Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prospective randomized controlled trial comparing three different ways of anesthesia in transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy.

PURPOSE To make an objective controlled comparison of pain tolerance in transrectal ultrasound-guided prostatic biopsy using intrarectal topic anesthesia, injectable periprostatic anesthesia, or low-dose intravenous sedation. MATERIALS AND METHODS One hundred and sixty patients were randomized into 4 groups: group I, intrarectal application of 2% lidocaine gel; group II, periprostatic anesthesia; group III, intravenous injection of midazolam and meperidine; and group IV, control, patients to whom no sedation or analgesic was given. Pain was evaluated using an analogue pain scale graded from 0 to 5. Acceptance of a repetition biopsy, the side effects of the drugs and complications were also evaluated. RESULTS 18/20 (90%) and 6/20 (30%) patients reported strong or unbearable pain in the group submitted to conventional biopsy and topical anesthesia (p = 0.23, chi-square = 1.41); whereas those submitted to periprostatic blockade and sedation, severe pain occurred in only 2/60 (3%) patients (p < 0.001, chi-square = 40.19) and 3/60 (5%) patients (p < 0.001, chi-square = 33.34). Acceptance of repetition of the biopsy was present in only 45% of the patients submitted to conventional biopsy, 60% of those that were given topical anesthesia (p = 0.52, chi-square = 0.4), compared to 100% of those submitted to periprostatic anesthesia (p < 0.01, chi-square = 15.17), and 95% of those who were sedated (p < 0.001, chi-square = 25.97%). CONCLUSIONS Transrectal ultrasound-guided prostatic biopsy is an uncomfortable experience; however application of periprostatic blockade and intravenous analgesia are associated to higher tolerance of the exam and patient comfort. Low dose sedation by association of intravenous meperidine and midazolam is an emerging and safe outpatient option.
Influence of Zinc Deficiency on Behavior 1

Summary Acquisition of an elevated Tol-man-Honzik maze was tested in rats that had been subjected to zinc deficiency from birth through 21 days of age and then adequately fed for 23 days. Their maze acquisition was impaired compared with that of rats that had been nursed by pair-fed dams or by ad libitum-fed dams.
Tissue and cell imaging in situ: potential for applications in pathology and endoscopy

Morphological sciences have recently experienced a significant technological breakthrough that offers new opportunities for cell and tissue imaging in situ but also raises new challenges to pathologists, who must adapt to a rapidly evolving environment. New partners, such as cell and molecular biologists, have provided pathologists with highly powerful tools for cell and subcellular imaging. They include: (a) the adaptation of techniques derived from molecular biology and cytogenetics, (b) the development of new microscopic tools, such as confocal microscopy, and (c) the emergence of new preparative techniques, such as microdissection or tissue arrays. However, recent technological progresses in various fields, from endoscopy to genomics, also raise new challenges to pathologists. Pathologists must therefore be prepared to redefine their area of expertise: this will be achieved through a continuous collaboration with all the partners involved in cell and tissue imaging and analysis but also by emphasising the importance of the informations provided by cell and tissue imaging in situ.
Automatic Detection of Student Mental Models During Prior Knowledge Activation in MetaTutor

This paper presents several methods to automatically detecting students' mental models in MetaTutor, an intelligent tutoring system that teaches students self-regulatory processes during learning of complex science topics. In particular, we focus on detecting students' mental models based on student- generated paragraphs during prior knowledge activation, a self-regulatory process. We describe two major categories of methods and combine each method with various machine learning algorithms. A detailed comparison among the methods and across all algorithms is also provided. The evaluation of the proposed methods is performed by comparing the prediction of the methods with human judgments on a set of 309 prior knowledge activation paragraphs collected from previous experiments with MetaTutor on college students. According to our experiments, a content-based method with word-weighting and Bayes Nets algorithm is the most accurate.
Interactive two-sided transparent displays: designing for collaboration

Transparent displays can serve as an important collaborative medium supporting face-to-face interactions over a shared visual work surface. Such displays enhance workspace awareness: when a person is working on one side of a transparent display, the person on the other side can see the other's body, hand gestures, gaze and what he or she is actually manipulating on the shared screen. Even so, we argue that designing such transparent displays must go beyond current offerings if it is to support collaboration. First, both sides of the display must accept interactive input, preferably by at least touch and / or pen, as that affords the ability for either person to directly interact with the workspace items. Second, and more controversially, both sides of the display must be able to present different content, albeit selectively. Third (and related to the second point), because screen contents and lighting can partially obscure what can be seen through the surface, the display should visually enhance the actions of the person on the other side to better support workspace awareness. We describe our prototype FACINGBOARD-2 system, where we concentrate on how its design supports these three collaborative requirements.
Distributed H ∞ coordination of multi-agent systems with directed switching topology and time-delay

In this paper, we consider multi-agent H∞ consensus control problems with external disturbance under directed switching topologies. Both switching networks with and without time-delay are taken into consideration. By the model transformation, the multi-agent H∞ control problem is converted into the switching linear system H∞ control problem with special structure. Based on graph theory and common Lyapunov function method, we establish LMI sufficient conditions under which all agents can reach consensus with the desired H∞ performance in two cases of zero and nonzero communication delays respectively. Specially, we obtain an explicit estimation expression of H∞ performance index in undirected non-time-delay switching topology case. Finally, two numerical examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the obtained results.
Evaluation of functionally important amino acids in L-aspartate ammonia-lyase from Escherichia coli.

The high-resolution structure of l-aspartate ammonia-lyase from Escherichia coli has recently been determined [Shi, W. , Dunbar, J., Jayasekera, M. M. K. , Viola, R. E. , & Farber, G. K. (1997) Biochemistry 36, 9136-9144]. An examination of the putative active site has been carried out, with the active site located in a cleft that contains the functionally significant lysine 327. A list of potential active site residues has been generated based on their proximity to this active site lysine, sequence homology comparisons with other members of the aspartase-fumarase enzyme family, and the necessity for chemically reasonable functionalities for the proposed roles. The five most likely candidates in the putative active site cleft have been examined by site-directed mutagenesis to test their feasibility for either substrate binding or acid-base catalytic roles. Arginine and lysine residues have been identified that appear to function in the orientation and binding of aspartic acid at the enzyme active site. Some tentative assignments have also been made of the acid and base catalytic groups that are proposed to be involved in the deamination reaction.
[Cervical cytologic reports of ASCUS and LSIL. Cyto-histological correlation and implication for management].

BACKGROUND The purpose of this retrospective study is to evaluate the appropriate management of ASCUS and LSIL pap smears by correlating the histological findings obtained by punch biopsy or excised specimens. METHODS The study group included 584 women with abnormal pap smear: 358 with ASCUS and 226 with LSIL cytological abnormalities. All patients underwent colposcopy and, if necessary, directed-punch biopsy. In case of biopsy-proven dysplasia a destructive or excisional treatment was performed, as indicated. RESULTS The prevalence of HPV-CIN histological lesions in ASCUS patients was 36.3% and in LSIL patients was 67.7%. High grade CIN was observed in 15.7 and 20.8% respectively. In one ASCUS patients an invasive lesion was diagnosed on punch biopsy and two LSIL patients showed stromal invasion on the final histopathologic report on excised specimens. CONCLUSIONS Patients with ASCUS or LSIL pap smear exhibit a wide spectrum of histological findings ranging from no pathologic abnormality to frequent high grade CIN and invasive carcinoma in rare cases. Because of the histological assessment by directed-punch biopsy and its therapeutical indications, colposcopic examination is recommended for all women with a cytologic diagnosis of ASCUS and LSIL.
Arrhythmogenic Mechanisms in a Mouse Model of Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia

Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (VT) is a lethal familial disease characterized by bidirectional VT, polymorphic VT, and ventricular fibrillation. Catecholaminergic polymorphic VT is caused by enhanced Ca2+ release through defective ryanodine receptor (RyR2) channels. We used epicardial and endocardial optical mapping, chemical subendocardial ablation with Lugol's solution, and patch clamping in a knockin (RyR2/RyR2R4496C) mouse model to investigate the arrhythmogenic mechanisms in catecholaminergic polymorphic VT. In isolated hearts, spontaneous ventricular arrhythmias occurred in 54% of 13 RyR2/RyR2R4496C and in 9% of 11 wild-type (P=0.03) littermates perfused with Ca2+and isoproterenol; 66% of 12 RyR2/RyR2R4496C and 20% of 10 wild-type hearts perfused with caffeine and epinephrine showed arrhythmias (P=0.04). Epicardial mapping showed that monomorphic VT, bidirectional VT, and polymorphic VT manifested as concentric epicardial breakthrough patterns, suggesting a focal origin in the His–Purkinje networks of either or both ventricles. Monomorphic VT was clearly unifocal, whereas bidirectional VT was bifocal. Polymorphic VT was initially multifocal but eventually became reentrant and degenerated into ventricular fibrillation. Endocardial mapping confirmed the Purkinje fiber origin of the focal arrhythmias. Chemical ablation of the right ventricular endocardial cavity with Lugol's solution induced complete right bundle branch block and converted the bidirectional VT into monomorphic VT in 4 anesthetized RyR2/RyR2R4496C mice. Under current clamp, single Purkinje cells from RyR2/RyR2R4496C mouse hearts generated delayed afterdepolarization–induced triggered activity at lower frequencies and level of adrenergic stimulation than wild-type. Overall, the data demonstrate that the His–Purkinje system is an important source of focal arrhythmias in catecholaminergic polymorphic VT.
Conditional Obligation and Detachment*

Suppose that John has a moral obligation to stop smoking given that smoking is dangerous to his health. Suppose further that smoking is dangerous to his health. Does it follow that John has a moral obligation to stop smoking? Although intuition inclines one to answer in the affirmative, recent developments in deontic logic apparently call this inference into question. The issue at hand is whether unconditional obligations are detachable from conditional obligations on the basis of purely factual considerations. I believe that they are not. In the course of arguing for this position I defend a novel restricted rule of detachment which is constructed out of both factual and normative components.
An in-pipe internal defects inspection system based on the active stereo omnidirectional vision sensor

To ensure the safety and serviceability of underground pipeline, it is essential to inspect and assess its structural and functional condition. Underground pipe inner-surface defect inspection is constrained by space accessibility. Thus, in this work we propose a comprehensive in-pipe inspection method based on active stereo omnidirectional vision. In our system, a crawling robot equipped with an active stereo omnidirectional vision sensor travels along the pipeline, taking panoramic images of the internal surface and laser streaks projected from an omnidirectional laser in real time. Afterwards, the internal surface panoramic images are disposed as follows: unwrapping, pre-processing and geometrical features extraction of the defect region, ultimately we classify the defects' category and degree. On the other hand, image sequences with laser streaks are used to extract 3D point cloud data of the inner-surface and calculate the deformation rate of the pipe, this part is not included in this paper. Experimental results show that our system is capable to achieve a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the in-pipe defects such as crack and corrosion, and provide a new approach for inspection of the in-pipe internal surface defects.
Site Initialization, Recovery, and Backup in a Distributed Database System

Site initialization is the problem of integrating a new site into a running distributed database system (DDBS). Site recovery is the problem of integrating an old site into a DDBS when the site recovers from failure. Site backup is the problem of creating a static backup copy of a database for archival or query purposes. We present an algorithm that solves the site initialization problem. By modifying the algorithm slightly, we get solutions to the other two problems as well. Our algorithm exploits the fact that a correct DDBS must run a serializable concurrency control algorithm. Our algorithm relies on the concurrency control algorithm to handle all intersite synchronization.
A Method to Bridge the Gap between Breadth and Depth in IS Narrative Analysis

We propose a method combining narrative analysis with grounded theory analysis to bridge the gap between breadth and depth in IS narrative research. The purpose of the method is not to develop a theory, but to make narrative analysis more accessible, transparent, and accountable, and to make the resultant narrative more contextually grounded. The method is aimed particularly at inexperienced narrative researchers who have not been guided through the complexity of narrative analysis, but it may also benefit experienced narrative researchers who may not be familiar with the applicability of grounded theory tools and techniques in this area.
Distance indices for the detection of similarity in C programs

There has been proliferation in the use of plagiarized articles or source code amongst student and research community. This paper focus on an efficient method that can differentiate between plagiarized and non-plagiarized programs. Similarity/Distance measurement techniques are used to classify the test file. Thirty six distance metrics are used to determine intra class and inter class proximity. Unseen file not used for frequency extraction are predicted with higher accuracy. This depict that our proposed model using intra/inter family threshold can be implemented to identify plagiarized programs with better detection rate.
Variable Selection for Model-Based Clustering

We consider the problem of variable or feature selection for model-based clustering. The problem of comparing two nested subsets of variables is recast as a model comparison problem and addressed using approximate Bayes factors. A greedy search algorithm is proposed for finding a local optimum in model space. The resulting method selects variables (or features), the number of clusters, and the clustering model simultaneously. We applied the method to several simulated and real examples and found that removing irrelevant variables often improved performance. Compared with methods based on all of the variables, our variable selection method consistently yielded more accurate estimates of the number of groups and lower classification error rates, as well as more parsimonious clustering models and easier visualization of results.
Application of a Rapid ESI-MS/MS Method for Quantitative Analysis of Docetaxel in Polymeric Matrices of PLGA and PLGA-PEG Nanoparticles through Direct Injection to Mass Spectrometer

Docetaxel is a member of taxan family of antineoplastic agents widely used in cancer chemotherapy. However, application of conventional chemotherapy with commercial formulation has been accompanied with matters of concern regarding drug’s biodistribution, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics. Polymeric nanoparticles have been widely used as unique drug delivery vehicles to circumvent such problems. Docetaxel-loaded poly (lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) and poly (lactide-co-glycolide)-poly (ethylene glycol) (PLGA-PEG) nanoparticles fit well in modifying drug’s pharmacokinetic characteristics as intravenous (IV) sustained-release delivery vehicles. In such circumstances, characterization of nanoparticles in terms of their drug-payload would be a necessary step. The majority of studies have used HPLC analysis method for docetaxel quantitation in polymeric nanoparticles. Herein, a rapid ESI-MS/MS method for quantitative analysis of docetaxel in polymeric matrices of PLGA and PLGA-PEG nanoparticles through direct injection to mass spectrometer has been developed and validated. The assay was validated over a range of 3.9 - 1000 ng/ml and 125 - 16,000 ng/ml. Samples were directly injected to the instrument through an isocratic elution (0.1% formic acid in methanol) and detection was performed on a Hybrid Triple Quadrupole/Linear Ion trap mass spectrometer with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode via positive electrospray ionization (ESI) source. The run time and retention time were 2 and 0.6 minutes respectively. The method demonstrated acceptable level of accuracy and precision and was successfully applied for quantitative analysis of docetaxel in polymeric nanoparticles of PLGA and PLGA-PEG.
Cell Cycle-dependent Regulation of the Forkhead Transcription Factor FOXK2 by CDK·Cyclin Complexes*

Several mammalian forkhead transcription factors have been shown to impact on cell cycle regulation and are themselves linked to cell cycle control systems. Here we have investigated the little studied mammalian forkhead transcription factor FOXK2 and demonstrate that it is subject to control by cell cycle-regulated protein kinases. FOXK2 exhibits a periodic rise in its phosphorylation levels during the cell cycle, with hyperphosphorylation occurring in mitotic cells. Hyperphosphorylation occurs in a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)·cyclin-dependent manner with CDK1·cyclin B as the major kinase complex, although CDK2 and cyclin A also appear to be important. We have mapped two CDK phosphorylation sites, serines 368 and 423, which play a role in defining FOXK2 function through regulating its stability and its activity as a transcriptional repressor protein. These two CDK sites appear vital for FOXK2 function because expression of a mutant lacking these sites cannot be tolerated and causes apoptosis.
Cardiac Sodium Channel (SCN5A) Variants Associated with Atrial Fibrillation

Background— Genetic studies have identified ion channel gene variants in families segregating atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common arrhythmia in clinical practice. Here, we tested the hypothesis that vulnerability to AF is associated with variation in SCN5A, the gene encoding the cardiac sodium channel. Methods and Results— We resequenced the entire SCN5A coding region in 375 subjects with either lone AF (n=118) or AF associated with heart disease (n=257). Controls (n=360) from the same population were then genotyped for the presence of mutations or rare variants identified in the AF cases. In 10 probands (2.7%), 8 novel variants not found in the control population (0%; P=0.001) were identified. All variants affect highly conserved residues in the SCN5A protein. In 6 families with >1 affected member, the novel variant cosegregated with AF. We also identified 11 rare missense variants in 12 probands (3.2%) that have previously been associated with inherited arrhythmia syndromes (eg, congenital long-QT syndrome and Brugada syndrome). Conclusions— Mutations or rare variants in SCN5A may predispose patients with or without underlying heart disease to AF. The findings of the present study expand the clinical spectrum of disorders of the cardiac sodium channel to include AF and represent important progress toward molecular phenotyping and directed rather than empirical therapy for this common arrhythmia.
Pine Based Group K-Nearest Neighbors Queries in Road Networks

A common and important query type in spatial networks is to find the Group K- Nearest Neighbors “GKNN” of a given query objects set. Given two sets of points P and Q, the result of group Knearest neighbors (GKNN) query is the point(s) of P with the smallest sum of distances to all points in Q. Due to the difficulties and the expense of the required calculations to answer such a query, almost all approaches in the literature use Euclidean distances and not the real network distance. In this work, we propose an approach that is based on a real network distance computation to answer the GKNN query. Consider, for instance, three users at locations q1, q2 and q3 that want to find a meeting point (e.g., a Hotel); the corresponding query returns the data point p that minimizes the sum of Network distances to q1, q2 and q3. Our approach is based on manipulating the network Voronoi diagram properties and applying a progressive incremental network expansion for finding the polygon inner network distances required to solve a GKNN query.
Human brucellosis in Portugal—Retrospective analysis of suspected clinical cases of infection from 2009 to 2016

Brucellosis is a zoonosis that is emerging in some regions of the world. Although brucellosis is a disease of obligatory declaration and is not eradicated in Portugal, no prevalence data is available in this country. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the data available at the Reference Laboratory at the Portuguese National Institute of Health during the past 7 years (2009–2016) in order to get insight into the epidemiological scenario of brucellosis in Portugal. A total of 2313 biological samples from patients with clinical suspicion of brucellosis were subjected to immunological techniques for laboratory diagnosis. From 2010 to 2015, a subset of 259 samples was subjected to molecular methods. According to the available data, 167 out of 2313 (7.2%) samples had positive serology for Brucella spp. and 43 out of 259 samples (16.6%) were positive for B. melitensis by real time PCR, being classified as biovar 1 and 3. This study draws attention to the importance of integrating clinical and laboratory data of human cases in order to increase the efficacy of the response measures in case of outbreaks.