Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE CRITICAL ROLE OF A NON-HEALTHCARE APPROACH TO MATERNAL MORTALITY REDUCTION Qualitative insights from Rwanda’s success

Maternal mortality is one of the most critical contemporary development challenges as it accounts for a substantial number of deaths every year, despite the fact that we today have the medical knowledge to prevent it. Sub-Saharan Africa is the most affected region, accounting for more than half of the world’s maternal deaths. Research is highly skewed towards healthcare sector aspects of maternal mortality, while there is an obvious lack of focus on the non-health sector determinants. Merely healthcare sector interventions are not sufficient to inform policy-making aiming to reduce maternal mortality and achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal target 3.1. This thesis aims to address this research gap and identify efforts outside of the healthcare sector that have the potential to contribute to maternal mortality reduction. This is conducted through a qualitative process tracing study of Rwanda, having made great advances in reducing maternal deaths. Burundi serves as a comparative shadow-case. The empirical analysis suggests that additional state efforts complementing medical interventions are vital. These include incorporating direct governmental investment in the problem, for example through oversight procedures such as auditing medical facilities for maternal deaths; tailoring efforts to combat maternal mortality to specific contexts, and complying with international targets. These non-medical state efforts also include incorporating indirect governmental investment through gender equality promotion and effective administrative and financial decentralization.
Epigenetic analysis of RASSF1A gene in cell-free DNA in amniotic fluid.

Cell-free fetal nucleic acids exist not only in the maternal circulation (1) but also in amniotic fluid samples (2). Evidence suggests that DNA in maternal plasma that bears the fetal genotype is predominantly derived from the placenta (3). Although the cells in amniotic fluid are widely known to have originated from fetal urogenital, respiratory, and alimentary tracts, skin and amnion, the origin of cell-free fetal DNA in amniotic fluid remains unclear (2). It has been speculated that the latter might originate from the same sources as amniotic fluid cells or the placenta (2). Here, we applied the recent developments in epigenetics to this area of research (4)(5). The promoter of RASSF1A has been shown to be hypermethylated in the placenta but essentially unmethylated in maternal blood cells and other fetal tissues (4). Chan et al. (5) adopted hypermethylated RASSF1A as a placental-specific epigenetic marker and developed an assay for its detection in maternal plasma as a sex-independent fetal DNA marker. The assay involved digestion by Bst UI, a methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme, …
Defizite und Potentiale im Bereich der Usability betriebswirtschaftlicher Anwendungen in Kleinst-, Klein- und mittelständischen Unternehmen am Beispiel des Freistaats Sachsen

Die Mehrheit betriebswirtschaftlicher Anwendungen nutzt zur Darstellung formularbasierte Dialoge, Menus und tabellarische Auflistungen. Das damit verbundene Defizit ausert sich in der vollumfanglichen Prasentation des Informationsraums (z.B. in Form einer Tabelle mit mehreren tausend Datensatzen). Die Moglichkeiten, den Detailgrad sowie die Darstellungs-form der Informationen zu bestimmen, sind nur sehr eingeschrankt vorhanden. Zudem muss der Anwender uber Kenntnisse der Dialogstruktur verfugen, um mit den Daten sowie den Operationen auf ihnen umgehen zu konnen. Die vorliegende Studie soll die Potentiale und Defizite am Beispiel des Freistaats Sachsen genauer untersuchen. Sie soll zudem Aufschluss daruber geben, welche Bedurfnisse bezuglich der Benutzeroberflache vorhanden sind und welchen Schwerpunkten sich anschliesende Forschungsfragen widmen sollten.
TECHNOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY ORGANIZATION OF A SEWAGE SYSTEM

Modern sanitary sewage systems, which apply traditional methods of sewage water treatment, not always can provide acceptable quality of treated waters for their environmentally safe discharge into water bodies. In addition, applied methods of sewage sludge utilization, which are produced during treatment processes, lead to substantial negative influence on environment. All of these things result in appearance of ecological risks, related to functioning of sewage systems. Because of this, there is a necessity for additional sewage water treatment and for improvement sewage sludge utilization methods. Virtues and shortcomings of modern methods of sewage water aftertreatment and sewage sludge utilization are analyzed in this paper. There is proposed a new arrangement of a sanitary sewage system. The system applies sewage water aftertreatment in photobioreactors by using the water as environment for energy microalgae cultivation and producing liquid biofuel of the third generation out of them. It also applies sewage sludge digestion in anaerobic installations with producing methane enriched biogas, environmentally safe organic fertilizer and carbon dioxide. There is also proposed to utilize carbon dioxide in photobioreactors for providing the process of photosynthesis. Bibl. 18, Fig. 1.
Ordinal symbolic analysis and its application to biomedical recordings

Ordinal symbolic analysis opens an interesting and powerful perspective on time-series analysis. Here, we review this relatively new approach and highlight its relation to symbolic dynamics and representations. Our exposition reaches from the general ideas up to recent developments, with special emphasis on its applications to biomedical recordings. The latter will be illustrated with epilepsy data.
The Role of Domain-Specific Knowledge in the Planning as Satisfiability Framework

SATPLAN is currently one of the fastest planning systems for domain-independent planning. In nearly all practiced applications, however, there exists an abundance of domain-specific knowledge that can be used to improve the performance of a planning system. This knowledge is traditionally encoded as procedures or rules that axe tied to the details of the planning engine. We present a way to encode domain knowledge in a purely declarative, algorithm independent manner. We demonstrate that the same heuristic knowledge can be used by completely different search engines, one systematic, the other using greedy local search. This approach greatly enhances the power of SATPLAN: solution times for some problems are reduced from days to seconds.
High throughput screening system

The challenge The challenge was to design High Throughput Screening System based on functional descriptions supplied by the customer. The system was based on a simpler prototype model developed previously for the customer by DSA. The first generation prototype system used only two axes of motion to move a target plate below a Sono-Tek spray nozzle. The spray from the nozzle was directed by nitrogen gas directed by a proprietary design gas distributor plate. The gas flow was controlled by an Aalborg gas mass flow meter.
Probabilistic Clustering and Classification for Textual Data: An Online and Incremental Approach

Given the amount of information stored in textual data and the fact that it is unstructured, algorithms able to process and transform it to a format useful to solve real world problems are desirable. Tasks like organization and exploration of large document collections can benefit from the design of such methods. This work proposes an incremental, online and probabilistic clustering algorithm for textual data, based on a mixture of Multinomial distributions. The main advantage of the model is that only a single step over the training data is necessary to learn from it. As more texts are processed, the model improves its structure to better represent the data stream.
[Characteristics of Listeria monocytogenes strains isolated in Russia and their typing using pulse electrophoresis].

On the basis of specially developed scheme for the isolation of Listeria strains comprising 2 enrichment stages and the use of growth inhibitors, 128 L. monocytogenes cultures were isolated from clinical material, foodstuffs and sewage water. Highly virulent L.monocytogenes strains isolated from clinical material belonged to serovar 4b (54%) and 1/2a (38%), while those isolated from foodstuffs and sewage water belonged to 4b (74%). The restriction analysis of the chromosomal DNA of the isolated cultures with the use of restrictase EcoR1 on the basis of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) made it possible to distinguish Listeria strains in accordance with 5 types of restrictograms. The restrictograms of highly virulent L. monocytogenes strains, serovar 4b, belonged to types 1 and 2, while those of L. monocytogenes strains, serovar 1/2a, belonged to types 2 and 3. The comparative use of different methods for typing L. monocytogenes (sero-, phago-, bio- and resistotyping, the analysis of plasmid composition and restriction analysis) revealed that the combination of serotyping and restriction analysis on the basis of PFGE proved to be most promising for the characterization of the isolated L. monocytogenes strains and the assessment of their epidemic importance.
Interplays and feedback loops of oncogenic signaling pathways in B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma

The B cell receptor (BCR) signaling, required for the survival and maturation of B cells, is one major deregulated pathway in B cell lymphomas. Several mutations are known to enhance the tonic BCR signal in Burkitt lymphomas (BL) or to mimic an activated receptor in some diffuse large B cell lymphomas (DLBCL). While the proximal events and kinases of the BCR signaling are well studied, less is known about the interactions of downstream effector pathways. As the signaling interplays and feedback loops can influence the therapeutic success, this thesis aims for a better understanding of signaling interplays and for an improvement of oncogenic network models of B cell lymphomas. For this purpose, BCR-related pathway interplays were examined by analyzing several protein phosphorylations with a multiplex immunoassay. Our investigations of pathway activations after thirteen defined perturbations revealed positive as well as negative interplays of pathways downstream of the BCR in BLs. During the tonic and active BCR signaling, the PI3K-AKT pathway, essential for many B cell lymphomas, enhanced its own activation probably through a positive feedback to kinases in close proximity of the BCR. We proposed that the positive feedback loop is one explanation for the potent effects of PI3K, AKT and mTOR inhibitors on BL proliferation. Furthermore, two negative feedbacks on the MEK-ERK pathway were detected after BCR activation. Beside ERK1/2 itself, p38 MAPK negatively influenced upstream kinases of ERK1/2. Interestingly, further fine-tuning of the p38 MAPK and ERK1/2 activation was assumed due to the ERK-mediated upregulation of MKK6 which could contribute to p38 MAPK activation. The mentioned feedbacks were generally identified downstream of the BCR signaling in all examined BL and DLBCL cell lines except for the p38 MAPK-dependent attenuation of the MEK-ERK pathway which was not observed in the DLBCL cell line OCI-LY3. In a second approach, the NF-κB and JAK-STAT-dependent proliferation of B cell lymphomas was investigated. Therefore, the signaling network following TLR9 and IL10R stimulation was analyzed by a phosphoproteom analysis. Our results revealed that the simultaneous activation of TLR9 and IL10R changed over 200 protein phosphorylations influencing cell cycle, metabolism and migration. The direct phosphorylation of CDK2 and JNK was suggested to contribute to the proliferative effect after TLR9 and IL10R activation. The signaling interplays and feedbacks identified in this study provide a deeper insight and refinement of the signaling network structure in lymphomas. Additional improvements of computational network models are advantageous to predict signaling alterations by external influences as well as therapeutic responses.
Sustainable Power Supply Solutions for Off-Grid Base Stations

The telecommunication sector plays a significant role in shaping the global economy and the way people share information and knowledge. At present, the telecommunication sector is liable for its energy consumption and the amount of emissions it emits in the environment. In the context of off-grid telecommunication applications, off-grid base stations (BSs) are commonly used due to their ability to provide radio coverage over a wide geographic area. However, in the past, the off-grid BSs usually relied on emission-intensive power supply solutions such as diesel generators. In this review paper, various types of solutions (including, in particular, the sustainable solutions) for powering BSs are discussed. The key aspects in designing an ideal power supply solution are reviewed, and these mainly include the pre-feasibility study and the thermal management of BSs, which comprise heating and cooling of the BS shelter/cabinets and BS electronic equipment and power supply components. The sizing and optimization approaches used to design the BSs’ power supply systems as well as the operational and control strategies adopted to manage the power supply systems are also reviewed in this paper.
DDAH: A target for vascular therapy?

The key to prevention of vascular disease is a healthy endothelium. The endothelium lines all blood and lymphatic conduits, and it acts as the Teflon coating for these conduits. This delicate membrane, only a single-cell layer in thickness, exerts tremendous control over vascular tone, structure, and interaction with circulating blood elements. To play its central role in vascular homeostasis, the endothelium produces a panoply of paracrine substances. One of the most potent and versatile of these factors is NO. This simple molecule has diverse effects. It relaxes vascular smooth muscle; inhibits vascular smooth muscle cell migration and proliferation; prevents platelet adherence and aggregation; suppresses adhesion molecules and chemokines mediating inflammation; and promotes endothelial cell survival, proliferation and migration to facilitate restoration of the endothelial lining. Therefore it is not surprising that deficiencies of endothelium-derived NO play a role in the initiation and progression of the most common vascular diseases, such as atherosclerosis. Furthermore, biomarkers reflecting the activity of NOS are independent prognosticators for cardiovascular events and mortality.
Title Association of handgrip strength with chronic diseases andmultimorbidity-A cross-sectional study

The prevalence of chronic diseases has risen along with increased longevity. Co-occurrence of two or more chronic diseases in an individual (multimorbidity) is prevalent and poses a huge burden to individuals and the society. However, determinants of multimorbidity are largely unknown. Handgrip strength is a general indicator of muscle strength and linked with premature mortality. However, its role in multimorbidity has never been evaluated. To investigate the relationships between handgrip strength and multiple chronic diseases and multimorbidity, and to assess the usefulness of age and handgrip as a marker of chronic diseases and multimorbidity in a community dwelling sample of men and women, we analyzed a cross-sectional cohort with 1,145 subjects (748 men and 397 women) aged 50 years and older living in Hong Kong. Low handgrip strength was significantly associated with increased odds of having five and three chronic diseases in men and women, respectively, after controlling for age, body mass index, history of smoking, educational level, marital level and comorbidity. Multivariable-adjusted handgrip strength was significantly decreased with the number of chronic diseases in men (trend, P00.001), but the trend in women was marginal (trend, P00.06). Conversely, multivariable-adjusted age was significantly increased with the number of chronic diseases in women (trend, P00.033), but not in men (trend, P00.118). In conclusion, handgrip strength is associated with multiple chronic diseases and multimorbidity in men and women after adjustment of confounding factors. It shows a linear trend of association with the number of chronic diseases in men, but not in women. Since handgrip strength is a biomarker of multiple physiological systems, its augmentation may be a feasible strategy to improve general health and decrease likelihood of having multiple chronic diseases and hence, premature mortality.
Time-course investigation of SAGM-stored leukocyte-filtered red bood cell concentrates: from metabolism to proteomics

Background Results from recent, highly debated, retrospective studies raised concerns and prompted considerations about further testing the quality of long stored red blood cells from a biochemical standpoint. Design and Methods We performed an integrated mass spectrometry-based metabolomics and proteomics time-course investigation on SAGM-stored red blood cells. In parallel, structural changes during storage were monitored through scanning electron microscopy. Results We detected increased levels of glycolytic metabolites over the first 2 weeks of storage. From day 14 onwards, we observed a significant consumption of all metabolic species, and diversion towards the oxidative phase of the pentose phosphate pathway. These phenomena coincided with the accumulation of reactive oxygen species and markers of oxidation (protein carbonylation and malondialdehyde accumulation) up to day 28. Proteomics evidenced changes at the membrane protein level from day 14 onwards. Changes included fragmentation of membrane structural proteins (spectrin, band 3, band 4.1), membrane accumulation of hemoglobin, anti-oxidant enzymes (peroxiredoxin-2) and chaperones. While the integrity of red blood cells did not show major deviations at day 14, at day 21 scanning electron microscope images revealed that 50% of the erythrocytes had severely altered shape. We could correlate the scanning electron microscopy observations with the onset of vesiculation, through a proteomics snapshot of the difference in the membrane proteome at day 0 and day 35. We detected proteins involved in vesicle formation and docking to the membrane, such as SNAP alpha. Conclusions Biochemical and structural parameters did not show significant alterations in the first 2 weeks of storage, but then declined constantly from day 14 onwards. We highlighted several parallelisms between red blood cells stored for a long time and the red blood cells of patients with hereditary spherocytosis.
Evaluation of six synthetic surgical meshes implanted subcutaneously in a rat model

The long‐term efficacy and mechanical integrity of implanted materials is largely determined by early host response. Therefore, implanting materials with well‐characterized tissue responses provides the greatest chance of ‘one‐hit’ surgical successes, without repeated interventions to replace, repair or remove non‐compliant biomaterials. Six synthetic meshes were implanted subcutaneously in a rat model to deduce and quantify modulations in host response, based on material fabrication variables. The materials consisted of knitting variations of polypropylene (PP), polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) and polyglycolic acid (PGA) yarns and were implanted for 2, 5, 7, 14 and 28 days before fixation and both semi‐ and fully quantitative histopathology. In a subcutaneous niche, material weight did not influence foreign body response. PET stimulated earlier inflammation than PP and PGA, which normalized over 28 days. Multifilament meshes recruited foreign body giant cells, which were largely absent from monofilaments. Using CD68, PGA was demonstrated to be the greatest leukocyte‐activating polymer at a number of the time points analysed. This research therefore highlights that underlying polymer composition may be more over‐arching in deciding the inflammatory properties of surgical meshes, based on increased macrophagic responses to PGA vs alternative base polymers of comparable weights and porosities. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A statistical background calibration technique for flash analog-to-digital converters

A new background calibration technique is described to digitally trim the input-referred offset voltage of comparators in high-speed flash analog-to-digital converters. The polarity of comparator's offset is detected by observing the output code density of a random chopping comparator. Binary feedback is used to adjust the comparator's offset. All calibration processing is performed in the digital domain, thus, minimizing the overhead for analog circuitry. Two key design parameters are the comparator's trimming step and the thresholds of a peak detector, which determine the offset's standard deviation and the time constant of the calibration loop.
Targeting for Thalamic Deep Brain Stimulator Implantation without Computer Guidance: Assessment of Targeting Accuracy

The authors assess the accuracy of targeting nucleus ventralis intermedius (Vim) with fast spin echo inversion recovery (FSE/IR) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 18 successful deep brain stimulator (DBS) implants for medically refractory tremor. FSE/IR-MRI-derived coordinates are compared to the final coordinates employed for DBS lead placement, selected with intraoperative neurophysiology. The authors conclude that FSE/IR MRI is sufficiently reliable to serve as the sole means of anatomically targeting Vim for DBS lead placement. An independent computer workstation is not required for accurate targeting; however, intraoperative neurophysiology remains essential.
The Hub Population Health System: distributed ad hoc queries and alerts

The Hub Population Health System enables the creation and distribution of queries for aggregate count information, clinical decision support alerts at the point-of-care for patients who meet specified conditions, and secure messages sent directly to provider electronic health record (EHR) inboxes. Using a metronidazole medication recall, the New York City Department of Health was able to determine the number of affected patients and message providers, and distribute an alert to participating practices. As of September 2011, the system is live in 400 practices and within a year will have over 532 practices with 2500 providers, representing over 2.5 million New Yorkers. The Hub can help public health experts to evaluate population health and quality improvement activities throughout the ambulatory care network. Multiple EHR vendors are building these features in partnership with the department's regional extension center in anticipation of new meaningful use requirements.