Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Brachial artery tonometry and the Popeye phenomenon: explanation of anomalies in generating central from upper limb pressure waveforms

Background: Noninvasive applanation tonometry studies of the brachial and radial artery pressure waves show that the arterial pulse is substantially amplified between the brachial and radial sites. Brachial tonometry waveforms have also been used to calibrate carotid tonometry waves as a measure of central pressure in major clinical trials. These trials assume identity of mean and of DBP in calculation of central (carotid) SBP. None of these trials showed superiority of central over brachial pressure in predicting outcome, but all showed equivalence of SBP and pulse pressure at brachial and carotid sites! Method: We tested this method by measuring pressure waves at brachial, radial and carotid sites by applanation tonometry in 100 patients, with attention to any subtle difference between brachial and radial waveforms, and with both calibrated to cuff SBP and DBP. Results: The results confirmed no proximal and strong distal amplification in the arm. However, this was accompanied by blunting of the brachial compared with radial waveform with brachial pressure 2.7 mmHg higher during most of the cardiac cycle. Form factor of the ensemble-averaged brachial wave [39.1 standard deviation (SD) 4.9%] was similar to the carotid (40.2 SD 4.1%) but different to the radial wave (34.8 SD 3.7%; P < 0.01). Conclusions: All findings were explained by inability to applanate the brachial artery, and resulting systematic error in generating brachial waveforms. In estimation of central pressure with applanation tonometry, the radial pressure wave, which can be accurately applanated, should be used, and calibrated to the brachial cuff.
Finite-Length Analysis of Spatially-Coupled Regular LDPC Ensembles on Burst-Erasure Channels

Regular spatially-coupled low-density parity-check ensembles have gained significant interest, since they were shown to universally achieve the capacity of binary memoryless channels under low-complexity belief-propagation decoding. In this paper, we focus primarily on the performance of these ensembles over binary channels affected by bursts of erasures. We first develop an analysis of the finite length performance for a single burst per code word and no errors otherwise. We first assume that the burst erases a complete spatial position, modeling for instance node failures in distributed storage. We provide new tight lower bounds for the block erasure probability ( $P_ {\mathrm{ \scriptscriptstyle B}}$ ) at finite block length and bounds on the coupling parameter for being asymptotically able to recover the burst. We further show that expurgating the ensemble can improve the block erasure probability by several orders of magnitude. Later we extend our methodology to more general channel models. In a first extension, we consider bursts that can start at a random location in the code word and span across multiple spatial positions. Besides the finite length analysis, we determine by means of density evolution the maximum correctable burst length. In a second extension, we consider the case where in addition to a single burst, random bit erasures may occur. Finally, we consider a block erasure channel model which erases each spatial position independently with some probability $p$ , potentially introducing multiple bursts simultaneously. All results are verified using Monte-Carlo simulations.
Infiltrated plasmonic photonic crystal cavity for sensing

A plasmonic cavity incorporating surface plasmon polariton(SPP) mode is proposed to be used as infiltrated sensor employing sub-wavelength confinement of light. Truly Plasmonic TM mode is obtained and the mode profile of the Plasmonic Photonic Crystal Cavity (PPCC) structure is shown using three dimensional Finite Difference Time Domain Method (3D-FDTD) method. The cavity length of the structure is optimized to obtain single mode localization of resonating wavelength and the change in the cut-off wavelength is observed by varying refractive indices of the content of air holes. A transverse magnetic (TM) Plasmonic bandgap of the structure is shown and hence, the transmission spectra, Quality factor are calculated.
Strategies to develop vaccines of pediatric interest

ABSTRACT Introduction: The success of the vaccines available on the market has significantly increased interest in vaccine development. Areas covered: The main aim of this paper is to discuss the most important vaccines of pediatric interest that are currently being developed. New pneumococcal vaccines and vaccines against group B Streptococcus, Staphylococcus aureus and respiratory syncytial virus are analyzed in detail. Expert commentary: Advances in understanding human immunology, including human monoclonal antibody identification, sequencing technology, and the ability to solve atomic level structures of vaccine targets have provided tools to guide the rational design of future vaccines. It is likely that some of these vaccines will reach the market in the future and will thus partially contribute to the prevention of very severe diseases that significantly affect the morbidity and mortality of children. However, further studies in animals and several clinical trials in children must be performed before new vaccines become licensed.
Ultrastructure of Pleural Mesothelioma and Pulmonary Adenocarcinoma in Malignant Effusions as Compared with Reactive Mesothelial Cells

OBJECTIVE To determine the ultrastructural features of diffuse malignant pleural mesothelioma cells in cytologic specimens from pleural effusions. STUDY DESIGN We retrospectively studied 35 pleural effusions: 12 diffuse malignant pleural mesotheliomas (8 epithelial type, 4 biphasic type), 12 pulmonary adenocarcinomas and 11 cases of reactive mesothelial cells. RESULTS In the cytoplasm, reactive and malignant mesothelial cells had more-abundant intermediate filaments (P < .05, P < .01) and fewer free ribosomes (P < .001, P < .001) than adenocarcinoma cells. Reactive mesothelial cells had fewer mitochondria than mesothelioma cells (P < .05). Mesothelioma cells had longer, thinner microvilli on the cell surfaces (P < .001); length/diameter ratios of microvilli were 19.1 +/- 7.0 (mesothelioma) vs. 9.1 +/- 2.2 (adenocarcinoma) and 9.2 +/- 2.4 (mesothelial cells). Giant intercellular junctions (desmosomes or desmosomelike structures > 1 micron in length) were found in eight cases of mesothelioma. Core filaments or rootlets in microvilli were present in two cases of adenocarcinoma. CONCLUSION Because cytologic specimens from pleural effusions were easy to obtain, we think ultrastructural cytology is useful in distinguishing mesothelioma from adenocarcinoma and benign effusions.
Experimental investigations of shear and elongational flow properties of polystyrene melts reinforced with calcium carbonate, titanium dioxide, and carbon black†

Shear and elongational flow measurements on polystyrene melts reinforced with small particles were carried out. The influences of loading level, particle size and surface treatment on shear viscosity, principal normal stress difference, and elongational viscosity were discussed. These systems exhibited yield values for both shear and elongational flow. Experimental values for the ratio of the tensile to the shear yield stress give satisfactory agreement with the predictions of the von Mises yield criterion. The yield value appears to increase with decreasing particle size and may be varied with surface treatment. The principal normal stress difference at fixed shear stress decreases with volume loading of particulates. The results are interpreted in terms of a system forming a gel due to interparticle forces, which is disrupted by a critical distortional strain energy.
Bimatoprost sustained‐release intracameral implant reduces episcleral venous pressure in dogs

OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of a bimatoprost sustained-release intracameral implant (Bimatoprost SR) on episcleral venous pressure (EVP) in normal dogs. METHODS Normotensive beagle dogs were randomized to receive Bimatoprost SR 30 μg (n = 7) or sham injection (needle insertion only, n = 7) in one eye on day 1. EVP was measured with an episcleral venomanometer through day 65. Episcleral aqueous outflow vessels were identified using fluorescence imaging following intracameral injection of indocyanine green in one additional animal. A separate cohort of dogs that had been trained for conscious intraocular pressure (IOP) measurements received Bimatoprost SR 30 μg (n = 8) in one eye; IOP was evaluated through day 66. RESULTS Baseline mean EVP was 10.0 mmHg in the Bimatoprost SR group and 10.4 mmHg in the sham group. Eyes treated with Bimatoprost SR exhibited a transient increase in mean EVP that peaked at day 8, followed by a decrease to levels below baseline. From day 29 to day 65, the change in mean EVP from baseline ranged from -2.4 to -3.9 mmHg (P < 0.05 vs. sham). Baseline mean IOP in eyes treated with Bimatoprost SR was 14.9 mmHg, and a steady IOP reduction was maintained through day 66. Bimatoprost SR-treated eyes exhibited a selective, sustained dilation of aqueous outflow vessels that was not observed in sham-treated eyes. CONCLUSIONS In normal dogs, Bimatoprost SR was associated with a transient increase in EVP followed by a sustained decrease. Changes in EVP were accompanied by a sustained dilation of aqueous outflow vessels.
dRTI: directional radio tomographic imaging

Radio tomographic imaging (RTI) enables device free localisation of people and objects in many challenging environments and situations. Its basic principle is to detect the changes in the statistics of radio signals due to the radio link obstruction by people or objects. However, the localisation accuracy of RTI suffers from complicated multipath propagation behaviours in radio links. We propose to use inexpensive and energy efficient electronically switched directional (ESD) antennas to improve the quality of radio link behaviour observations, and therefore, the localisation accuracy of RTI. We implement a directional RTI (dRTI) system to understand how directional antennas can be used to improve RTI localisation accuracy. We also study the impact of the choice of antenna directions on the localisation accuracy of dRTI and propose methods to effectively choose informative antenna directions to improve localisation accuracy while reducing overhead. Furthermore, we analyse radio link obstruction performance in both theory and simulation, as well as false positives and false negatives of the obstruction measurements to show the superiority of the directional communication for RTI. We evaluate the performance of dRTI in diverse indoor environments and show that dRTI significantly outperforms the existing RTI localisation methods based on omni-directional antennas.
Effects of Acute Sleep Deprivation Resulting from Night Shift Work on Young Doctors.

INTRODUCTION To evaluate sleep deprivation and its effects on young physicians in relation to concentration capacity and psychomotor performance. MATERIAL AND METHODS Eighteen physicians aged 26 - 33 years were divided into 2 groups: non-sleep deprived group (with no night work) and sleep deprived group (minimum 12 hour of night work/week). We applied Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index to screen the presence of sleep pathology and Epworth Sleepiness Scale to evaluate subjective daytime sleepiness; we used actigraphy and sleep diary to assess sleep hygiene and standard sleep-wake cycles. To demonstrate the effects of sleep deprivation, we applied Toulouse-Piéron's test (concentration test) and a battery of three reaction time tasks after the night duty. RESULTS Sleep deprived group had higher daytime sleepiness on Epworth Sleepiness Scale (p < 0.05) and during week sleep deprivation was higher (p < 0.010). The mean duration of sleep during the period of night duty was 184.2 minutes to sleep deprived group and 397.7 minutes to non-sleep deprived group (p < 0.001). In the Toulouse-Piéron's test, the sleep deprived group had more omissions (p < 0.05) with a poorer result in concentration (p < 0.05). Psychomotor tests that evaluated response to simple stimuli revealed longer response latency (p < 0.05) and more errors (p < 0.05) in Sleep deprived group; in reaction to instruction test the sleep deprived group showed worse perfection index (p < 0.05); in the fine movements test there was no statistically significant difference between the groups. DISCUSSION Acute sleep deprivation resulting from nocturnal work in medical professions is associated with a reduction in attention and concentration and delayed response to stimuli. This may compromise patient care as well as the physician's health and quality of life. CONCLUSION It is essential to study the effects of acute sleep deprivation on the cognitive abilities and performance of health professionals.
Hints of atomic scale phenomena in adhesion and friction measurements with MEMS devices

Friction and wear on the nanometre scale currently hamper the use of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices with sliding surfaces. Based on the friction force microscope principle, we have developed MEMS devices that can be used to probe the tribological phenomena taking place in MEMS. We find that several measurements hint towards atomic scale processes that are relevant on the MEMS scale, even though MEMS themselves are much larger than atomic dimensions. The reason is that the tribological properties of MEMS devices originate from the phenomena taking place on the nanometre scale between the contacting/sliding rough MEMS surfaces. We have observed stochastic variation in the adhesion between oxygen plasma cleaned MEMS surfaces, and slow creep in MEMS contacts, both hinting at atomic scale processes that need to be understood to further complete our picture of MEMS adhesion, friction and wear.
Subgroup dairy products consumption on the risk of stroke and CHD: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: There is no global consensus about the relationship between dairy consumption and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). This study aimed at integrating the results of several studies to predict the dairy effects on CVD, e.g. stroke and CHD. Methods: In the present study, some major databases such as Scopus, Science Direct, and PubMed were searched up to September 2014. All prospective cohort studies dealing with dairy products consumption and CVD were surveyed regardless of their publication date or language. This reference population includes all individuals without any delimitation with regard to age, gender, or race. The quality of the study was evaluated using STROBE Checklist. Study selection and data extraction were done by 2 independent researchers separately. The indices in this study were RR and HR. The random model was used to combine the results. Results: Out of 6234 articles, 11 were included in the meta-analysis. No relationship was found between stroke and consumption of milk, cream, and butter, and the results are as follow: RR = 0.91 (95%CI: 0.81-1.01) for milk, RR = 0.97 (95%CI: 0.88-1.06) for cream, and RR = 0.95 (95%CI: 0.85-1.07) for butter. However, cheese was found to decrease stroke risk: RR = 0.93 (95%CI: 0.88-0.99). The relationship of CHD with consumption of milk, cheese, cream, and butter are as follows, respectively: RR = 1.05 (95% CI: 0.96- 1.15), RR = 0.90 (95%CI: 0.81-1.01), RR = 0.96 (95% CI: 0.87-1.06), and RR = 0.99 (95%CI: 0.89-1.11). In other words, no relationship existed between dairy products and CHD. Conclusion: No relationship was found between consumption of various dairy products and CHD or stroke, except for cheese that decreased stroke risk by 7%. Considering the small number of studies, the result of the present study is not generalizable and more studies need to be conducted
Controlling shoulder impedance in a rehabilitation arm exoskeleton

A control methodology is developed for modulating shoulder impedance in an arm exoskeleton during physical therapy. Setting the remote center of compliance at the shoulder will allow the exoskeleton to enact resistance training protocols that strengthen the rotator cuff and other joint musculature supporting the shoulder complex. The rotational kinematics for the shoulder are first derived, and then the torques applied at the shoulder are estimated using force sensors placed at the hand and elbow interfaces. Impedance and admittance control schemes are both developed for realizing isolateral strengthening exercises, and some preliminary experimental results are presented for implementation on an arm exoskeleton currently under development.
Temporal Preparation for Speaking in Question-Answer Sequences

In every-day conversations, the gap between turns of conversational partners is most frequently between 0 and 200 ms. We were interested how speakers achieve such fast transitions. We designed an experiment in which participants listened to pre-recorded questions about images presented on a screen and were asked to answer these questions. We tested whether speakers already prepare their answers while they listen to questions and whether they can prepare for the time of articulation by anticipating when questions end. In the experiment, it was possible to guess the answer at the beginning of the questions in half of the experimental trials. We also manipulated whether it was possible to predict the length of the last word of the questions. The results suggest when listeners know the answer early they start speech production already during the questions. Speakers can also time when to speak by predicting the duration of turns. These temporal predictions can be based on the length of anticipated words and on the overall probability of turn durations.
A Proposed HSV-Based Pseudo Coloring Scheme for Enhancing Medical Image

Medical imaging is one of the most attractive topics of image processing and understanding research fields due to the similarity between the captured body organs colors. Most medical images come in grayscale with low contrast gray values; which makes it a challenge to discriminate between the region of interest (ROI) and the background (BG) parts. Pseudo-coloring is one of the solutions to enhance the visual appeal of medical images, most literature works suggest RGB-base color palettes. In this paper, pseudo-coloring methods of different medical imaging works are investigated and a highly discriminative colorization method is proposed. The proposed colorization method employs HSV/HSI color models to generate the desired color scale. Experiments have been performed on different medical images and different assessment methods have been utilized. The results show that the proposed methodology could clearly discriminate between near grayscale organs especially in case of tumor existence. Comparisons with other literary works were performed and the results are promising.
On the duality of globally constrained separable problems and its application to distributed signal processing

In this paper, we focus on the challenge of processing data generated within decentralised wireless sensor networks in a distributed manner. When the desired operations can be expressed as globally constrained separable convex optimisation problems, we show how we can convert these to extended monotropic programs and exploit Lagrangian duality to form equivalent distributed consensus problems. Such problems can be embedded in sensor network applications via existing solvers such as the alternating direction method of multipliers or the primal dual method of multipliers. We then demonstrate how this approach can be used to solve specific problems including linearly constrained quadratic problems and the classic Gaussian channel capacity maximisation problem in a distributed manner.
On Local Distributed Sampling and Counting

In classic distributed graph problems, each instance on a graph specifies a space of feasible solutions (e.g. all proper (Δ + 1)-listcolorings of the graph), and the task of distributed algorithm is to construct a feasible solution using local information. We study distributed sampling and counting problems, in which each instance specifies a joint distribution of feasible solutions. The task of distributed algorithm is to sample from this joint distribution, or to locally measure the volume of the probability space via the marginal probabilities. The latter task is also known as inference, which is a local counterpart of counting. For self-reducible classes of instances, the following equivalences are established in the LOCAL model up to polylogarithmic factors: For all joint distributions, approximate inference and approximate sampling are computationally equivalent. For all joint distributions defined by local constraints, exact sampling is reducible to either one of the above tasks. If further, sequentially constructing a feasible solution is trivial locally, then all above tasks are easy if and only if the joint distribution exhibits strong spatial mixing. Combining with the state of the arts of strong spatial mixing, we obtain efficient sampling algorithms in the LOCAL model for various important sampling problems, including: an O( √ Δ log3 n)-round algorithm for exact sampling matchings in graphs with maximum degree Δ, and anO(log3 n)-round algorithm for sampling according to the hardcore model (weighted independent sets) in the uniqueness regime, which along with the Ω(diam) lower bound in [3] for sampling according to the hardcore model in the non-uniqueness regime, gives the first computational phase transition for distributed sampling.
Diagnostic Value of the Thin-Layer, Liquid-Based Pap Test in Endometrial Cancer

OBJECTIVE To examine the diagnostic value (sensitivity and specificity of the ThinPrep Pap test in the detection of endometrial cancer and assess the morphologic features of endometrial cancer in ThinPrep tests. STUDY DESIGN In a retrospective, case-controlled study, we identified 60 Pap slides performed within 12 months of the tissue diagnosis of endometrial carcinoma and 56 comparison slides from patients without known carcinoma. The slides were blindly reviewed by the authors without knowledge of the surgical diagnosis. An independent diagnosis was given for the tests based on 14 diagnostic criteria from the 2001 Bethesda System and 6 additional criteria proposed by the authors. RESULTS The sensitivity of detecting endometrial carcinoma was 88.3% (95% CI 77.8-94.2%) and specificity was 87.5% (95% CI 76.4-93.8%). The positive likelihood ratio was 7.067 (95% CI 3.513-14.217) and negative likelihood ratio was 0.133 (95% CI 0.066-0.269). Enlarged nuclei and the presence of nucleoli in endometrial cells were the most reliable indicators of endometrial cancer or atypical endometrial cells. CONCLUSION The ThinPrep Pap test has high sensitivity and specificity in detecting or suggesting the presence of endometrial cancer. Certain cytomorphologic features are helpful in distinguishing benign and malignant endometrial lesions.
The Leap Motion controller: a view on sign language

This paper presents an early exploration of the suitability of the Leap Motion controller for Australian Sign Language (Auslan) recognition. Testing showed that the controller is able to provide accurate tracking of hands and fingers, and to track movement. This detection loses accuracy when the hand moves into a position that obstructs the controller's ability to view, such as when the hand rotates and is perpendicular to the controller. The detection also fails when individual elements of the hands are brought together, such as finger to finger. In both of these circumstances, the controller is unable to read or track the hand. There is potential for the use of this technology for recognising Auslan, however further development of the Leap Motion API is required.