Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Autonomic diseases: clinical features and laboratory evaluation

The autonomic nervous system has a craniosacral parasympathetic and a thoracolumbar sympathetic pathway (fig 1) and supplies every organ in the body. It influences localised organ function and also integrated processes that control vital functions such as arterial blood pressure and body temperature. There are specific neurotransmitters in each system that influence ganglionic and post-ganglionic function (fig 2). Figure 1 The autonomic nervous system supply to various organs. Sweat glands (not included) are supplied by cholinergic fibres Reproduced from Janig W. In: Schmidt RF, Thews G, eds. Physiologie des menschen , 26th ed. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 1995:340–69. Figure 2 Neurotransmitters involved in the parasympathetic and sympathetic pathways that influence ganglionic and post-ganglionic function. ACh, acetylcholine; NA, noradrenaline. Reproduced from Mathias CJ. Autonomic dysfunction. Br J Hosp Med 1987;38:238–43. [OpenUrl][1][PubMed][2] The symptoms and signs of autonomic disease cover a wide spectrum (table 1) that vary depending upon the aetiology (tables 2 and 3). In some they are localised (table 4). Autonomic disease can result in underactivity or overactivity. Sympathetic adrenergic failure causes orthostatic (postural) hypotension and in the male ejaculatory failure, while sympathetic cholinergic failure results in anhidrosis; parasympathetic failure causes dilated pupils, a fixed heart rate, a sluggish urinary bladder, an atonic large bowel and, in the male, erectile failure. With autonomic hyperactivity, the reverse occurs. In some disorders, particularly in neurally mediated syncope, there may be a combination of effects, with bradycardia caused by parasympathetic activity and hypotension resulting from withdrawal of sympathetic activity. The history is of particular importance in the consideration and recognition of autonomic disease, and in separating dysfunction that may result from non-autonomic disorders. View this table: Table 1 Some clinical manifestations of autonomic dysfunction View this table: Table 2 Outline classification of autonomic diseases View this table: Table 3 Drugs, chemicals, poisons, and toxins causing autonomic dysfunction View this table: Table 4 Examples of localised autonomic disorders ### General aspects Autonomic disease may present at any age … [1]: {openurl}? query=rft.jtitle%253DBritish%2Bjournal%2Bof%2Bhospital%2Bmedicine%26rft.stitle%253DBr%2BJ%2BHosp%2BMed%26rft.aulast%253DMathias%26rft.auinit1%253DC. %2BJ. %26rft.volume%253D38%26rft.issue%253D3%26rft.spage%253D238%26rft.epage%253D243%26rft.atitle%253DAutonomic%2Bdysfunction. %26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Apmid%252F2823944%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [2]: /lookup/external-ref? access_num=2823944&link_type=MED&atom=%2Fjnnp%2F74%2Fsuppl_3%2Fiii31.atom
Screen-printed low temperature piezoelectric thick films for energy harvesting on fabrics

This thesis details the improvement in the dielectric, piezoelectric and mechanical (such as flexibility) properties of screen-printed flexible low-temperature PZT-polymer composite films on woven-fabrics. These improvements have been achieved by optimising the composite formulation and the post processing procedures. The polymeric binders were evaluated to find the optimum PZT-binder composite. The optimum PZT-binder composite with weight ratio 2.57:1 (denoted ECS-PolyPZT 6a) provided a relative dielectric constant of 146 and a d33 value of 22.8 pC/N at initial poling conditions measured on alumina. The PZT phase was a mixture of PZT particle sizes 2 and 0.8 μm with weight ratio of 4:1. Applying optimum poling conditions improved the d33 values to 36, 40 and 70 pC/N when the material screen-printed on alumina, Kapton and Polyester-cotton. The difference in the d33 coefficients on the different substrates is due to the clamping effect and in each case the free-standing d33fs value was calculated to be 80 pC/N. Applying cold isostatic pressing (CIP) at 250 MPa for 2 minutes improved the d33 values to 76.6 pC/N on Polyester-cotton. Adding 0.2% silver-nano particles by weight to the material improved the d33 to 76 pC/N on Polyester-cotton with no CIP. Combining these two measures yields a d33 value of 83 pC/N. The final optimised d33fs was 98 pC/N compared with the original value of 49 pC/N. When evaluating these films for use in energy harvesting applications, it was found that when applying compressive and tensile forces, the output mainly depends on the compliance of the substrate. The optimum PZT-binder composite printed on 1 × 1 cm2 woven-fabric Kermel, which has a higher compliance than Polyester-cotton and Cotton fabrics, provided output energy of 0.2 and 0.018 μJ/cycle when connected to a 30 and 1 MΩ resistive load in compression and tension, respectively. However, when applying a bending force to the sample, the output voltage increases with reducing compliance and increasing thicknesses of the substrate. Cotton substrates with lower compliances and higher thickness gave the highest energy output of 0.192 μJ per bending cycle into 70 MΩ when applying a bending curvature of 5 mm radius. Therefore, careful selection of the substrates is important to maximise the performance in sensing or energy harvesting application.
Analysis of Mitochondrial Dynamics and Functions Using Imaging Approaches

Mitochondria are organelles that have been primarily known as the powerhouse of the cell. However, recent advances in the field have revealed that mitochondria are also involved in many other cellular activities like lipid modifications, redox balance, calcium balance, and even controlled cell death. These multifunctional organelles are motile and highly dynamic in shapes and forms; the dynamism is brought about by the mitochondria's ability to undergo fission and fusion with each other. Therefore, it is very important to be able to image mitochondrial shape changes to relate to the variety of cellular functions these organelles have to accomplish. The protocols described here will enable researchers to perform steady‐state and time‐lapse imaging of mitochondria in live cells by using confocal microscopy. High‐resolution three‐dimensional imaging of mitochondria will not only be helpful in understanding mitochondrial structure in detail but it also could be used to analyze their structural relationships with other organelles in the cell. FRAP (fluorescence recovery after photobleaching) studies can be performed to understand mitochondrial dynamics or dynamics of any mitochondrial molecule within the organelle. The microirradiation assay can be performed to study functional continuity between mitochondria. A protocol for measuring mitochondrial potential has also been included in this unit. In conclusion, the protocols described here will aid the understanding of mitochondrial structure‐function relationship. Curr. Protoc. Cell Biol. 46:4.25. 1‐4.25. 21. © 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Resource co-allocation in computational grids

Applications designed to execute on "computational grids" frequently require the simultaneous co-allocation of multiple resources in order to meet performance requirements. For example, several computers and network elements may be required in order to achieve real-time reconstruction of experimental data, while a large numerical simulation may require simultaneous access to multiple supercomputers. Motivated by these concerns, we have developed a general resource management architecture for Grid environments, in which resource co-allocation is an integral component. We examine the co-allocation problem in detail and present mechanisms that allow an application to guide resource selection during the co-allocation process; these mechanisms address issues relating to the allocation, monitoring, control, and configuration of distributed computations. We describe the implementation of co-allocators based on these mechanisms and present the results of microbenchmark studies and large-scale application experiments that provide insights into the costs and practical utility of our techniques.
Lowering employee health care costs through the Healthy Lifestyle Incentive Program.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the impact of the Healthy Lifestyle Incentive Program (HLIP), a worksite health program, on lowering prescription drug and medical costs. DESIGN Health care cost data for Salt Lake County employees during 2004 through 2008 were linked with HLIP enrollment status. Additional program information was obtained from a cross-sectional survey administered in 2008. INTERVENTION The program includes free annual screenings, tailored feedback on screening results, financial incentives for maintaining and modifying certain behaviors, and periodic educational programs and promotions to raise awareness of health topics. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Frequency and cost of prescription drug and medical claims. RESULTS Participation increased from 16% to 23% in men and 34% to 45% in women over the 5-year study period and was associated with a significantly greater level of physical activity and improved general health. Participants were generally satisfied with the HLIP (43% were very satisfied, 51% satisfied, 5% dissatisfied, and 1% very dissatisfied). The primary factors contributing to participation were financial incentives (more so among younger employees), followed by a desire to improve health (more so among older employees). Over the study period, the cost savings in lower prescription drug and medical costs was $3,568,837. For every dollar spent on the HLIP the county saved $3.85. CONCLUSION Financial incentives and then a desire for better health were the primary reasons for participation. The HLIP resulted in substantial health care cost savings for Salt Lake County Government.
Prognostic significance of age in traumatic brain injury

Background: Age is a strong prognostic factor following traumatic brain injury (TBI), with discrepancies defining the critical prognostic age threshold. This study was undertaken to determine the impact of various age thresholds on outcome after TBI. Materials and Methods: The ages of patients admitted with TBI were prospectively studied in relation to mode of injury, Glasgow coma score (GCS), CT category and surgical intervention. Mortality was assessed at 1 month, and neurological outcome was assessed at 6 months. Appropriate statistical analyzes (details in article) were performed. Results: Of the total 244 patients enrolled, 144 patients had severe, 38 patients had moderate and 62 patients had mild TBI, respectively. Age had significant association with grade of injury, CT category and surgical intervention (P < 0.01). Mortality at 1 month was significantly associated with increasing age with patients dead at 1 month being 15% for age < 18, 44% for age between 18 and 59 years, and 52% in the age group > 59 years respectively (P < 0.001). Unfavorable outcome showed significant association with an increase in age, every decade (P < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, there was stepwise increase in the odds of unfavorable outcome across age groups centered on 40 years, independent of confounding factors. The adjusted odds ratios for unfavorable outcome with regard to age thresholds 30, 40 and 50 years were 11.3, 53.3 and 1171, respectively (P < 0.005). Moreover, there was significant association of unfavorable outcome with age > 40 years in all subgroups, based on GCS and surgical intervention (P < 0.05). Conclusions: In patients with TBI, age demonstrates independent association with unfavorable outcome at 6 months, in stepwise manner centered on a threshold of 40 years.
Effects of Zinc Borate on the Flame Retardancy Performance of Aluminum Diethylphosphinate in Polyamide-6 and its Composites

Abstract In this study, the flame retardancy contribution of zinc borate when used together with a traditional flame retardant (aluminum diethylphosphinate compound) was investigated for neat polyamide-6 and for 15 wt% short glass fiber reinforced composite. Melt mixing with twin-screw extrusion was the compounding method while injection and compression molding were the shaping methods of specimens. Three different flammability tests (limiting oxygen index, UL-94 vertical burning, mass loss calorimetry) indicated that many flame retardancy parameters could be improved significantly by replacing a certain amount of aluminum diethylphosphinate with zinc borate. For example, using aluminum diethylphosphinate alone resulted in only 32 % suppression in the value of the peak heat release rate for neat polyamide-6, while it was 82 % (more than two-fold) when used together with zinc borate. It was revealed by evolved gas analyses, char analyses, x-ray diffraction and thermogravimetry that the main contribution of zinc borate to aluminum diethylphosphinate was in terms of a barrier mechanism via formation of additional boron phosphate inorganic content in the barrier layer.
A Checkpointing Technique for Rollback Error Recovery in Embedded Systems

In this paper, a general checkpointing technique for rollback error recovery for embedded systems is proposed and evaluated. This technique is independent of used processor and employs the most important feature in control flow error detection mechanisms to simplify checkpoint selection and to minimize the overall code overhead. In this way, during the implementation of a control flow checking mechanism, the checkpoints are added to the program. To evaluate the checkpointing technique, a pre-processor is implemented that selects and adds the checkpoints to three workload programs running in an 8051 microcontroller-based system. The evaluation is based on 3000 experiments for each checkpoint.
DNA barcoding of endangered Indian Paphiopedilum species

The indiscriminate collections of Paphiopedilum species from the wild for their exotic ornamental flowers have rendered these plants endangered. Although the trade of these endangered species from the wild is strictly forbidden, it continues unabated in one or other forms that elude the current identification methods. DNA barcoding that offers identification of a species even if only a small fragment of the organism at any stage of development is available could be of great utility in scrutinizing the illegal trade of both endangered plant and animal species. Therefore, this study was undertaken to develop DNA barcodes of Indian species of Paphiopedilum along with their three natural hybrids using loci from both the chloroplast and nuclear genomes. The five loci tested for their potential as effective barcodes were RNA polymerase‐β subunit (rpoB), RNA polymerase‐β’ subunit (rpoC1), Rubisco large subunit (rbcL) and maturase K (matK) from the chloroplast genome and nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (nrITS) from the nuclear genome. The intra‐ and inter‐specific divergence values and species discrimination rates were calculated by Kimura 2 parameter (K2P) method using mega 4.0. The matK with 0.9% average inter‐specific divergence value yielded 100% species resolution, thus could distinguish all the eight species of Paphiopedilum unequivocally. The species identification capability of these sequences was further confirmed as each of the matK sequences was found to be unique for the species when a blast analysis of these sequences was carried out on NCBI. nrITS, although had 4.4% average inter‐specific divergence value, afforded only 50% species resolution. DNA barcodes of the three hybrids also reflected their parentage.
Studies on thrombin infusion in dogs.

Intravascular coagulation, haemolysis and strong secondary fibrinolysis were induced by thrombin infusion in 6 dogs. Trasylolr treatment increased the consumption of clotting factors and platelets, increased haemolysis, but markedly inhibited the secondary fibrinolysis. One of these 5 dogs died with demonstrable thrombi in lungs and kidneys. Prolonged thrombin and reptilase clotting times coincided with high amounts of fibrinogen degradation products (FDP). In the initial stage of fibrinolysis plasminogen and proteolytic capacity was normal. A delayed drop in these assays was observed, concomitantly with normal FDP. This drop largely indicated a sustained plasminogen consumption due to continuous fibrinolysis initiated by residual thrombi and/or subclinical clotting. A transient leucopenia, relatively more pronounced than the platelet reduction, was found following thrombin infusion, even in dogs treated with kallikrein inhibitor. This suggests that leucocyte counting may be valuable in diagnosing disseminated intravascular coagulation. Thrombin infusion induced low Thrombotest, but unchanged Normotest values, although these assays are considered to measure the same factors (II/VII/X). The discrepancy was less in Trasylolr-treated dogs.
Impaired Left Atrial Conduit Function in Coronary Artery Disease Patients With Poorly Controlled Diabetes: Two‐Dimensional Speckle‐Tracking Echocardiographic Study

The myocardium can be affected by diabetes mellitus. The effects of blood glucose control on some organs such as the kidney and eye have been previously reported. The aim of our study was to evaluate left atrial function via 2‐dimensional (2D) speckle‐tracking echocardiography in a group of coronary artery disease (CAD) patients with well‐controlled diabetes (hemoglobin A1c [HbA1c] < 7%) and to compare it with that in a group of CAD patients with poorly controlled diabetes.
Predicting Complications following Expander/Implant Breast Reconstruction: An Outcomes Analysis Based on Preoperative Clinical Risk

Background: Complications following postmastectomy reconstruction can cause significant morbidity. The compound effect of individual risk factors on the development of complications following expander/implant reconstruction has not, however, been well delineated. This study evaluated the impact of clinical risk factors to predict complications following postmastectomy expander/implant reconstruction. Methods: From 2003 through 2004, 1170 expander/implant reconstructions were performed at a single center. A prospectively maintained database was reviewed. Variables including age, smoking status, body mass index, history of diabetes, hypertension, chemotherapy and/or radiation, as well as timing and laterality of reconstruction were evaluated. The primary endpoint was the development of a complication; the secondary endpoint was failure of reconstruction. Results: Over the 2 year study period, 1170 expander/implant reconstructions were performed in 884 patients. The odds of developing complications was 2.2 times greater in smokers (p < 0.001) and 2.5 times greater in women over 65 (p = 0.008). Patients who were obese were at nearly two times the odds of having complications (p = 0.02), as were patients with hypertension (p = 0.02). Similarly, the odds of reconstructive failure were five times greater in smokers (p < 0.001). Age was not a significant predictor of reconstructive failure (p = 0.09); yet, failure was nearly seven times greater in obese patients (p < 0.001), and four more times likely in those who were hypertensive (p = 0.005). Conclusions: Smoking, obesity, hypertension, and age over 65 were independent risk factors for perioperative complications following expander/implant breast reconstruction. Smoking, obesity, and hypertension were similarly associated with reconstructive failure. This information can be used to evaluate overall procedural risks and individualize reconstructive options.
TRAFFIC FLOW MODELING AND FORECASTING THROUGH VECTOR AUTOREGRESSIVE AND DYNAMIC SPACE TIME MODELS

Research on purely inductive models for traffic flow description and forecasting has started at the beginning of the eighties. Till recently, this kind of methods were univariate in nature, that is for the prediction of the future state of traffic at a specific site only information from this site was taken into account and were used only for short term forecasting purposes. In recent studies, multivariate models that combine information from neighboring sites have been used and proved to forecast better from univariate models. Furthermore, multivariate models describe the spatiotemporal evolution of traffic flow whereas univariate models describe only the temporal evolution and may be used for scenario analysis (i.e. quantification of the effects of a change in traffic flow at a specific place to downstream locations) that is they may serve for control purposes. In this short paper, we present how the most significant aspects of a road network topology may be incorporated into a vector autoregressive model to result a space-time model that may be used for the description of the traffic flow of a road network as a whole. In the full paper, we use 7,5 minute volume and occupancy measurements from urban arterial streets near downtown Athens, to develop models that feed on data from upstream detectors to describe the flow at downstream locations. Model stability for different time periods of the day and different months of the year is checked and a comparative study of various inductive methods concerning short term forecasting performance also takes place.
Ciphertext and Plaintext Leakage Reveals the Entire TDES Key

SCA(Side-channel analysis) is a well-known method to recover the sensitive data stored in security products. Meanwhile numerous countermeasures for hardware implementation of cryptographic algorithms are proposed to protect the internal data against this attack fortunately. However, some designs are not aware that the protection of the plaintext and ciphertext is also crucial. In this work, we attack an implementation TDES(triple DES) by taking advantage of such leakages detected in a widely used commercial product which is based on the hardware platform that passed the EAL5+ certification. In particular, we guess entire DES keys to construct hypotheses for the intermediate outputs in a TDES calculation. The time cost for this approach is nearly 1 232 of that by a brute force. Furthermore, if in addition leakage about the key becomes available, the attack costs become practical. That is, reducing the key entropy of every DES key to 228 allows an enumeration of the entire TDES in 21.6 hours.
Estimation of average switching activity in combinational logic circuits using symbolic simulation

We address the problem of estimating the average switching activity of combinational circuits under random input sequences. Switching activity is strongly affected by gate delays, and for this reason we use a variable delay model in estimating switching activity. Unlike most probabilistic methods that estimate switching activity, our method takes into account correlation caused at internal gates in the circuit due to reconvergence of input signals. This method assumes a particular delay model and further assumes that the primary inputs to the combinational circuit are uncorrelated. Both these assumptions can be relaxed at the cost of increased complexity. We describe extensions to handle transmission gates and inertial delays in this paper.
Dynamic Single-Phase Synchronized Phase and Frequency Estimation at the Distribution Level

This paper proposes a method for estimating synchronized phase and frequency at the distribution level under both steady-state and dynamic conditions. The discrete Fourier transform-based method is widely used for phasor and frequency estimation, thanks to its low computational burden. However, errors arise when the power system is operating at off-nominal frequency, especially under dynamic conditions such as phase modulation. Additionally, the power grid signal at the distribution level contains more noise and harmonics, which cause phase and frequency estimation errors. In this paper, a synchronized phase and frequency estimation algorithm suitable for measurement at the distribution level is proposed and tested under noise and harmonic conditions, as well as various conditions in the phasor measurement unit Standard (C37.118.1-2011 and C37.118.1a-2014), to verify its measurement accuracy at the distribution level.