in the optimal SL to AUG distance for reporter mRNA translation in the cell-free system. Therefore, trans-splicing of the SL1 leader sequence may serve at least two functions in nematodes, generation of an optimal 5′-untranslated region length and a specific sequence context (SL1) for optimal translation of trimethylguanosine capped transcripts.
Variation of Feed Chemical Composition and Its Effect on Clinker Formation-Simulation Process

The raw materials for Portland cement production are the mixture (as fine powder in the 'Dry process') of minerals containing calcium oxide, silicon oxide, aluminum oxide, ferric oxide, and magnesium oxide. The raw materials are usually quarried from local rocks which are found in some places have already practically the desired composition and in other places require addition of the clay and limestone, as well as iron ore, or recycled materials such as CKD). The homogeneity of feed chemical composition has an important relationship to fuel consumption, kiln operation, clinker formation and cement performance. Cement quality is typically assessed by its compressive strength development in mortar and concrete. The basis for this property is a well-burned clinker with consistent chemical composition and free lime. The main reason for the clinker free lime to change in a situation with stable kiln operation is variation in the chemical composition of the kiln feed. This variation in chemical composition is related to raw mix control and the homogenization process. To ensure a constant quality of the product and maintain a stable and continuous operation of the kiln, the attention must be paid to storage and homogenization of raw materials and kiln feed. This article focuses to study the role of raw mix composition control and the homogenization process. The study have been done by computer simulation (Fortran 90) to make calculations to estimate quantities of the raw materials (limestone, clay, iron ore,. ) required to prepare kiln feed. These calculations have been done based on knowing composition of raw materials, these field data obtained from Al-Mergheb cement plant. Due to variations in the kiln feed chemical compositions that affect its burnability and eventually the fuel consumption, so the simulation done to give a suitable composition of kiln feed to allow soft burning inside kiln. A simulation of the mixing raw materials process and estimate composition of kiln feed, as well as formed clinker were done successful through fitting of the results obtained with field data of one of the plants operating in Libya.