Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
From Creatine Kinase-MB to Troponin: The Adoption of a New Standard

MAJOR perioperative cardiac events in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery continue to be a significant source of perioperative morbidity with ranges from 1.4% in relatively unselected patients to 6% in patients older than 70 yr with cardiac disease. Moreover, perioperative myocardial infarction (PMI) is one of the most important predictors of shortand long-term morbidity and mortality associated with noncardiac surgery. The actual rate of PMI varies between studies in part because of the definition used and the method of surveillance. Part of the definition depends on the biomarkers (e.g., creatine kinase [CK], lactate dehydrogenase, and troponin) used to define PMI. This article will review the evolution in the use of biomarkers and how more specific biomarkers have increased the rate of PMI detected.
Immunological and virological study of enfuvirtide-treated HIV-positive patients

Objective: To evaluate the predictive value and evolution of immunological and virological parameters related to HIV entry and pathogenesis in patients receiving enfuvirtide (ENF) plus an optimized regimen. Methods: A phase III clinical trial substudy of ENF in 22 patients measured virus coreceptor use and sensitivity to ENF, levels of chemokines, cytokines and chemokine receptors, CD38 and HLA-DR expression as markers of T cell activation and ex vivo cell death at baseline and at week 32. Results: Treatment including ENF reduced HIV viral load (P < 0.001) and increased the CD4 cell count in patients that responded (RP) to treatment (n = 14). Significant (P < 0.05) increases were noted in the RP group in CXCR4 and CCR5 expression in CD4 cells without major differences in chemokine and interleukin-7 levels. A decrease in CD38 expression in the absence of HLA-DR changes was observed in CD4 cells. Apoptosis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells was significantly reduced in the RP group. Coreceptor use or ENF sensitivity of virus isolated at baseline was not associated with virus resistance or response to treatment, which appeared to be related to the activation state (HLA-DR expression) of CD4 cells at baseline. Conclusion: The outcome of ENF-containing treatment could not be associated with HIV coreceptor use at baseline. CD4 cell activation and viral drug resistance were the only markers of treatment response. Changes induced by ENF-containing regimen were seen in HIV coreceptor expression, including an increase in CCR5+CD4+ cells, a decrease in CD38 T cells and a concomitant reduction of T cell apoptosis.
Generalized twiddle factor index mapping of radix-2 fast Fourier transform algorithm

In pipelined implementation of the fast Fourier transform (FFT), memory is required to store the precomputed twiddle factor in memory. Twiddle factor index-mapping is used for address generation to access the memory. In this work we consider generalized radix-2 FFT architecture, proposed the generalized twiddle factor index mapping algorithm for twiddle factor memory and also calculate number of all possible algorithms. It is shown that the index mapping algorithm can be used for all possible algorithm decomposed of radix-2.
A phase I/II trial of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with cisplatin and vinorelbine followed by accelerated irradiation for patients with inoperable nonsmall cell lung carcinoma

Both locoregional and distant disease control remains poor in the treatment of Stage III nonsmall cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). This trial was conducted to evaluate the tolerance and responses of patients with NSCLC given a neoadjuvant regimen of cisplatin and vinorelbine chemotherapy followed by accelerated thoracic radiotherapy.
Oxidative stress with an activation of the renin–angiotensin system in human vascular endothelial cells as a novel mechanism of uric acid-induced endothelial dysfunction

Aims Oxidative stress is known to be a major mechanism of endothelial dysfunction, which plays a key role in the development of cardiovascular disease. Although uric acid is one of the most important antioxidants, recent studies have suggested that uric acid may have a causal role in endothelial dysfunction. In order to understand the paradoxical association of uric acid with oxidative stress and vascular disease, we investigated whether uric acid induced oxidative stress in human vascular endothelial cells. We also examined whether uric acid-induced changes in redox status were related to aging and death of endothelial cells or an activation of local renin–angiotensin system, another mediator of endothelial dysfunction. Methods Endothelial senescence and apoptosis were evaluated by senescence-associated β-galactosidase staining and annexin V–propidium iodide staining in primary isolated human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Production of reactive oxygen species was assessed by dichlorofluorescein diacetate staining. mRNA expression of angiotensinogen, angiotensin-converting enzyme and the receptors of angiotensin II was evaluated by real-time PCR, and angiotensin II levels were measured in uric acid-stimulated HUVECs. Results Uric acid-induced senescence and apoptosis in HUVECs at concentrations more than 6 and 9 mg/dl, respectively. Uric acid-induced alterations in cell proliferation, senescence and apoptosis were blocked by probenecid, enalaprilat or telmisartan. Uric acid significantly increased production of reactive oxygen species beginning at 5 min, and uric acid-induced senescence and apoptosis of HUVECs were ameliorated by N-acetylcysteine or tempol. Uric acid also upregulated the expression of angiotensinogen, angiotensin-converting enzyme and angiotensin II receptors and increased angiotensin II levels, which was ameliorated with tempol. Conclusion Uric acid-induced aging and death of human endothelial cells are medicated by local activation of oxidative stress and the renin–angiotensin system, which provides a novel mechanism of uric acid-induced endothelial dysfunction. Therapies targeting uric acid may be beneficial in cardiovascular disease.
Predicting the secondary structures and tertiary interactions of 211 group I introns in IE subgroup

The large number of currently available group I intron sequences in the public databases provides opportunity for studying this large family of structurally complex catalytic RNA by large-scale comparative sequence analysis. In this study, the detailed secondary structures of 211 group I introns in the IE subgroup were manually predicted. The secondary structure-favored alignments showed that IE introns contain 14 conserved stems. The P13 stem formed by long-range base-pairing between P2.1 and P9.1 is conserved among IE introns. Sequence variations in the conserved core divide IE introns into three distinct minor subgroups, namely IE1, IE2 and IE3. Co-variation of the peripheral structural motifs with core sequences supports that the peripheral elements function in assisting the core structure folding. Interestingly, host-specific structural motifs were found in IE2 introns inserted at S516 position. Competitive base-pairing is found to be conserved at the junctions of all long-range paired regions, suggesting a possible mechanism of establishing long-range base-pairing during large RNA folding. These findings extend our knowledge of IE introns, indicating that comparative analysis can be a very good complement for deepening our understanding of RNA structure and function in the genomic era.
A light-weight fault-tolerant time synchronization for wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) have received a lot of attention recently due to their enormous potential in different applications. Many applications in WSN require time synchronization among all the sensor nodes. However, in practice, network do normally have some abnormal nodes (we called Fault Clock Node or FCN), which could cause high synchronization error. In this paper, we present a light-weight fault-tolerant time synchronization protocol (LiFTiS) which works in a way similar to NTP. The protocol is aware of FCN and is able to detect its children in hierarchical tree. We also propose a light-weight algorithm for selecting the best parent. Our simulation results show that the average synchronization error using the proposed protocol is 5-31% less than the existing algorithms e.g. TPSN etc.
Mitochondrial endonuclease G mediates breakdown of paternal mitochondria upon fertilization

Eliminating paternal mitochondria During fertilization, the oocyte and sperm each bring their mitochondria to the union. Shortly afterward, the paternal mitochondria are degraded, and only the maternal mitochondria are conveyed to the progeny. Zhou et al. observed that the integrity of the inner membrane of paternal mitochondria is compromised, which apparently marks them for degradation (see the Perspective by van der Bliek). Autophagy commences by mitochondrial endonuclease G relocating from the intermembrane space into the matrix and subsequently degrading the paternal mitochondrial DNA. Any delay in this process increases embryonic lethality. Science, this issue p. 394; see also p. 351 A mitochondrial enzyme promotes the destruction and removal of sperm-derived mitochondria in nematode worm embryos. Mitochondria are inherited maternally in most animals, but the mechanisms of selective paternal mitochondrial elimination (PME) are unknown. While examining fertilization in Caenorhabditis elegans, we observed that paternal mitochondria rapidly lose their inner membrane integrity. CPS-6, a mitochondrial endonuclease G, serves as a paternal mitochondrial factor that is critical for PME. We found that CPS-6 relocates from the intermembrane space of paternal mitochondria to the matrix after fertilization to degrade mitochondrial DNA. It acts with maternal autophagy and proteasome machineries to promote PME. Loss of cps-6 delays breakdown of mitochondrial inner membranes, autophagosome enclosure of paternal mitochondria, and PME. Delayed removal of paternal mitochondria causes increased embryonic lethality, demonstrating that PME is important for normal animal development. Thus, CPS-6 functions as a paternal mitochondrial degradation factor during animal development.
Intergenerational Reciprocal Care or Welfare Default?——Gender and Intergenerational Exchange of Care in Domestic Labor in Dual-earner Families

This paper asserts that elderly women helping their sons and daughters-in-law with domestic labor cannot be simply viewed as a kind of intergenerational reciprocal care.Firstly,in the interplay of changes in intergenerational and gender relationships as well as in society,the traditional model of intergenerational reciprocal care also changes in varying degrees.Secondly,the paper identifies an implicit assumption underlining the view of intergenerational reciprocal care with respect to housework,which contradicts the outward extension of family functions in industrialization.This paper adopts a perspective of intergenerational and gender power relationships to examine the phenomenon of elderlies assisting their sons and daughters-in-laws,who are both engaged in gainful employment,with the rearing of the first child from birth to going into schooling.From a perspective of patrilineal families in the transformation of industrial society,this paper discusses how economic forces change gender and patriarchal family relationships and how elderly women's welfare is shortchanged therein.This discussion shall point out that social policy is expected to adjust to the needs of family and working women in order to improve the welfare of elderly women.
Low-power partial-parallel Chien search architecture with polynomial degree reduction

The Chien search for the error locator polynomial root computation in BCH and Reed-Solomon decoding accounts for a significant part of the overall decoder power consumption, especially r long codes over finite fields of high order. For serial Chien search, the power consumption is substantially lowered by a polynomial degree reduction (PDR) scheme. Every time a root is found, it is factored out of the error locator polynomial. Only the hardware units associated with the reduced-degree polynomial coefficients are active. However, this PDR scheme can not be directly extended to partial-parallel Chien search, which is needed in any systems to achieve high throughput. By analyzing the formulas of the evaluation values over finite field elements and available intermediate results of the Chien search, this paper proposes a partial-parallel Chien search architecture that reduces the error locator polynomial degree on the fly whenever a root is found without using long division. For a 122-error-correcting BCH code over GF(215), an 8-parallel Chien search using the proposed architecture achieves 32% power reduction over existing partial-parallel architectures for a typical case.
Collagen VI Null Mice as a Model for Early Onset Muscle Decline in Aging

Collagen VI is an extracellular matrix (ECM) protein playing a key role in skeletal muscles and whose deficiency leads to connective tissue diseases in humans and in animal models. However, most studies have been focused on skeletal muscle features. We performed an extensive proteomic profiling in two skeletal muscles (diaphragm and gastrocnemius) of wild-type and collagen VI null (Col6a1−/−) mice at different ages, from 6- (adult) to 12- (aged) month-old to 24 (old) month-old. While in wild-type animals the number of proteins and the level of modification occurring during aging were comparable in the two analyzed muscles, Col6a1−/− mice displayed a number of muscle-type specific variations. In particular, gastrocnemius displayed a limited number of dysregulated proteins in adult mice, while in aged muscles the modifications were more pronounced in terms of number and level. In diaphragm, the differences displayed by 6-month-old Col6a1−/− mice were more pronounced compared to wild-type mice and persisted at 12 months of age. In adult Col6a1−/− mice, the major variations were found in the enzymes belonging to the glycolytic pathway and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, as well as in autophagy-related proteins. When compared to wild-type animals Col6a1−/− mice displayed a general metabolic rewiring which was particularly prominent the diaphragm at 6 months of age. Comparison of the proteomic features and the molecular analysis of metabolic and autophagic pathways in adult and aged Col6a1−/− diaphragm indicated that the effects of aging, culminating in lipotoxicity and autophagic impairment, were already present at 6 months of age. Conversely, the effects of aging in Col6a1−/− gastrocnemius were similar but delayed becoming apparent at 12 months of age. A similar metabolic rewiring and autophagic impairment was found in the diaphragm of 24-month-old wild-type mice, confirming that fatty acid synthase (FASN) increment and decreased microtubule-associated proteins 1A/1B light chain 3B (LC3B) lipidation are hallmarks of the aging process. Altogether these data indicate that the diaphragm of Col6a1−/− animal model can be considered as a model of early skeletal muscle aging.
Design and Modeling of GeSn-Based Heterojunction Phototransistors for Communication Applications

We propose the use of Ge1-xSnx heterojunction phototransistors (HPTs) as efficient optical receivers on Si substrates and analyze their performance. Our designs use n-Ge/p-Ge1-xSnx/n-Ge1-xSnx layers pseudomorphically grown on Si wafers via a Ge virtual substrate, which offers compatibility with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. By incorporating Sn into the Ge photon-absorbing layer to shrink the bandgap, the photodetection range can be significantly extended to the mid-infrared (MIR) region with a considerably enhanced optical response. The use of HPT structures provides optical conversion gain to further enhance the optical responsivity, thereby enabling efficient photodetection in the short-wave infrared region. We develop theoretical models to calculate the composition-dependent band alignments, the band structures (by taking into account the nonparabolic effect), the absorption coefficient, and the optical responsivity for the proposed GeSn HPTs. As the Sn content increases, the conduction band nonparabolicity becomes increasingly significant and considerably impacts the optical absorption coefficient. Moreover, analysis of the spectral response for the Ge1-xSnx HPTs shows that efficient photodetection covering the entirety of the fiber-optic telecommunication bands, as well as the emerging 2-μm MIR communication band, can be achieved. These results indicate that the proposed Ge1-xSnx HPTs are attractive for use as high-responsivity CMOS-compatible photodetectors in communication applications.
Individual differences in solution time in error-free problem solving.

To investigate individual differences in the basic cognitive component of solution-time in errorless problem-solving, 30 subjects were given 21 Thurstone-type letter-series items to solve under stressed administration, and mean log speed scores of correct solutions were computed. Three groups of 10 subjects each were constructed on the basis of Maudsley Personality Inventory (MPI) extraversion scores, and their speed scores were compared. These groups were then reconstituted into three groups of 10 subjects each on the basis of MPI neuroticism (N) scores, and the speed scores of these groups were compared. It was found that extraverts were significantly faster than introverts and ambiverts. A curvilinear relationship between neuroticism and solution-time was suggested, with the mid N subjects performing significantly faster than the combined low N and high N subjects The low N and high N subjects did not differ significantly from each other. The results could not be attributed to differences in age, verbal (vocabulary) intelligence, or sex.
Oral health and habits in children with asthma related to severity and duration of condition.

AIM This study was designed to examine the oral health status of asthmatic children and to compare the oral health condition and habits of different groups of asthmatic children. METHODS 140 asthmatic children were involved in the present study. Of those, 30 were younger than 7 years of age, 73 were between 7 and 12, 37 were older than 12. Dental caries was scored according to the guidelines of the BASCD. No radiographs were taken. The gingival health and the amount of plaque were assessed using the bleeding index described by Mühleman and Son [1971] and the plaque index of Silness and Löe [1964] respectively. To differentiate between the asthmatic children three explanatory variables were used: the time the asthmatic symptoms had lasted, the exposure time to the medication and the severity of the asthmatic condition. Finally the parents and children were asked to fill in a questionnaire referring to oral health habits. RESULTS The mean dmft was 1.99 (SD+/-2.74) and the mean DMFT was 1.10 (SD+/-1.98). Non-parametric correlation and multiple logistic regression analyses showed no significant difference between the caries (dmft/s, DMFT/S), the gingival health (bleeding index) and plaque indices and the three explanatory variables. The impact of possible compensatory factors as oral hygiene and dietary habits was of no significant importance. CONCLUSION This analysis revealed that neither the period (of the disease and the medication) nor the severity of the asthma had a significant influence on the risk of caries and gingivitis in asthmatic children. No reported oral health and dietary habits could explain this lack of correlation.
SERTOLI CELL TUMORS IN DOGS-A REPORT OF FOUR CASES

Four male non descript dogs aged between 58 years were presented to the Department of Veterinary Surgery and Radiology, College of Veterinary Science, Tirupati with the history of large size swelling at the ventral abdomen adjacent to the body of penis. Two dogs were apparently healthy with normal temperature, pulse and respiratory rates. In two dogs, there were a complaint of loss of hair and lethargy. Haematobiochemical values were within normal limits. Lateral thoracic radiograph did not show any lesion. Fine needle aspiration biopsy revealed neoplastic cells. Surgery was performed to excise the mass. Histopathological examination confirmed Sertoli cell tumor.
Effects of Positive and Negative Affect on Depression: Considering the Activation Dimension and Balance of Affect

According to the two-factor model of affect, affect consists of two dimensions, valence and activation, which allow us to consider different types of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA), i.e., activated PA (e.g., enthusiastic, happy), deactivated PA (e.g., calm, satisfied), activated NA (e.g., nervous, angry), and deactivated NA (e.g., sluggish, sad). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between affect and depression or short-term life satisfaction (LS) taking into account the dimensions of activation and balance of PA and NA. The study included 496 students (240 men and 256 women) who completed seven questionnaires, two of which were used for another study. The Activated and Deactivated Affect Questionnaire (ADAQ) was utilized for assessing activated and deactivated PA and NA, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for measuring depression, and the Short-term Life Satisfaction Scale for gauging short-term life satisfaction. Two more questionnaires were used to test the concurrent validity of the ADAQ. Correlation analyses showed that depression and short-term LS exhibited negative and positive associations with affect balance (PA - NA), respectively, in both activated and deactivated dimensions. Additionally, hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed a few significant interactive effects between PA and NA on depression and short-term life satisfaction. In regard to activated affect, activated PA was more negatively associated with depression when activated NA was higher in women, while activated PA was more positively associated with short-term life satisfaction when activated NA was lower in both men and women. In terms of deactivated affect, deactivated PA was more positively associated with short-term life satisfaction when deactivated NA was lower only for men. These findings are discussed in terms of the necessity to consider the activation dimension and the relationships between PA and NA in healthcare, along with some limitations of the study.
TRACCS: Trajectory-Aware Coordinated Urban Crowd-Sourcing

We investigate the problem of large-scale mobile crowdtasking, where a large pool of citizen crowd-workers are used to perform a variety of location-specific urban logistics tasks. Current approaches to such mobile crowd-tasking are very decentralized: a crowd-tasking platform usually provides each worker a set of available tasks close to the worker’s current location; each worker then independently chooses which tasks she wants to accept and perform. In contrast, we propose TRACCS, a more coordinated task assignment approach, where the crowd-tasking platform assigns a sequence of tasks to each worker, taking into account their expected location trajectory over a wider time horizon, as opposed to just instantaneous location. We formulate such task assignment as an optimization problem, that seeks to maximize the total payoff from all assigned tasks, subject to a maximum bound on the detour (from the expected path) that a worker will experience to complete her assigned tasks. We develop credible computationally-efficient heuristics to address this optimization problem (whose exact solution requires solving a complex integer linear program), and show, via simulations with realistic topologies and commuting patterns, that a specific heuristic (called Greedy-ILS) increases the fraction of assigned tasks by more than 20%, and reduces the average detour overhead by more than 60%, compared to the current decentralized approach.