Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hypertensive Target Organ Damage in Ghanaian Civil Servants with Hypertension

Background Low levels of detection, treatment and control of hypertension have repeatedly been reported from sub Saharan Africa, potentially increasing the likelihood of target organ damage. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1015 urban civil servants aged≥25 years from seven central government ministries in Accra, Ghana. Participants diagnosed to have hypertension were examined for target organ involvement. Hypertensive target organ damage was defined as the detection of any of the following: left ventricular hypertrophy diagnosed by electrocardiogram, reduction in glomerular filtration rate, the presence of hypertensive retinopathy or a history of a stroke. Results Of the 219 hypertensive participants examined, 104 (47.5%) had evidence of target organ damage. The presence of target organ damage was associated with higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels. The odds of developing hypertensive target organ damage was five to six times higher in participants with blood pressure (BP)≥180/110 mmHg compared to those with BP<140/90 mmHg, and there was a trend to higher odds of target organ damage with increasing BP (p = 0.001). Women had about lower odds of developing target organ damage compared to men. Conclusions The high prevalence of target organ damage in this working population associated with increasing blood pressure, emphasises the need for hypertension control programs aimed at improving the detection of hypertension, and importantly addressing the issues inhibiting the effective treatment and control of people with hypertension in the population.
Is Performance of a Modified Eucapnic Voluntary Hyperpnea Test in High Ventilation Athletes Reproducible?

Purpose Exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) is common in “high ventilation” athletes, and the Eucapnic Voluntary Hyperpnea (EVH) airway provocation test is the standard EIB screen. Although the EVH test is widely used, the in-test performance in high ventilation athletes as well as the reproducibility of that performance has not been determined. Reproducibility of pre- and post-test spirometry and self-reported atopy/cough was also examined. Methods High ventilation athletes (competitive swimmers; n=11, 5 males) completed an atopy/cough questionnaire and EVH testing (operator controlled FiCO2) on 2 consecutive days. Results Swimmers achieved 85%±9% and 87%±9% of target FEV1 volume on days 1 and 2, respectively, (P=0.45; ICC 0.57 [0.00-0.86]) resulting in a total ventilation of 687 vs 684 L [P=0.89, ICC 0.89 (0.65-0.97]) equating to 83%±8% and 84%±9% of predicted total volume (ICC 0.54 [0.00-0.85]) between days 1 and 2. FiCO2 required to maintain eucapnic conditions was 2.5%. Pre-test FEV1 was less on day 2 (P=0.04; ICC >0.90). Day 1 to 2 post-test FEV1 was not different, and 4 swimmers were EIB positive (>10% fall in pre-post FEV1) on day 1 (3 on day 2). Conclusions EVH in-test performance is reproducible however required less FiCO2 than standard protocol and the swimmers under-ventilated by 125 and 139 L/min for days 1 and 2, respectively. How this affects EIB diagnosis remains to be determined; however, our results indicate a post-test FEV1 fall of ≥20% may be recommended as the most consistent diagnostic criterion.
Monitoring the production of FRP composites: A review of in-line sensing methods

Composites manufacturing is characterized by many degrees of freedom. Different materials, geometries and thermo-dynamical conditions contribute to a behavior that is difficult to predict. Monitoring the running process (in-line monitoring) eliminates the need for prediction; real time data provided by appropriate sensing systems can be used in the direction of process optimization, quality upgrade or material characterization. The aim of the review at hand is to record and discuss the latest progress in the field of in-line composites monitoring with a focus on Fiber Reinforced Polymeric- based (FRP) composite structures. Summaries of each sensor's principles of operation, appropriate association with poly- mer/composite properties detection, brief descriptions of representative studies, a critical overview of implementation aspects and discussion on the upcoming trends, contribute in constructing a complete picture.
Secure Communication via Sending Artificial Noise by the Receiver: Outage Secrecy Capacity/Region Analysis

A novel approach for ensuring confidential wireless communication is proposed and analyzed from an information-theoretic standpoint. In this approach, the legitimate receiver generates artificial noise (AN) to impair the intruder's channel. This method is robust because it does not need the feedback of channel state information (CSI) to the transmitter and does not assume that the number of Eve's antennas should be smaller than that of Bob. Furthermore, we propose a new concept of outage secrecy region to evaluate the secrecy performance from a geometrical perspective. This should be useful if we need to know what zone should be protected (or militarized). Analysis and simulation results in practical environments show that the proposed method has a good performance.
Dual HER2-blockade with pertuzumab and trastuzumab in HER2-positive early breast cancer: a subanalysis of data from the randomized phase III GeparSepto trial

Background The neoadjuvant phase III GeparSepto study showed that substituting nab-paclitaxel for standard solvent-based paclitaxel significantly improved the pathologic complete response (pCR) rate achieved with a sequential neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimen of paclitaxel, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide for high-risk primary breast cancer. Recent trials demonstrated that in HER2+ breast cancer pCR can be increased by using pertuzumab in addition to trastuzumab and chemotherapy. The present analysis focuses on efficacy and safety data from the subset of patients with HER2+ tumors from the GeparSepto trial (n = 396) in comparison to the HER2- cohort. Patients and methods Patients with histologically confirmed breast cancer (n = 1206) received four cycles of weekly paclitaxel [either solvent-based (Pac) or nab-paclitaxel (nab-Pac), according to randomization] followed by 4 cycles of epirubicin 90 mg/m2 plus cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m2 q3w, with concurrent trastuzumab and pertuzumab q3w for those with HER2+ tumors. The primary endpoint was pCR defined as ypT0 ypN0. Results Higher rates of pCR were achieved in HER2+ than in HER2- tumors (57.8% versus 22.0%, P < 0.0001), with the highest rate in the HER2+/HR- cohort (71.0%; 66.7% Pac, 74.6% nab-Pac). In HER2+/HR+ tumors, the pCR rate was 52.9% (49.7% Pac, 56.4% nab-Pac). Grade ≥3 toxic effects were significantly more common in HER2+ than in HER2- patients, with grade 3-4 diarrhea in 7.6% versus 0.9% (P < 0.001) and febrile neutropenia in 6.3% versus 3.3% (P = 0.023) of patients. Left ventricular ejection fraction decreases from baseline were uncommon, with 2.0% versus 0.4% of patients showing decreases to <50% along with a ≥10% decrease from baseline. Conclusion In HER2+ early breast cancer, a dual HER2-targeted combination of pertuzumab and trastuzumab, together with taxane-epirubicin-cyclophosphamide neoadjuvant chemotherapy, achieved high rates of pCR.
Characterization and virus susceptibility of a continuous cell line derived from the brain of Aequidens rivulatus (Günther).

Cell cultures derived from the brain tissues of Aequidens rivulatus (Günther) have been characterized previously. In this study, a continuous cell line ARB8 was further established, and its growth characteristics, transcription and susceptibility to fish viruses-including chum salmon reovirus (CSV), marbled eel infectious pancreative necrosis virus (MEIPNV), grouper nervous necrosis virus (GNNV), giant seaperch iridovirus (GSIV), red seabream iridovirus (RSIV), koi herpesvirus (KHV), herpesvirus anguilla (HVA) and marbled eel polyoma-like virus (MEPyV)-were examined. ARB8 cells that showed epithelioid morphology and were passaged >80 times grew well at temperatures ranging from 25°C to 30°C in L-15 medium containing 5%-15% foetal bovine serum. The cells constitutively transcribed connexion 43, glutamine synthetase, nestin and nkx6-2, which are markers for neural progenitor cells. The cells were highly susceptible to CSV, MEIPNV, GSIV and RSIV and showed the typical cytopathic effect (CPE). However, the cells were resistant to GNNV, KHV, HVA and MEPyV because no significant CPE was noted after infection. Optimal temperatures for virus production ranged from 25°C to 30°C. The results revealed that the neural progenitor cell line ARB8 can potentially serve as a useful tool for investigating fish viruses and isolating new viruses in ornamental cichlid fishes.
To Shut Them Up or to Clarify: Restraining the Spread of Rumors in Online Social Networks

Restraining the spread of rumors in online social networks (OSNs) has long been an important but difficult problem to be addressed. Currently, there are mainly two types of methods 1) blocking rumors at the most influential users or community bridges, or 2) spreading truths to clarify the rumors. Each method claims the better performance among all the others according to their own considerations and environments. However, there must be one standing out of the rest. In this paper, we focus on this part of work. The difficulty is that there does not exist a universal standard to evaluate them. In order to address this problem, we carry out a series of empirical and theoretical analysis on the basis of the introduced mathematical model. Based on this mathematical platform, each method will be evaluated by using real OSN data. We have done three types of analysis in this work. First, we compare all the measures of locating important users. The results suggest that the degree and betweenness measures outperform all the others in the Facebook network. Second, we analyze the method of the truth clarification method, and find that this method has a long-term performance while the degree measure performs well only in the early stage. Third, in order to leverage these two methods, we further explore the strategy of different methods working together and their equivalence. Given a fixed budget in the real world, our analysis provides a potential solution to find out a better strategy by integrating both types of methods together. From both the academic and technical perspective, the work in this paper is an important step towards the most practical and optimal strategies of restraining rumors in OSNs.
fluEvidenceSynthesis: An R package for evidence synthesis based analysis of epidemiological outbreaks

Public health related decisions often have to balance the cost of intervention strategies with the benefit of the reduction in disease burden. While the cost can often be inferred, forward modelling of the effect of different intervention options is complicated and disease specific. Here we introduce a package that is aimed to simplify this process. The package allows one to infer parameters using a Bayesian approach, perform forward modelling of the likely results of the proposed intervention and finally perform cost effectiveness analysis of the results. The package is based on a method previously used in the United Kingdom to inform vaccination strategies for influenza, with extensions to make it easily adaptable to other diseases and data sources.
Effect of bioink properties on printability and cell viability for 3D bioplotting of embryonic stem cells

3D cell printing is an emerging technology for fabricating complex cell-laden constructs with precise and pre-designed geometry, structure and composition to overcome the limitations of 2D cell culture and conventional tissue engineering scaffold technology. This technology enables spatial manipulation of cells and biomaterials, also referred to as ‘bioink’, and thus allows study of cellular interactions in a 3D microenvironment and/or in the formation of functional tissues and organs. Recently, many efforts have been made to develop new bioinks and to apply more cell sources for better biocompatibility and biofunctionality. However, the influences of printing parameters on the shape fidelity of 3D constructs as well as on cell viability after the cell printing process have been poorly characterized. Furthermore, parameter optimization based on a specific cell type might not be suitable for other types of cells, especially cells with high sensibility. In this study, we systematically studied the influence of bioink properties and printing parameters on bioink printability and embryonic stem cell (ESC) viability in the process of extrusion-based cell printing, also known as bioplotting. A novel method was established to determine suitable conditions for bioplotting ESCs to achieve both good printability and high cell viability. The rheological properties of gelatin/alginate bioinks were evaluated to determine the gelation properties under different bioink compositions, printing temperatures and holding times. The bioink printability was characterized by a newly developed semi-quantitative method. The results demonstrated that bioinks with longer gelation times would result in poorer printability. The live/dead assay showed that ESC viability increased with higher printing temperatures and lower gelatin concentrations. Furthermore, an exponential relationship was obtained between ESC viability and induced shear stress. By defining the proper printability and acceptable viability ranges, a combined parameters region was obtained. This study provides guidance for parameter optimization and the fine-tuning of 3D cell printing processes regarding both bioink printability and cell viability after bioplotting, especially for easily damaged cells, like ESCs.
Potential Health Benefits and Medical Cost Savings from Calorie, Sodium, and Saturated Fat Reductions in the American Diet

Purpose. Model the potential national health benefits and medical savings from reduced daily intake of calories, sodium, and saturated fat among the U.S. adult population. Design. Simulation based on secondary data analysis; quantitative research. Measures include the prevalence of overweight/obesity, uncontrolled hypertension, elevated cholesterol, and related chronic conditions under various hypothetical dietary changes. Setting. United States. Subjects. Two hundred twenty-four million adults. Measures. Findings come from a Nutrition Impact Model that combines information from national surveys, peer-reviewed studies, and government reports. Analysis. The simulation model predicts disease prevalence and medical expenditures under hypothetical dietary change scenarios. Results. We estimate that permanent 100-kcal reductions in daily intake would eliminate approximately 71.2 million cases of overweight/obesity and save $58 billion annually. Long-term sodium intake reductions of 400 mg/d in those with uncontrolled hypertension would eliminate about 1.5 million cases, saving $2.3 billion annually. Decreasing 5 g/d of saturated fat intake in those with elevated cholesterol would eliminate 3.9 million cases, saving $2.0 billion annually. Conclusions. Modest to aggressive changes in diet can improve health and reduce annual national medical expenditures by $60 billion to $120 billion. One use of the model is to estimate the impact of dietary change related to setting public health priorities for dietary guidance. The findings here argue that emphasis on reduction in caloric intake should be the highest priority.
Enhanced Collision Avoidance for Distributed LTE Vehicle to Vehicle Broadcast Communications

In this letter, we investigate the distributed autonomous resource selection for LTE vehicle to vehicle (V2V) broadcast. The effectiveness of collision avoidance and location based resource allocation enhancements is examined. It is found that collision avoidance with multiple data resources reservation per schedule assignment (SA) is a key to improve broadcast reliability. However, in the existing collision avoidance algorithm reserving multiple resources per SA can lead to many data packet collisions if a SA collision happens. We propose an enhanced collision avoidance to address this issue. The idea is to use selected data packets to disseminate the reservation of data resources and SA resources, which can provide better communication among neighbor vehicles on resource reservation and reduce data collisions. Simulation results show that the proposed collision avoidance enhancement can effectively improve SA and data transmission reliability. The network capacity in terms of supported vehicles under given V2V service requirements is largely increased by 17% at a negligible cost of added overhead.
200K+ Crowdsourced Political Arguments for a New Chilean Constitution

In this paper we present the dataset of 200,000+ political arguments produced in the local phase of the 2016 Chilean constitutional process. We describe the human processing of this data by the government officials, and the manual tagging of arguments performed by members of our research group. Afterwards we focus on classification tasks that mimic the human processes, comparing linear methods with neural network architectures. The experiments show that some of the manual tasks are suitable for automatization. In particular, the best methods achieve a 90% top-5 accuracy in a multi-class classification of arguments, and 65% macro-averaged F1-score for tagging arguments according to a three-part argumentation model.
Brief Web-Based Interventions for Young Adult Smokers With Severe Mental Illnesses: A Randomized, Controlled Pilot Study

Significance About 50% of young adults with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other severe mental illnesses smoke tobacco, but few studies have evaluated interventions for this group. Methods We conducted a randomized pilot study among 58 young adult smokers with severe mental illnesses comparing a brief interactive web-based motivational tool, Let's Talk About Smoking, to computerized standard education from the National Cancer Institute. An additional 23 subjects received minimal tobacco assessment at baseline and no intervention, providing a comparison condition for naturalistic cessation behavior. All participants (total n = 81) were assessed for smoking and breath carbon monoxide at baseline and 14 weeks and had access to standard cessation treatments. Results The 81 participants were stable outpatients ages 18-30 (mean 24.8 years): 43.2% were diagnosed with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, the remainder with severe mood and anxiety disorders. They smoked 14.6 ± 10.2 cigarettes per day. All participants completed their assigned intervention; 83.4% of Let's Talk About Smoking users and 71.4% of standard education users rated their intervention "good" or "very good. " At 14 weeks, less than 15% of participants in all conditions had used additional cessation treatment. Let's Talk About Smoking users were more likely to have biologically verified abstinence at 14 weeks than standard education users (14.8% vs. 0%; X2 = 3.7, p = .05). None of the participants in the naturalistic comparison condition were abstinent at 14 weeks. Conclusions Interactive, web-based motivational interventions are feasible and promising for smoking cessation among young smokers with severe mental illnesses. Such interventions warrant further study among this group of smokers. Implications Young adult smokers with severe mental illnesses are a vulnerable population that, without intervention, goes on to experience disparate morbidity and mortality. Brief, easily disseminable interventions are needed to facilitate cessation in this group. This pilot research indicates that brief, technology-delivered, motivational interventions that are tailored for this group may be able to activate a significant number to quit without additional cessation intervention.
Parity space-based fault detection for networked control systems with packet dropout

In this paper, fault detection based on parity relation approach of Networked Control Systems subject to packet dropout in controller-to-actuator link is studied. Both the influence of network-induced delay and packet dropout on fault detection scheme are considered. Then a performance index is proposed to determinate the optimal parity vector based on H2 optimization. The aim of this study is to obtain parity relation based residual generator that ensures both robustness to network-induced delay as well as packet dropout and sensitivity to unknown input and fault. The efficiency of this approach is proved through a simulation example.
Performance Analysis of Co- and Cross-tier Device-to-Device Communication Underlaying Macro-small Cell Wireless Networks

Device-to-Device (D2D) communication underlaying macro-small cell networks, as one of the promising technologies in the era of 5G, is able to improve spectral efficiency and increase system capacity. In this paper, we model the cross- and co-tier D2D communications in two-tier macro-small cell networks. To avoid the complicated interference for cross-tier D2D, we propose a mode selection scheme with a dedicated resource sharing strategy. For co-tier D2D, we formulate a joint optimization problem of power control and resource reuse with the aim of maximizing the overall outage capacity. To solve this non-convex optimization problem, we devise a heuristic algorithm to obtain a suboptimal solution and reduce the computational complexity. System-level simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, which can provide enhanced system performance and guarantee the quality-of-service (QoS) of all devices in two-tier macro-small cell networks. In addition, our study reveals the high potential of introducing cross- and co-tier D2D in small cell networks: i) cross-tier D2D obtains better performance at low and medium small cell densities than co-tier D2D, and ii) co-tier D2D achieves a steady performance improvement with the increase of small cell density.
Exact Principal Geodesic Analysis for data on SO(3)

PGA, or Principal Geodesic Analysis, is an extension of the classical PCA (Principal Component Analysis) to the case of data taking values on a Riemannian manifold. In this paper a new and original algorithm, for the exact computation of the PGA of data on the rotation group SO(3), is presented. Some properties of this algorithm are illustrated, with tests on simulated and real data, and its possible applications are finally discussed.
Modulation of Natural Killer Cell Cytotoxicity in Human Cytomegalovirus Infection: The Role of Endogenous Class I Major Histocompatibility Complex and a Viral Class I Homolog

Natural killer (NK) cells have been implicated in early immune responses against certain viruses, including cytomegalovirus (CMV). CMV causes downregulation of class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) expression in infected cells; however, it has been proposed that a class I MHC homolog encoded by CMV, UL18, may act as a surrogate ligand to prevent NK cell lysis of CMV-infected cells. In this study, we examined the role of UL18 in NK cell recognition and lysis using fibroblasts infected with either wild-type or UL18 knockout CMV virus, and by using cell lines transfected with the UL18 gene. In both systems, the expression of UL18 resulted in the enhanced killing of target cells. We also show that the enhanced killing is due to both UL18-dependent and -independent mechanisms, and that the killer cell inhibitory receptors (KIRs) and CD94/NKG2A inhibitory receptors for MHC class I do not play a role in affecting susceptibility of CMV-infected fibroblasts to NK cell–mediated cytotoxicity.